Be the Joe Maddon of Directors

After watching the Cubs for the last few season’s, particularly the 2016 Season where they became World Champions for the first time in over 100 years, I started to think what it was about this young team that made them so successful? The more I learned, I really began to admire Joe Maddon and his unique style of management. I wondered if there was something tangible to take away from that could translate to other areas of leadership, and I thought, what if you could aspire to be the Joe Maddon of directors? I wrote that down in the notes section of my Iphone, chewed on it a little bit, and I think there’s really something to that.

As always, I’ll preface my blog posts that these are thoughts that I aspire to, not that are personally tried and tested. I have directed before, I consider myself a director, but I don't have the opportunity yet to make this a consistent practice. These thoughts and curiosities come more out of how I would like to improve rather than what’s worked for me.

Along with Joe Maddon, I read the book “Leaders Eat Last” by Simon Sinek, and got into sort of a youtube wormhole of his talks, and again, extremely relevant, so I’ll be adding some of thoughts in here as well.

“Success is a team sport. Failure, we can do on our own, but success takes the help of others. (your team)…they are going to be the ones that brings your vision comes to life. If they feel taken care of, they will take care of you.” – Simon Sinek

What essentially is the bare bones job description of a director? One bullet would be

-Get a group of people who have possibly never met before and get them moving in the same direction

Another one

-Have group of people deliver your vision, which includes them being artistic and vulnerable

How do we do this? If we look at people like Joe Maddon who’ve been extremely successful at getting results in high pressure situations, it’s all about community, culture, and care.

When putting together your team, it’s important to remember the “why”.

The “what” is “We are putting on this artistic production for a paying audience for a production company”.

But why is everyone there? Why is important for you to direct this piece of work right now? Think about the “why” that has brought your team together, and don’t lose sight of that. Maybe even talk about it. Why do they love this show? Why are they an actor/choreographer/designer/stage manager in the first place? What are they getting out of it? It’s so important not to lose sight of all of those reasons, because they’re the emotional things that drive us.

Doing theatre can be lucrative (*chuckles), it can be a step to furthering your career, but we do it because we love it. It SHOULD be fun. It should be rewarding, it should create good memories. The work is important, the artistic integrity must absolutely be there, but behind the work is a love to be there, so it’s important as a leader not to forget that.

It’s something that you as a leader need to make known in the most stressful moments. If you can take a step back at the end of the third day of rehearsal and say “So, this is the third day of rehearsal. We’re gonna get there. We didn’t get everything done that we wanted to, but we worked so hard. We’ll pick it up tomorrow. Great job.” That goes so far for people leaving rehearsal knowing it’s ok, and they have a leader that believes in them and sees the big picture.

Circling back to Papa Smurf, Maddon is not laid back about winning. It’s something he thinks about all the time I’m sure. He’s very strategic and goes by statistics, but it’s High Stakes, Low Temperature. If you cast and hire people on your team that are all going in the same direction and are ready to work, the environment should never have to be a pressure cooker. In fact, you can create that environment even if you don’t get to choose your team. Being the leader and setting the example goes a long way.

“Don’t ever let the pressure exceed the pleasure.” -Joe Maddon

That quote goes back to the “why” we’re there. Even at the very top of his field, Maddon is concerned with the pleasure of the game. He stays loose and productive. He brings dogs and bear cubs into the clubhouse, he’s loose on dress code, you see them going to their next stop all wearing pajamas or crazy suits. It’s more than PR, it’s community building. You watch him switching up who plays what position, and it’s sort of like watching a little league game at times. You may not ever have the opportunity to do the same things he does, and maybe you don’t have a Michael Scott personality, but there are ways to show care with your team: have a cast get together before rehearsal starts, post comforting, funny, inspirational quotes in the lobby at auditions, ask people about how they’re doing, make sure you know the climate of the cast so you can address problems and not be in the dark. Trust in your team is something that builds and is earned. I truly believe you get the best results from people if they know they are safe and you have their back.

If you were to compare a director to a CEO, or even a President there are similarities in the skillset that is required. They absolutely have to have a strong vision of what they want and what will work. Our President ran on a vision. He got the buy in from his voters because he connected with them and spoke to them. The problem is, he has had so many communication related missteps that so many people he's working with don’t trust him, That’s toxic to success and forward movement. Again, dictators divide people, leaders bring them together. As long as everyone is divided, they can’t come together and start their own movement.

Great Leaders, CEO’s, and Directors do what I mentioned earlier: bring people together to move in the same direction. As the director, you have the vision that's driving the process. How far can that vision go if it’s not communicated effectively? How can you make that vision a reality? Where does the vision stop? Just with what’s onstage in front of the audience?, or is it the whole process? If the culture of care is there, it allows everyone to focus on doing the very best on their piece of the puzzle to create something you can all be proud of.

Something to be sensitive of: actors and artists in general are hard on themselves. It’s really vulnerable to perform, and it can be really scary if they are feeling self conscious, or that they don’t belong. If that happens, there is no way they can do their best work. A big part of preventing that issue is picking the right people that you want to work with, so you’re confident, even if things aren’t going well momentarily, they’re going to be able to deliver really good work, and you can be supportive through the struggles if there are any.

