We Are The Champions – Queen and Leadership
In Sixth Grade, our elementary school team won the Lakeside Invitational Basketball Tournament, in Elliot County, about forty-five minutes from our hometown of Grayson, KY.
We were the champions. One of my teammates and I let a few lines of the Queen song, We Are The Champions fly in the locker room, postgame. Naturally.
We cut down the nets on both ends of the court, celebrated with each other, our coach, and our families. It was big fun, and every time I see another team win a championship of any kind, it always strikes an emotional chord and connection back to when our squad, the Prichard Yellow Jackets (but we were four little guys with one, taller fella as our center; so our coach called us the “Prichard Gnats and the Horsefly”, as opposed to the Yellow Jackets.), won our championship.
That was in 1990, and I never won another “real” championship ever again (unless we count intramural hoops at Florida Southern College in 1998 and 1999, back to back…but who’s counting. I’m totally not.)
My wife and I recently went to see Bohemian Rhapsody, the story of how Queen became a band, crushed it, broke up, and ultimately reunited before Freddie passed away. Without giving away too much of the movie, though many may already be relatively familiar, toward the end of the movie we’re taken back to a famous Queen performance, live at LIVE AID, in London in July of 1985. As the actors portrayed Freddie and the band performing Radio Ga Ga, 90% of the audience in our movie theater began clapping to the familiar beat!
Seriously. Nearly every single person began clapping, in unison, to the beat “Freddie” was leading on the screen.
My wife and I looked at each other and cracked up. Then, when everyone kept clapping to the beat, a) we joined in of course, and b) I couldn’t help but think, WOAH! Wait!
This is a real-life EMOTIONAL CONNECTION. It’s happening. Right now. Before our eyes. In this movie theater.
I was born in 1979, and my wife was born in 1985 (four months after the LIVE at Wembley show). If I may, as diplomatically and politically correct as I can possibly be, suffice it to say the majority of the audience in our particular movie theater that day were born well before us. So no doubt, they had been Queen fans long before us, and I’m sure they have stories, memories, threads, and emotional connections to the music, the era in which Queen disrupted pop culture and the music industry, and each person just may have their own real life coming of age story associated with Queen music.
A few songs later, in the movie’s portrayal of this historical, LIVE AID performance, during We Are The Champions, as people in our movie theater were singing along, I thought once again about the Lakeside Invitational back in 1990. After I got over the split second of annoyance that I hadn’t won a real, sanctioned championship since 1990, I thought about champions in another context.
Leadership.
Think about it. Regardless of your actual title, rank, or role in life or at work, those of us who accept the challenge and responsibility of leadership are truly the champions. People look to us, count on us, listen to us, watch us, emulate us, question us, and most importantly, they follow us.
We are the champions.
CHAMPION – a person who fights for or defends any person or cause
When those we lead are frustrated, we are the champions.
When those we lead have doubts, we are the champions.
When those we lead need help, we are the champions.
When those we lead succeed and deserve recognition, we are the champions.
When those we lead are ready to grow, we are the champions.
It’s in these moments, as we champion our teams, friends, and loved ones, real-life emotional connections begin to happen. Right then. Before our eyes.
And then we realize, it doesn’t matter whether or not we “win” championships – literally or metaphorically – in our work or in our lives.
What matters and perhaps most crucial to our leadership journey is, in fact, how we make people feel. The mark of a great leader is what he or she is capable of leading people to do or accomplish. Usually before people are compelled to do anything, they must first feel something.
Make people feel welcome, comfortable, and important. You’ll soon begin moving people to move.
When you feel frustrated, when you have doubts, when you need help, when you succeed, and when you’re ready to grow, remember that we are the champions.
…bad mistakes, sure we’ve all had a few.
…we’ve all had our share of sand kicked in our face.
…but we’ve come through.
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS.
So go champion those you lead, and when you do, lead with hospitality. They’ll never forget how welcome, comfortable, and important you make them feel. Emotional connections will inspire action, performance, accomplishments, and results beyond what anyone thought possible.
One for the road…
Seven years ago nearly to the day, I met the beautiful woman you see in the featured image of this post. Five years after we met, she made me a very lucky man and became my wife. Thank you, Jenna, for being my champion and thank you for letting me be yours. It’s our emotional connection which inspires me to be a champion for positive change, encouragement, and inspiration to all those who need it. We are the champions, but you are my queen.
Happy meet-iversary and happy early birthday! (and great suggestion on the movie; I’ll never doubt you again. But about Harry Potter…)
Taylor
