An Imperfect Combination of Personalities

Last year I downloaded the new Pearl Jam album, Backspacer, via iTunes and it included a short video about the band. The following quote caught my attention. . .

"We sort of have our own thing and its raw and it's an imperfect combination of personalities and we put a lot of faith in Ed (Eddie Vedder) as the artistic director to take bits and pieces from everybody and, in the end, he ties us together."

Too many of us believe that success requires a perfect combination of personalities but the enduring success of Pearl Jam demonstrates that our imperfections can be combined to create something incredible.

That is our challenge as leaders and managers. We need to acknowledge and accept people's imperfections and then tie them all together in a unique way.

Are you ready to accept your role as artistic director?

Comments

[drendall]

Thanks, Clemens. You're right. Those "unifying agents" are very rare. Leaders who can bring people together in this way are truly remarkable.

[David Rendall]

Thanks, Elad. That's a great point. It can be very difficult to help imperfect people become an effective team. As you said, not everyone can do that. My goal is to encourage people to make the effort.

[Clemens Rettich]

I'm with Elad on this. As soon as I read the post, I went "yup, the most powerful teams are the result of disparate talents and personalities pulling in one direction" Then my next thought, as I read the comment on Vedder is "the only way to do that is through remarkable leadership and trust..."

Having the *potential* of a great team means nothing without that one unifying agent. And those are incredibly hard to find.

Hope this creates some great discussion because it is an important topic. Thank you!

[Elad Sherf]

Nice post David,
I think it is more than that. It is not only that "our imperfections can be combined to create something incredible" it is also shows how finding the right person, with the right talents and skill can lead to the creation of real synergy. They found somebody whose comparative advantage was taking everything and putting it together. These combinations are priceless...
Thanks for the post!
Elad