{"id":251,"date":"2026-08-19T16:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T16:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jpweaverjr.com\/?p=251"},"modified":"2026-08-19T16:41:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T16:41:20","slug":"the-art-of-organizational-leadership-improvisation-within-form","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jpweaverjr.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/19\/the-art-of-organizational-leadership-improvisation-within-form\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Organizational Leadership – Improvisation within Form"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Art of Organizational Leadership – Improvisation within Form<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key to thriving, especially in chaotic times, is to have adaptive leaders at every level of an organization. If we want leaders at every level of our organization, we must acknowledge that leading authentically is, at its heart, an act of self-authorship. This means that, as leaders of leaders, we can\u2019t simply ‘make’ others into leaders. I can\u2019t force that growth upon you. Instead, my role is to create the conditions where you can discover and embrace the most authentic, most impactful version of yourself..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, we have a business to run!  We can\u2019t have a bunch of snowflakes blowing around here finding themselves.  We need people to do certain things!  We have a mission, vision, purpose and values. There are legal requirements and we have to make money.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those truths stand in tension with one another.  How do we as an organization cultivate self-expressive leaders at every level without becoming a carnival freak show?<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More Art than Science<\/strong>
The answer to this question is really more art than science.\u00a0 An enterprise will not have leaders at every level if we try to manage our way to that result – we can not manage our way to leadership. \u00a0 If someone got to where they are by someone else telling them what to do, they are not a leader.\u00a0 Managing is easier but it does not lead to excellence and durability in the long term.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A beautiful metaphor for how to run a business with leaders at every level is improvisational jazz.  Improvisational music actually adheres to form.  It works off of a chart and there are various forms this chart will take – maybe a 32 bar AABA ballad or a 12 bar blues.  There is a time signature, chords and melody.  That is how everyone knows where to come in after a drum solo – everyone, even the caveman drummer, is soloing over the form of the song.  The rule is you can take things as far outside as you want as long as you stay tethered to the form.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most people have heard the original Rodgers and Hammerstein version of My Favorite Things<\/em> from The Sound of Music. I would have gotten my ass kicked in 1981 if the kids from my neighborhood had found out, but true confessions: my sister and I wore the soundtrack out. We spent endless hours dancing around the living room singing along and acting out the scenes like a couple of sissies. There is 8 mm footage somewhere in a closet in my parents’ house documenting this thespian folly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I got older, I traded show tunes for the drums. By my late teens, I was deep into the world of improvisational jazz, which is when I first heard John Coltrane\u2019s 1961 take on My Favorite Things<\/em>. It couldn\u2019t be further from the original. While the original is a stiff, show-tuney \u00be waltz, Coltrane\u2019s version is revolutionary. Drummer Elvin Jones overlays a heavy 6\/8 African polyrhythm on the \u00be framework, creating an intricate two-against-three feel. Harmonically, instead of the original’s fast-moving chord changes, pianist McCoy Tyner locks into a hypnotic modal vamp. Tyner\u2019s piano solo is expansive, it\u2019s authentic, and personally, I think it\u2019s one of the best piano solos ever recorded. Dancing on top of the rhythm section Coltrane takes the song into an alternate reality.  They took a classic standard and created a completely novel experience, yet it remained, undeniably, the same song. You can find over 30 different versions of My Favorite Things<\/em> on Spotify today\u2014all unique, all the same song. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s apply this to business. On one hand, we are proud of individuality; on the other hand, we don\u2019t really tolerate real individuality. If we are honest, our impulse is to homogenize it. What do you think would have happened if Atlantic Records tried to make Coltrane play it like Julie Andrews? Trane would have wrapped that soprano sax around the producer\u2019s head. They would have killed the magic. Clearly, we can\u2019t have an organization where everyone is simply ‘finding themselves’ in isolation, but if we want to be a company with leaders at every level, we must honor the uniqueness of every individual, while staying true to our mission, purpose, and values\u2014our musical chart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ours is a covenantal relationship.  It rests on shared commitment to ideas, to issues, goals, to purpose and even some process.  Covenantal relationships induce freedom.  Once we know what our company is all about we can improvise.  But we need that framework to play music together.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leading Leaders<\/strong>
