Are You Engaging Your Audience?

I make no apologies for my taste in music. In fact, I’m convinced the 80’s hairband genre featured some of the most talented musicians and entertainers in the last century. You certainly don’t have to share this opinion, but I’m clearly not alone - as evidenced by the 30 to 40 thousand fans packing major league baseball stadiums on a nightly basis to see four of the biggest bands of that era, and only one of which has released new music in the last decade…

Just recently, Cindy and I had the chance to enjoy a bit of the nostalgia as they made their stop at Nationals Park in Washington, DC. Having purchased the tickets more than a year and a half prior (when we were being heavily restricted on the amount of in-person work we could even do), I opted for seats in the nosebleed section of the stadium. That ended up being a huge advantage since it rained off and on through the entire show; we were under the roof the entire time, but that’s a story for another time…

From the time we boarded the metro to head into DC, we felt way over dressed! While we had scaled down from the business attire we were wearing for a few meetings in the area earlier that day, our jeans and t-shirts were far dressier than all the fishnet paraphernalia we were surrounded by! Regardless of clothing though, we all had at least one thing in common; at least one of the bands playing had made enough of a connection with us to be worth $75 (or much more) per person to see them play on a muggy June Wednesday afternoon.

On more than a few occasions, I’ve shared my disdain for the lead singer from an 80s band named after a rodent. Although I had always really liked the band’s music, he was a complete ass the first time I saw them play live in a small bar in the mid to late 90s. Couple that with a mediocre (at best) performance and I’ve struggled to even listen to their music ever since. I did see that same band play live one more time, not by choice but as part of a larger show with several other bands. The band headlining that particular show didn’t play a whole lot better but their lead singer had a completely different approach; he was one of the most engaging entertainers I had ever seen! Quite honestly, the way he engaged the audience carried the band that night.

Bret Michaels has made a career out of engaging his audience. He did that, albeit while very hoarse, when we saw Poison in 2017 and he’s still doing it today. He brings a level of energy that very few can (or are willing to) match. From the time he stepped on stage, it was clear he was there to serve the crowd and he was very intentional in saying how much he appreciated the opportunity to do it…

OK Wes, what does any of that have to do with leadership?

I realize the vast majority of folks that Cindy and I will ever interact with will not be performing on stages in baseball stadiums… But if any of us want to develop genuine influence with the teams we lead and build connections that earn real buy-in, we can take a lesson from the energy Bret Michaels puts into engaging his audience and showing that he appreciates them being there. When we get right down to it, we need to take responsibility for engaging our teams and we had better make sure they know we appreciate what they contribute - or someone else will!

Moving forward here, we’ll dig into some things we can each do to build a strong leadership presence - even if we’re not wearing a bandana or singing songs from more than 30 years ago…