It’s the fifth and final section of Part One of Dare To Lead. “Curiosity and Grounded Confidence” is all about empowering leaders to keep striving toward the vulnerability skills that are so essential to daring leadership.
This article will unpack the chapter, discuss its implications specifically for choral leaders, and then ask you the questions I’ve been asking myself as I read.
Who We Are Is How We Lead
“As a leader, I no longer check my personal life at the door. In fact, sharing stories and leading through the lens of multiple perspectives and experiences has made me more approachable and relatable to my students, staff, and community.” (179)
This quote from Dr. Sanée Bell exemplifies the kind of human leadership, specifically in education, that is so effective. By letting her vulnerability guide her leadership, she’s become a better leader. As Dr. Brown writes, “Leaders need the grounded confidence to stay tethered to their values, respond rather than react emotionally, and operate from self-awareness, not self-protection.” (168) It’s the self-knowledge that is at the core.
Horizon Conflict
“To lead effectively we’re responsible for respecting and leveraging the different views and staying curious about how they can often conflict.” (174)
As a choral leader, we have a very different horizon and perspective from our students. It’s up to us, as the leader, to (a) communicate our perspective, (b) try to use our empathy skills to see from our students’ perspectives, and (c) rumble enough to get on the same page when we can.
Curiosity
Dr. Brown talks at length about the importance of curiosity as we continue to seek to strengthen our vulnerability skills. The sentence that grabbed me was this: “We have to have some level of knowledge or awareness before we can get curious.” (174) In other words, it’s only after we get some knowledge that our curiosity can really blossom.
This is good to know about ourselves – and she’s writing us to encourage us, knowing that we have already gained a lot of knowledge from the first four sections of the book! – but it’s also a really great perspective to have about our students. They might not be curious about the knowledge we offer them, at first. That’s ok. It’s the knowledge that we give them that will spur their curiosity to grow.
Questions
“Developing a disciplined practice of rumbling with vulnerability gives leaders the strength and emotional stamina to dare greatly.” (167) How do you build this practice in front of your students, knowing you will fall on your face?
What are you most curious about with regards to being vulnerable as a choral leader?
Part of the challenge of choral leadership is that the core team changes so relentlessly. How do you build these skills when you can’t build a consistent long-term team?
As you look back over the almost-200 pages in Part 1, what stands out? What Daring Leadership tool is going to make the biggest difference to you as a choral leader?
This ends the first big part of the book, “Rumbling With Vulnerability.” Each part is self-contained from here on out. Look for Part 2, “Living Into Our Values” on July 22.