Where is Power engaged?
A warm handshake and “Thank You” from my exec was well worth the long hours it took to win the Space Station contract. What he said next, was not“… and I would like you to work for ____ .” My peers had had the “opportunity” to work for him already, where I heard about his use of Power in not complimentary terms over weekend beers. Luckily, my network had offered me a path forward that would give me a front-row seat to what Power is … and isn’t…
… so much of career management is moving “up” to gain more “Power” … to “control” decisions, staffing, direction, etc. Most people assume that more of that is helpful and worth the grind to get there. I had already tasted a bit of “victory” by winning the Presidency of my High School… only to realize that is not nearly as much fun as it appeared. As we are considering leadership topics this winter, considering what Power is, isn’t, and what the cost might be is to a good topic to consider next.
And what does it sound like?
On this President’s Day, I want to continue our focus on some of the early founders of music and one of the most interesting Black musicians during this week of Black History Month. Lester Young was born in 1909 in Mississippi into a musical family headed by a band leader and teacher who encouraged them all to learn music, and make money 😉 At age 5 he sold newspapers and shined shoes, but by age 10 had mastered trumpet, violin and drums and was touring with his family band. Having his father as his bandleader was too much tension, and he left for the first time at 18, protesting and playing across the South… in Jim Crow territory.
He eventually settled in Kansas City, where Count Basie’s orchestra was based. By this point, he was over 6 feet tall, piercing green eyes, with light complexion and very small feet – size 7. Adding to this striking look, he had settled into playing the Tenor sax as his primary instrument, but holding it always at a jaunty angle across his body. The main approach to most jazz music had started with the Power of Louis Armstrong, and picked up pace with Benny Goodman, and now with the Sax it was dominated by Coleman Hawkins. Music was dense and “full”… particularly of Powerful notes played fast…
Could it be in the key of A?
Lester had heard something different, started by Bix Beiderbecke and then picked up by the C-melody tenor sax of Frank Trumbauer. A much more melodic approach using fewer notes sprinkled in only as needed – allowing others to fill in beneath and around it, allowing the listener to anticipate what they wanted to hear. Playing professionally since the early 20’s, this first recording was not until 1936 when John Hammond got this new sound onto his label. The same producer who brought us Benny Goodman ensured the start a different branch of Jazz – analyzed well in this article.
Back in my world, during the project to develop the space-qualified PC, I often worked with a leader in our main facility who was also trying to do innovative things. It was much harder for him as he was surrounded by 5000 people pulling back against it. In fact, he had just LOST a big bid, and I was calling him to offer my support, and he said, “Are you kidding?? We didn’t want to win that. We HAD to bid or we couldn’t bid on the next one… but winning this would have been impossible. The real thing here was to be credible enough but not actually win”. He had a very long-range view of Power, soon as the Administrative Assistant to our Division President – simply called AA.
engaging with Power
As we start out this week, think about your view of Power… who has it, how can you get it, and when you have it, what will it do for you? Most have never really thought about it. When “younger” people would say, “I want to be a VP like you”, I would very politely explain what my days and weeks looked like, and they would be horrified and say “REALLY?” Yes, really. I happened to like it (mostly), and by the time I was there, I was decent at it. I have A LOT of stories about Power, but this week will focus on my early season where I first encountered multiple Vice, Senior, Executive and straight-up Presidents… An appropriate song for our introduction to Lester, eventually called The Prez – Lady, Be Good.
