Hat Attack
The rush of power to the head is not as becoming as a new hat. (Helen Van Slyke)
Jez Colborne is a Sync Member and part of our Sync Intensives programme. Here he talks about why hats are such an important part of his leadership journey.
Sync Intensives is a programme running in 2010 over 8 months from April - November, 2010
As part of this, some of the 15 people on the programme will explore leadership from their perspective as it relates to their work and lives and write articles and case studies. Over to Jez.....
Hat Tricks
Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way.
(Dr. Seuss)
Being a leader you have to wear different hats in different situations with different people.
This can be difficult to get your head around: wearing different hats and knowing when to take them off is a leadership skill.
This article is all about hats and leadership and what I’ve been learning as I climb my mountain with my leadership coach.
Cat in the Hat
From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere. (Dr. Seuss)
Do you remember the Cat in the Hat books?
Dr Seuss wrote this about the Cat character because he wanted something that would help young people to read and learn.
Above all, Dr Seuss wanted to make learning fun and for the learning to stick.
The Cat in the Hat books are very funny and a little bit different. You don’t forget them in a hurry - with their rhyme and their rhythm.
As leaders, we want people to remember our rhymes and rhythms.
Having a strong leadership style and rhythm is a good thing.
Comfort zone
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind.
(Dr. Seuss)
We know that sometimes people feel uncomfortable around our disabilities.
Whatever we do, people still don’t take us seriously. It doesn’t matter what hat you wear and how hard you try to fit in, people just see what’s wrong with you.
An important part of leading is to develop your own style. Hats have always been about style and making a ‘statement’ but that’s not the whole story. I reckon you’ve got to enjoy the different hats you wear and practice wearing them for yourself.
You need to get in your own comfort zone with your hats and feel good. As Dr Seuss says,’ those who matter, won’t mind’.
Just like that!
Practice what you preach
(Titus Maccius Plautus, Asinaria
- Roman comic dramatist)
It’s important to practice what you preach, so here are my 3 favourite hats to share with you.
My Stetson When I'm wearing this I’m like a nomad cowboy going from town to town. I like watching the different scenery around me. Leadership is a journey from town to town and sometimes you can take your hat off to wipe your brow and not be on the leadership road and sometimes you can let someone else be leading with their hat on.
My baseball cap This cap is more everyday and I feel comfortable in it. It’s my creative hat. Wearing it, is for my time: It frees me to be to be creative and compose, to just be me. A tune is something real, making something out of nothing – not just notes.
Everyone needs to take time to think and make and not be in the public eye, even leaders.
My fedora This is my professional hat. I feel important when I’m wearing my fedora and it means business. Reactions of people are different when I’m wearing this, they don’t quite know what I’m going to do. Some people think I’m going to be strict whilst others think I’m going to crack a joke.
Tommy Cooper wore a fedora and people laughed at him, but also found him a bit mysterious too. He was known for his fedora. I’d like to be known for my hats. He died wearing his hat on stage, with the sound of people laughing in his ears. I’d like to die with my music playing and have people remember me for being a good leader.
Putting on your thinking cap
The need to be right all the time is the biggest bar to new ideas.
(Edward de Bono)
A good leader has to keep on thinking all the time and not care too much about being right all the time.
Edward de Bono was a thinking expert and he developed a way to think about things using different coloured hats: red, black, white, yellow, green and blue.
As a leader you have to do a lot of thinking . The 6 hats can help you think about decisions in different ways. Try these on for size.
Red Hat - Putting on the red hat means considering other people’s feelings and emotions and how your decisions will affect them.
Black Hat - The black hat, means having to look at what might go wrong if you make a decision. It allows you to see the pitfalls, before you fall into them.
Yellow Hat - Wearing the yellow hat is about thinking about the good things that will come from your decisions - the sunny side up.
Green Hat - A green hat is about using creativity in your thinking and using this to help spice things up.
White Hat - The white hat is about having the facts and the figures in front of you.
Blue Hat - Wearing the blue hat means you have to see the whole picture! A bit like being head chef .
Why don’t you try one of these hats on for size when you’ve got a big decision to make? You don’t have to do it alone. You can hand out different colour hats to your team.
Hat chat
Cock your hat - angles are attitudes. (Frank Sinatra)
I’m interested in what people do to show who they are and what they do to help them feel in their skin for the road ahead. Hats can be a big part of leadership thinking.
I hope to have a lot of hat conversations with Sync people after this article goes out. Let’s get our hats on together....
