James Jeansonne

I love this, James! In the spirit of getting my kids even more independent (aka decreasing the interruption while I work in my home office), I went out last weekend and picked up a Nest Mini for each of them. Now, Siri is getting them logged in to synchronous classes and Google answers their questions during asynchronous classes. I’ll hear them ask her, “Hey, Google, what’s the cube root of 125?” or “Hey, Google, how do you say girl in Spanish?” If they need me, they love the broadcast feature. My youngest will demand from upstairs, “Hey, Google, broadcast to the office. Mom, I need help.” I don’t know, I might actually be teaching them to be lazy instead of independent.

This is a fantastic post, James! I am one of those see it in the theater and then 4 times on Disney + people. And while King George is a favorite of mine – it is indicative of your point. I may not favor what he stands for but he brings humor to scenes that may otherwise be dark. And my point might be lost on the favorite of others if they merely used their historic viewpoint of King George instead of listening to my character reasoning. All the best leaders check their ego at the door, realizing they can learn something from everyone.

James, sir. Excellent post and incorporation of relevant concepts to an amazing play. My ten year old and I have watched Hamilton about a dozen times so far – learn something new every time we watch. Great correlation!

This is an interesting question you raised at the end. I do think that the “talk less, smile more” could actually be good advice for a meeting facilitator. Maybe the facilitator could try to ask leading questions and provide a platform for each team members to be a “Hamilton”.

Great post James. I will quietly confess that I haven’t seen Hamilton yet (I will add it to the list). I’ve been mulling over the comment about Diversity of Leadership. You are so right that we need to ask more questions and how frequently group think leaks into the conversation. Perhaps it’s too many years in leadership in higher education, but I’ve found that the person who is leading the meetings sets the tone for how the team will respond. I’ve had some leaders where group think was a survival tactic! God forbid you challenge anything or ask why even once. The best leaders allow for a great deal of diversity and discussion. The challenge here is guiding that discussion to a resolution (I’ve seen analysis paralysis from some who can’t make a decision because they haven’t actively guided the conversation and questioning to a decision). I think that the 5 Why’s and other tools like it, can help all levels of leadership improve in decision making. I like Ava’s idea of assigning a Hamilton cast member role to each team leader!

I am with Jill, James, in having never seen Hamilton. But what you wrote about resonates with me on a profound level. While I can be the person who “stands for something” at work, sometimes, it comes with a high price that I am not always willing to pay. The two owners of the restaurant I manage have very different visions and views on, well, everything. And even though I can argue some cases (given all the evidence I can collect), the emotional and behavioral push back and consequences I have to face makes diving into some issues highly undesirable. Unfortunately, superiors can exercise their power in the described way, making it difficult to forge an atmosphere where diversity of opinions can flourish.