Leadership Lessons from Green Day - Robin Sharma's July 2010 newsletter

I had the pleasure of meeting Robin a couple of years ago at an early-morning book signing in Johannesburg, South Africa.  I had read his book, The Monk who Sold his Ferrari, and I have most of his others.  I enjoyed meeting him, and I enjoy his lessons about leadership.

Here's something from his July 2010 newsletter.
Leadership Lessons from Green Day
Robin Sharma's newsletter dd July 2010
Sharma Leadership International

Last night I watched a documentary about the rise of Green Day. They have morphed into one of the world's most popular as well as influential rock bands, selling over 65 million records, filling stadiums in cities across the world and inspiring a whole new generation of musicians.

Here are the 5 business as well as personal leadership lessons we can gather from Green Day's ascent:

#1: Every dream starts off small.
Green Day started off called Sweet Children. They played to empty halls and few gave them any chance of being successful. However, their vision was larger than their doubts and they stayed the course like the best Leaders Without Titles always do. Amazing things happen when you stay in the game longer than anyone thinks you should.

#2: They out-practiced their competition.
The original members of Green Day came from broken homes. Parents were not around much. So most of their free time they practiced. Often they would write songs all day and play guitar all night. Like all genius-level performers, relentless practice over an extended period of time births extraordinary performance.

#3: They were well grounded.
After Dookie sold over 14 million copies, the members of Green Day reached superstardom. However, rather than succumbing to the seductions of success, they remained grounded. They started their families and they remained true to their roots. This has allowed them a longevity that so many rock bands never achieve.

#4: They understood the power of renewal.
After the success of their breakthrough album Dookie, Green Day toured the world relentlessly. But then after that - at the peak of their success - they took a complete year off. They spent time with their families. They pursued other musical projects. And they refilled their well of inspiration. Rather than burning out, this period of time allowed them to come back stronger and to continue having fun at their craft.

#5: They dared to innovate.
The albums that followed their breakthrough release actually sold many less records. However, Green Day were willing to relentlessly innovate. The album they were working on before American Idiot came out was actually a mess in the sense that their master tapes were stolen. Many bands would have given up. However Green Day saw it as an opportunity to rewrite the entire album. They came up with an idea of a rock opera and released American Idiot. This became their biggest seller and 15 years after they started, they reached a whole new level of fortune.

A Powerful Idea for World-Class Organizations: Distributed Leadership

In many ways, the whole idea behind Leading Without a Title is the democratization of leadership. Yes, positions are important to the smooth running of any organization (whether that organization is a business or a community or a family). Having said that, the new model of leadership (leadership 2.0) is all about every single stakeholder showing leadership in the work they do. This is really all about distributed leadership. Every single person who works within a business, for example, owns the responsibility of showing leadership at their craft. Every single teammate is the CEO of their own small business unit called their job.

Leadership Quotes and Ideas

"We can invent faster than they can copy." ~Ray Kroc, the visionary entrepreneur who launched McDonald's

"The fastest way to grow your business is to grow your people." ~Robin Sharma

"If you don't risk anything, you risk even more." ~Erica Jong

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