If we embrace the reality that self-expression, blazing one\u2019s own trail, is the essence of leadership, then individual performers can be great leaders. But not all leaders are great leaders of leaders. They can inspire, they can trailblaze, they can cast a vision of the future, and in that sense, they can help unlock potential in others. However, these individual performers may not be capable or they may not operate in a context where they are called on to actively support the development of others. They can be Elvin Jones, a legend and an inspiration to many drummers, myself included, but they are not John Coltrane leading the quartet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s extend the music metaphor. Since the essence of leadership is authenticity, the role of a leader of leaders can be understood as that of a producer. It\u2019s not your record, but you are helping the artist capture the clearest, most authentic, most impactful expression possible. The legendary producer Rick Rubin approaches it exactly this way; he views his job not as controlling the artist, but as helping them reach a destination they haven’t yet discovered. He acts as a guide, a psychologist, and a curator of taste, stripping away the noise to create a safe space for authenticity. When we approach leading this way, we are engaging with the world\u2014and our teams\u2014rather than trying to entrap them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creating a True Learning Environment\u00a0<\/strong>
It is impossible to teach anything that can\u2019t be broken down into repeatable elements. Car or plane operation, onboarding an applicant\u2014those things can be taught. With leadership, just as with art, you reinvent every time. In music, you learn and play with scales, chord structures, patterns, and rudiments. Sometimes artistic expression can mean bending or breaking a \u201crule.\u201d In leadership, we learn principles, patterns, and perspectives and use those to improvise a response to new opportunities and problems. It is really quite similar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warren Bennis contrasted managers and leaders in his book \u201cOn Becoming a Leader.\u201d  The distinction is vital for us to grasp. Look at how these roles diverge:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manager<\/strong><\/td>Leader<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Copy<\/td>Original<\/td><\/tr>
Surrender to Context<\/td>Master Context<\/td><\/tr>
How and When<\/td>What and Why<\/td><\/tr>
Control<\/td>Trust<\/td><\/tr>
Systems<\/td>People<\/td><\/tr>
Accepts Status Quo<\/td>Challenges Status Quo<\/td><\/tr>
Does things right<\/td>Does the right things<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You see why we can\u2019t train that list on the right?  Managers who simply accept convention may reach the top of a bureaucratic organization, but will never use their talents to the fullest. Leaders must understand the difference and a leader of leaders must help others see it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is another great chart from Bennis\u2019 book.  This one is Learning vs. Training <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning<\/strong><\/td>Training<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Active<\/td>Passive<\/td><\/tr>
Ideas<\/td>Facts<\/td><\/tr>
Dynamic<\/td>Static<\/td><\/tr>
Discovery<\/td>Dogma<\/td><\/tr>
Risk<\/td>Rules<\/td><\/tr>
Exploration<\/td>Prediction<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Leadership Transformation<\/strong>
Training preserves the status quo and makes great soldiers of us all.\u00a0 True learning is experienced as a personal transformation. \u00a0 A person does not gather learnings as a possession but rather becomes a new person.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of the most influential musicians: they are not the most technical musicians. Eric Clapton or B.B. King are not the best technical players\u2014they have soul, they connect with the heart because it is who they are. Their experience has transformed them, and that is what shows up on stage. John Bonham is, in the view of many, the greatest rock and roll drummer of all time because when he played, who he was was on display. Objectively, Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson are not amazing singers. They are leaders because they are authentic. They have lived life, they have seen some things, and it has made them who they are, and who they are is on display. That’s what we are going for here. We are looking to break the next Bonham of business managers, the Clapton of sales, the Dylan of service delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaders are not made by others, but if they are fortunate they have someone empowering them in the transformation process.  To be a great leader of leaders I must embrace the fact that there is no human who will do what I say. The only power I have is the power of persuasion, inspiration and expectation.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, our role as leaders of leaders is to be the producer\u2014creating the space where talent can flourish. We define the mission, provide the framework, and empower our people to improvise within it. Our organization, our world doesn\u2019t need more managers keeping time; we need leaders who have the chops and know the chart well enough to make it their own. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Art of Organizational Leadership – Improvisation within Form The key to thriving, especially in chaotic times, is to have adaptive leaders at every level of an organization. If we want leaders at every level of our organization, we must acknowledge that leading authentically is, at its heart, an act of self-authorship. This means that, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7,9],"tags":[74,68,12],"class_list":["post-251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leadership-business","category-personal-growth-reflection","category-the-real-economy","tag-empowerment","tag-real-leadership-2","tag-servant-leadership"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jpweaverjr.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jpweaverjr.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jpweaverjr.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jpweaverjr.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jpweaverjr.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jpweaverjr.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253,"href":"https:\/\/jpweaverjr.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251\/revisions\/253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jpweaverjr.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jpweaverjr.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jpweaverjr.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}