...Character Leadership invests long in love and short-sells hate.

Character Leadership has: clarity of purpose, the courage to create, the confidence to “try & err” and the modesty to share. I found these Character Leaders at an unusual place, of an unusual age and possessing an unusual love. It was strange to find an island of cheerfulness amidst the ugly storm of yelling, accusing and burden-shifting surrounding our current U.S. presidential campaign.  I met these Character Leaders at a musical performance session at Berklee College of Music’s Cafeteria last Thursday evening.  They were contemporary music students. These students played music that Tatiana, the bandleader, fused in-and-out of different genres. I listened to a combination of contemporary jazz, bossa nova, Latin American ballad and R&B that hit emotional chords as if professionals were performing.  

For an hour I enjoyed the performance with my son and wife. I watched how these Berklee College of Music students exercised Character Leadership behaviors that put me and many so called leaders to shame.   Tatiana wrote the lyrics and composed the music at one of her classes the previous semester, where my son met her.  She recruited other students to help her put together the musical arrangements for her composition. They came together to embellish Tatiana’s original work with harmony and diverse musical orchestration. They “tried and err” on the different arrangements during practice sessions prior to the Thursday evening concert. They created new catchy musical pieces.   Each musical piece leveraged the special qualities of each of the collaborators. In one song, for example, Tatiana had “Sophia” as the lead singer. Sophia’s voice was the outstanding instrument in that piece while the guitar, bass, violin, flute, trumpet and percussion of different sorts accompanied Sophia (flamenco drum box, Cuban congas, Bolivian drum, modern drum set).  Mary, with her violin, followed. Tatiana sang and played the guitar along with the other band members.   Tatiana and her team played as it were the last night of their lives. They smiled and vibrated with energy that was contagious. There were women, men, Asian, African American, Latin American, White Anglo Saxon, Christian, non-Christian, physically disabled and abled, different fashion styles. When looking at Tatiana and her fellow Character Leaders I saw diversity in full expression through music.

I pondered about how different my undergraduate experience was from that of these Berklee College of Music students.   I attended a leading undergraduate business school.  Far from being taught to create and learn as a team, we were encouraged to be “cut-throat” competitive.  That night, however, I saw Character Leadership in practice.  The students had a clear common purpose. This was to generate a positive emotion through music.  Their effort was focused on creating and performing, to the best of their ability, enchanting musical pieces.  These students came together to “try and err”. They came together to learn.   During the performance they shared amongst them the stage’s limelight. They shared with the audience their creation.  That night I learned that Character Leadership invests long in love and short-sells hate.

We sang. We danced. We became one in the music.   That evening, we were all stars lighting the heavens.   Thank you to my son, Michael, for showing me Character Leaders.