What Leaders Need to Learn from American Idol

If you been reading this blog for awhile, you know that this is the time of year when my corporate friend, Jennifer, and I handicap and kibitz about American Idol in emails we send each other. We both agree that the show is way better than we expected it to be in the post Simon Cowell era. It's actually less stressful and more entertaining to watch without all of the genuflecting toward Simon. That's probably one reason why the ratings are as strong as they've ever been. 

So, that's one thing right off the bat that leaders need to learn from American Idol. Hardly anyone is irreplaceable. If you put the right team (who knew Steven Tyler and J Lo could be so entertaining?) and processes in place, your organization can keep rocking forward even if you lose a key player.

Another big thing that leaders need to learn from Idol this year is that people perform better when they're allowed to play to their strengths. Unlike previous seasons when each week had narrow musical themes that forced the contestants to perform outside their comfort zones, the weekly themes this year have usually been broad enough to drive a truck through. For the most part, the contestants who are left know what their strengths are and sing to them. The hard rock guy, James, the jazz driven Casey (who I think might be the love child of Will Ferrell and Zach Galifinakis) and country crooner Scotty are all playing in their power alleys. Once she got past singing Blondie's Call Me, Haley seemed to find her bluesy groove and Jakob is consistently channeling his inner Luther Vandross. The contestant I'm most concerned for now is young Lauren who's really talented but seemed to peak during the auditions and Hollywood Week. She was loose and having fun back then but now seems like she's got a little voice inside her head reminding her she's singing on American Idol and she better not screw it up. She's holding back as a result.  Leaders need to quiet their inner critic and show up fully confident when they're on stage.

And that last point leads us to Ryan Seacrest. Am I the only one who thinks he's handling his role on the show better than he ever has? He seems more confident, relaxed and really dialed in. Could it be because he's not so fixated on winning the games of one upsmanship that he got sucked into playing with Simon over the past couple of years? The leadership lesson here is don't get so fixated on your nemesis that it throws you off your game.

So, one thing I learned when I wrote a post called Feedback Do's and Dont's from American Idol a couple of years ago was that lots of people have strongly held opinions about this show.  So, let 'em rip in the comments. I'd love to hear any hidden leadership lessons you're picking up from the show but pure fan boy or fan girl comments are cool too. Have fun with it!

Comments

[Camille Macchio]

Scott,
The focus this year is on the talent and not the judges -- A welcomed change.
The one thing that I'd like to bring up is the demographics of the voters. It's been some time since a woman was selected as the American Idol. I wonder if it could have something to do with perhaps mostly women vote and they vote for the "cute guys." Physical appearance, as much as we would like to say doesn't play into decisions, continue to operate on American Idol and more importantly in the corporate world. Take a look at some of the photos in companies' annual reports.

[Pwalker]

Scott, I think another hidden leadership lesson is using feedforward motivates contestants. Unlike previous seasons where Simon gave scathing criticism demoralizng many contestants, this season the judges are telling contestants how they can be even better next time. They all seem better the next week and those who leave seem to be leaving with their dignity intact.

[Wally Bock]

Wonderful post, Scott, far better than the one I was thinking about doing. I'm with you in judging this year's Idol far better as an entertainment experience than previous years, as well far more likely to anoint someone with true star quality at the end of the process. The reasons for the change are good leadership lessons.

The change in tone is significant. Simon Cowell was the master of the sarcastic comment and negative judgment masquerading as help. He gets credit for creating the show and for doing a lot to establish it, but in the process, Idol became a "king and his court" organization. We see that in many businesses and one danger is that it encourages the "king" to indulge in behavior that might not be acceptable otherwise. See Jobs, Steve.

This year the tone among the judges is collegial and the tone of the critiques is helpful. It's a good model for managers when dealing with their team members or peers.

I loved the observations on Ryan Seacrest. Here's my take. If you only saw him on American Idol over the past three years or so, you can be forgiven if you thought he wasn't anything special. But this is a man who began a significant career while still in high school and who hosts the American Top 40 show hosted for years by Casey Kasem. I don't think he fit well into the acid-comment environment of Idol, but he's a perfect fit for the current version because he's basically enthusiastic and a booster. Now he can indulge that.

His situation reminds me of many I've seen over the years. How many people have you seen that simply didn't work well in one job, but performed superbly in a different job? How many who suddenly became happy and productive with a change of management?

[Scott Eblin]

Hi everyone - Clearly, we have some professional level analysts of American Idol reading this blog. Great points everyone. Glad you're enjoying the show this year and still have time to read my blog!

Cheers -

Scott