I can remember when I moved to Brazil and I had spent two years learning Spanish. I was out visiting branches. I was working for Citibank at the time and had responsibility for consumer businesses there.

Brazil is a big country. I was living in Rio and it’s like living in Miami. I was out visiting a branch in the equivalent of Denver. Not everybody spoke great English and I hadn’t gotten very far in Portuguese. As I was sitting there trying to discern and understand what this branch manager was saying to me, and he was struggling with his English, the coin sort of dropped that this guy really knows what he’s talking about. He’s having a hard time getting it out.

As I thought about the places I’d been on that trip, I realized this was probably the best branch manager I’d seen, but it would have been very easy for me to think he wasn’t, because he couldn’t communicate as well as some of the others who were fluent in English.

I think that was an important lesson. It is too easy to let the person with great presentation or language skills buffalo you into thinking that they are better or more knowledgeable than someone else who might not necessarily have that particular set of skills.

From an interview with Robert Selander in today's New York Times. This is a vivid reminder of a speaker's need to rest a polished style on a foundation of knowledge and integrity. Later in the interview, Selander talks about presence and offers the opinion "Presence is knowing what to communicate, and how."

The Folly of Following

 

"She'll be a hard act to follow."

So don't.

Just because you are following someone chronologically or in a leadership succession does not mean you have to follow them in all other ways.

We want your voice, your style, your strengths, your intentions, your aspirations.

Easily said, but not as easily done.

 

From Jeffrey Cufaude, an important reminder that it's our voice that we have to find, our voice that we have share with others.

A TED video that's literally more beautiful than others I've seen--it's Marian Bantjes's display and explanation of her stunning work. I treasure it for the final few minutes when Bantjes explains why she does what she does--"truly imaginative visual work is extremely important in society...I'm seeding the imagination of the populace. You just never know who is going to take something from that and turn it into something else. Because inspiration is cross-pollinating...I really believe that a fully operating, rich society needs these seeds coming from all directions and all disciplines in order to keep the gears of inspiration and imagination flowing and cycling and growing."

Strangely reminds me of the first time I read Lawrence Lessig. I wish we valued imagination and collaboration more highly in all our work.