Oslo, January 28th, 2012. On any given day, most human beings tend to act as cheerleaders for those who enjoy momentary or continuous success in business, sports, and entertainment. Meanwhile, some less successful people spend their valuable hours belittling those successful people. And all too often, too many predictably lose interest when they encounter challenges and are in a down period.
Maybe all of this, in respective order, is because we need someone to inspire us, to (misunderstood) push others down in order to direct attention towards themselves, or that we have enough challenges in our own lives that we simply can’t deal with other people’s challenges.
This blog post is a reminder that there should always be space for thoughts on any individual effort to transform from one situation or state of life to a new one. And I also want to focus on how music and communication play important roles in how we develop ourselves. You don’t have to be a sports athlete or the CEO of Coca Cola, Apple, Amazon, or Starbucks to make use of scientific knowledge about how we think and do things.
Some days ago, it struck me how impressive one Norwegian woman, whose name shall be revealed at the end of the post, has transformed from her past to her present; leading herself (self-leadership) and inspiring others to do the same (super-leadership). She actually made greater transformations than most other people ever will, and personifies a few essential theories that even business leaders struggle to implement in their working days.
While she is not the leader of a company, she has asserted – and continues to assert – massive influence on her own life (which can be challenging enough for anyone, especially when others have their more or less informed opinions) and inspires her peers to make similarly positive changes. Transformational leadership can certainly be applied both to yourself and others.
To put it into perspective, I want to compare her transformation efforts to some of the theories by transformational leadership gurus James MacGregor Burns and Bernard M. Bass:
* Individualized Consideration – the degree to which the leader attends to each follower’s needs, acts as a mentor or coach to the follower and listens to the follower’s concerns and needs. The leader gives empathy and support, keeps communication open and places challenges before the followers. This also encompasses the need for respect and celebrates the individual contribution that each follower can make to the team. The followers have a will and aspirations for self development and have intrinsic motivation for their tasks.
This Norwegian woman went through the celebrity “hamster wheel” from 2003-2004, receiving both positive and negative feedback from people. Many people became inspired by her, and she currently has thousands of followers and friends on Facebook and Twitter, who she liaises with in her new professional engagements as an artist, songwriter and personal trainer/health coach. But at some point during her first 15 minutes of fame, she decided that she had accomplished what she wanted, she wanted to be somewhere else, and decided to move on. She spent some time out of the limelight to sort things out and make decisions according to what she felt was right for her. I know too many people who don’t have will or aspirations for self-development or have that intrinsic (essential/natural) motivation for their tasks. Instead of bowing to public opinions (some would say public pressure) on how she should act, she carved out her own plan for how she wanted to live her life. (“Be yourself; everyone else is taken.”) Seriously, how many people have the courage to do exactly that? We claim to do it, but we always tend to walk around in the same circles of life and business, while expecting (and loving to tell) everyone else to change.
* Inspirational Motivation – the degree to which the leader articulates a vision that is appealing and inspiring to followers. Leaders with inspirational motivation challenge followers with high standards, communicate optimism about future goals, and provide meaning for the task at hand. Followers need to have a strong sense of purpose if they are to be motivated to act. Purpose and meaning provide the energy that drives a group forward. The visionary aspects of leadership are supported by communication skills that make the vision understandable, precise, powerful and engaging. The followers are willing to invest more effort in their tasks, they are encouraged and optimistic about the future and believe in their abilities.
Outside her personal life, she currently divides her time between being a highly successful health coach (personal trainer) and artist/songwriter. As a coach, she does exactly what is described above. Believe me, most of us occasionally need someone else to look at our behaviour with fresh eyes. Again, through Twitter and Facebook, amidst a hectic schedule, she sustains an active and personalised communication with her followers and friends, who become inspired by both her own accomplishments and advice to others. Before the advent of digital communication, there were so many borders between all of us. When people ask what Facebook or other social media is good for, they are probably happy with the few friends and acquaintances they already have. And there’s nothing wrong about that. Others will use social media for changing into something new together with other people. That’s why social media are called social.
* Idealized Influence – Provides a role model for high ethical behavior, instills pride, gains respect and trust.
Her own track record speaks for itself. She has become a role model for putting emphasis on making the right choices, earning pride, respect, and trust. These values are similar regardless of hierarchical titles, salaries, and material goods. A right choice is a right choice is a right choice…
Change is all about making choices. If you choose to not change, that’s fine too, but it should be a conscious choice. Conscious in the sense that it affects the lives of you and other people in a positive way.
This woman was an Idol contestant in 2003, contributed on a rock song with members from Staal and Rammsund in 2006 for the charity Prosjekt 101, participated in the Norwegian tryouts for Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 and 2010, was cast in a few movies, and was part of the winning couple in Norway’s edition of Strictly Come Dancing in 2008.
In 2007, she – the now 30-year old Lene Alexandra Øien – enjoyed a Top 20 hit across Scandinavia with the song “My Boobs Are Ok,” written by herself together with Stanley Ferdinandez, Lars Urban Robertsson, Tommy Berre, and Ivar Winther. (Oh, I forgot to ask her critics: What are your personal, commercial accomplishments?)
In the wake of this self-ironic hit, she made many transformations over a longer period of time, including shrinking the size of her upper chest area, became a personal trainer at the leading gym chain SATS, and signed a deal with Sony Music. This week, she released a new jazz-infused EP – “Try To Catch Me” – featuring the title track plus “All That Jazz,” “My Funny Valentine,” “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend,” and “Summertime.”
I will always respect those who raise from any given level to a new one. To enter unfamiliar terrain and create something new.
Some final words: another leadership guru Gary Yukl draws some tips for transformational leadership (1994) (and you should feel free to replace the word “employees” with “family, friends, acquaintances, and yourself”):
- Develop a challenging and attractive vision, together with the employees.
- Tie the vision to a strategy for its achievement.
- Develop the vision, specify and translate it to actions.
- Express confidence, decisiveness and optimism about the vision and its implementation.
- Realize the vision through small planned steps and small successes in the path for its full implementation.
And her critics? I will pay attention to them when they – like Lene Alexandra – can provideinspirational motivation and idealized influence.
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