perception making reality

today i had the fun opportunity to speak to a small group of uw students in a class called 'innovative leadership.' i cant help but see how young college students are these days. its not that i feel especially old… they just seem particularly young. maybe im just reminded of my own youthful arrogance and how the cycle continues.

i was invited to speak about my philosophy of leadership with a specific focus on how some young leaders are deterred from taking action because they feel/are told that they are too young/inexperienced to lead.

i feel silly in these setups since i have no leadership philosophy or cleanly articulated life plan. ive got the impression that people assume that leaders operate from a tight script or strategic plan. far from planned, my 'leadership style' has been the path of least resistance: my instinctual response to scenarios as the arise, succeed or fail.

leadership is a difficult thing to define. it cant be defined in terms of 'goodness,' given the efficacy of genocidal leaders. the only definition i can work with is that a leader enrolls followers to her/his vision.

when i think about the kinds of leaders i respect most, theyre typically those who have fought on behalf of the marginalized. what unites them is that they are charged with convincing a constituency that a grievance exists and that liberty/justice can be achieved.

although my years at mavin filled both criteria, a vital yet underappreciated reason why we were successful was that we effectively managed perception with an almost obsessive attention to our image.

for example, here i was, a 19-yr old college freshman in the middle of an identity crisis, in his boxers in his dorm and trying to negotiate a magazine advertising deal with a multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical company. this, with no real-world magazine, advertising or business experience. 'reality' would have lost us that deal.

sure, we were young, ambitious and addressing a relevant issue. nope, we didnt lie. just like any effective leader, we encouraged our constituency- be they advertisers, the media, our members- whomever- to focus on the story that most inspired them by making us relevant to their experiences and interests. this meant image, branding, wording, nuance, inflection.

there's too much room to interpret words, numbers and accomplishments. i think its typically the ability to hype that distinguishes a success from a failure. in this case, 'reality' rarely has to be reality. theres a difference between cultivating perception to create reality, and lying. enron is an example of the latter. if the distance between the two is too great, reality inevitably topples perception.

the most important thing i could tell the students was to not be baffled or intimidated by the false constraints of 'reality.' they should instead imagine the prospect of unrestricted creativity. overall, i wanted to help empower them to shape their reality, but not get overwhelmed by the enormity of that opportunity. its a heady prospect that requires a sense of responsibility to the truth, but an appreciation for creative nuance.