Leadership Lessons from a Savant

by Apr 15, 20083 comments

derekparavicinifoIt is humbling to witness a savant – because to do so can fill many of us with wonder and mystery.

If you met 26 year-old Derek Paravicini in the street, you might be drawn to judgment. He is blind, has the intelligence of a three-year old, and cannot dress or feed himself. But if you listened to him on a concert hall you might be speechless – he has the musical mastery of a genius and posesses “universal absolute pitch”.

It’s all in how we see it, isn’t it?

In my corporate work with top executives, I see so many people judging others – not smart enough, not producing enough, not leadership material, not agressive enough, not good with people, not this, not that. And in addition, we judge silently on a series of hidden tracks – by race, color, gender, religion, beliefs, looks, weight – the screens we use are endless – and they are the cause of the majority of dysfunctional behavior I see in teams.

Leadership is about reducing the circle of those we exclude and widening the circle of those we include until there is only one circle. As Howard Winters remarked, “Civilization is the process in which one gradually increases the number of people included in the term ‘we’ or ‘us’ and at the same time decreases those labeled ‘you’ or ‘them’ until that category has no one left in it.” Inspiring others requires that we include them, not exclude them. As Edwin Markham wrote, “He drew a circle that shut me out; Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in.”

Watch these two remarkable videos and think about how we could all be more inspiring if we judged others less. After all, we might be standing in the presence of an overlooked genius.