Another important thing is to be very clear on expectations. If you kind of in the back of your mind wanted everyone off book  the rehearsal after a scene is blocked, but didn’t say it out loud, you can’t get mad if that doesn’t happen.

There are ways to hold people accountable, get what you need from them, but also make them feel safe. Know that the courage to perform is not something that comes from within the performer naturally. It comes from someone telling them they believe in them and have their back. So even if consistent accolades is not your style, creating a community of safety and positive communication can go a long way. Things that you can do as a leader that cost nothing:

1. make people feel safe, valued and valuable

2. try to help them grow

3. be kind prepared, and organized

4. be respectful of their time

5. enjoy the process as much as you can.

Is there a particular experience where you saw this type of leadership really come to life?

“I need an audition song!”

“I need an audition song!”

We’ve all had that thought come in our head, right? An audition comes up and our standard “go-to” songs aren’t going to work, or they’re asking for something specific that you just don’t have. Time to freak out and cancel your audition...just kidding.

 Hopefully this blog will help. As I’m thinking about auditioning for a few things and trying to figure out audition material, I thought I would jot down some of my thoughts.  These are things I’ve learned over the years through success and more importantly, failure in picking songs. Hope it helps!

A piece of general advice: make sure you’re prepared First step in that is to make sure you've practiced it with an accompanist/voice teacher etc. You need to know if it’s really difficult to play, if what you have in your mind as the intro actually matches what’s on the page, how to explain the tempo to the accompanist so you sound like you know what you’re talking about. If you don’t know, ask someone who accompanies auditions, and ask them if anything needs to be written on the page that would be helpful for a sight reader. Preparation is the key to doing well and not sweating the small details.

Show what you do

First and foremost, an audition is about showing who you are and what you do. Take some time to reflect on what you excel at as a performer. Find material that give you the opportunity to show off those attributes. Also, pick material that you can sing..

-in your sleep

-if you’re sick

-if you’re nervous

something that shows you at your best and what you can do without added anxiety.

 Let’s face it: you’re going to get thrown off in the moment, and you don’t need that extra stress of a high note that you don’t know if you have that day or not.

Again, do what you excel at. An audition song is great if it’s a reflection on who you are, especially if you’re being seen for the first time.

 Who are you? Not, who do you want your type to be, or who you think you sound like, or look like, or what parts you think you’d be good at, but who are YOU? Are you funny? Reserved? Out there? Sensitive? What can you do to have an opportunity to sing your truth? What is your “personal brand” as a performer? What are the strong attributes that you have that are in demand? (maybe more on this later)

What category would you classify the show?

A good place to start is looking at the show and what category it falls under. When was it written? Who wrote it? What’s their style of music? If you’re auditioning for Ragtime or Secret Garden, even though they were written in the 90’s, you’re going to need something on the more “legit” side of things. If you’re auditioning for something more pop/rock/folk etc, you may be asked to not even sing from a musical, so you will want to have some things from the radio that you can pull together or refine and have ready to go. Another tip would be have a popular song from each decade on hand, just in case that would be the thing to sing.

How does it feel?

Something I do is sing through some of the songs from the show for which I’m auditioning, and pay attention to how it feels to sing that song. How am I singing it? Where does it sit in my voice? What color would I name this song? Is more “talky”, or very legato? What’s the high/low note? How would I describe it stylistically? Then when I’ve thought of that, it’s time to reflect: what songs do I know that match these things? They could be from completely different genres, time periods, characters, but if they feel similar, it may be a good choice. If you can have the character their casting ringing in their ears when you are singing, all the better. If it’s not what they’re looking for, at least you’re confidently bringing to the table your stamp on how you could perform it.

Words, Words, Words

Think about the character(s) you’re auditioning for, and what they are going through. What other characters have had similar issues/problems/goals in life? This could also include listening to the words of a song, and if it’s completely a different character, even a different gender than who you’re going for, and the words fit, go ahead and use it. Also, make sure the song is active, and you’re trying to do something with your words. Something you can do is assign verbs to each phrase or verse. What are you trying to accomplish? (ex: Charm, intimidate, inspire, comfort etc) Focusing on those and the why these words need to be sung is another way to get yourself out of your head when the moment to sing comes.

One Last Time

A good way to get a gut reaction from yourself would be to ask “If today was my last day on Earth, and I had 1 more song to sing? What would it be?” It’s kind of a downer question, but if you have seen the movie “Walk the Line”, and that scene where Johnny Cash goes into sing for Sam Phillips, he asks him the same question…and it’s a valid one! What song is very important to you? Whatever it is, it warrants being heard. The people sitting behind the table deserve to hear YOU sing it. So, if you find yourself stuck, and don’t know how to best represent yourself, that song might be it.

I hope my ramblings are helpful. After reading some of these tips, were any of them things you haven’t thought of? What’s something that you do that has worked out well? Let me know!