Broadsided in Pittsburg

Discovering the Premise

My first advising experience was in 1995. I was a musician, composer, and producer who thought little about what leaders did or wanted. In fact, I was absolutely uninterested. Nonetheless, I was broadsided in Pittsburgh while speaking, on music, at a conference.

During the lunch break, I was approached by a national leader of a large nonprofit organization. He asked if I could have lunch and talk with him about some needs, they were facing.

WHAT!? I stood stunned. You have got to be kidding me. I decided to go because he offered to pull me away from an ever-growing line of questions and, well, he offered to pay for lunch.

We met with casual conversation throughout the meal and then like an uncalculated load he dumped, all over me. His issues in leadership. His staffing problems. His fund-raising concerns. His home life. For twenty minutes, he delivered his message. It felt hopeless and angry. My first reaction was to drop something back on him and say, "What are you doing in this job?" But some kind of wisdom grabbed my tongue and fought for control.

He wanted answers. He wanted strategies. He wanted hope, that he wasn't wasting his time or his life for a cause that had more than a paycheck at the end of the month.

I have no idea if I helped bring some peace and strategy into his life that day. I'm assuming it must have done something because he invited me back to meet with his leadership team.

Me? I learned that day how very human leaders are. How vulnerable they are to the voices around them. How frontrunner leaders, even amid a strong and friendly team, have to stand alone as they make final decisions.

I learned that day that leaders fail, regularly. That we apply amazing pressure on leaders to be demigods. To pull off the miraculous.

I also learned that day that if that leader desires to be a demigod, then I will never work with them. They don't get it. At least not in my book.

Nearly three decades later, I am still meeting with leaders throughout the faith, business, and government communities. Their needs haven't changed. We're still applying undo demigod status on our leaders. What I have discovered, is almost every leader has in them - the answer. The way forward. The strategy. And if asked the right questions, they uncover the future that is unfolding before them. You have to ask new and unusual questions. The question that makes you think outside of your present box. I have discovered from my successes and failures a premise.

THE PREMISE: Nearly every leader or leadership team has within themselves the answer to their need or the strategy that will move them forward. The job of advising is not always to bring strategies to the table. The joy of advising is to ask the questions they haven't asked, revealing answers that bring the future into the present.

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