Look, Don't Think

Right-brain recess for left-brain leaders

“I don't have a creative bone in my body.”

I can’t count the number of phenomenal senior leaders who have said this to me after I share about my love of pottery. I know it’s intended to show admiration, but it breaks my heart. Creativity is perhaps the most fundamentally human trait. It’s the birthright of being human.

I know deeply how the very nature of being a senior-level leader can move you away from this impulse. You’re not a ground level “doer.” You’re not a “make-it-happen” director. You reached an apex of your career and now the focus is on vision, management, relationships, and likely, a lot of politics.

When I was the leader of new teacher development, the first week with our brand-new teachers was my Super Bowl. It brought out my worst anxiety, perfectionism, overworking impulses, micro-management, and reactivity.

At the moment when I needed to be at my best, I was the worst version of myself as a leader.

One year, I tried a new approach to that high-pressure week. I tried adding art.  I signed up for a drawing class at a local art center starting the first Tuesday evening of summer teacher training. I let my team know I’d be out of touch for 3 hours in the evening (why did this feel like the hardest part?!?!) and I packed up my new art supplies.  After a half hour, the instructor looked at the still-life in front of me and then back at my paper. With a wry smile, he said “Melissa, you can’t THINK your way through this. You have to actually LOOK.”

So I tried. And the harder I tried, the worse I got. I finally realized that the TRYING was the problem. It was bizarre and terrifying, but I had to let go of the cerebral side of operating. Finally, I stopped TRYING and started LOOKING.

When I walked out of that drawing class, the edges of the leaves on the trees had more definition. The shape of my car was interesting to me for the first time. My head felt clearer than it had in months.   

Even more extraordinarily, the next day, I observed my team in a new way. My feedback had a different quality to it - urgent and important, not fearful and frantic. My team led our most successful teacher training that year with over 1000 new teachers. The reviews were off the charts. My team of teacher-coaches earned extraordinary marks from every stakeholder group.

I could see it all, because I had learned to look.

Senior leaders, business owners, entrepreneurs, you reached this role because you CREATED value in your field along the way. The creative impulse is still in you.

(This is my facilitator introduction photo from that year. I took it long before the art class, but I like to think I already knew that the message would be "Look, don't think!")