How You Love is How You Lead
You don’t have to be a fan of The Office, know the characters, or have even watched an episode to find value in what I am about to share with you. In fact, while I will give an overview of one particular character, this post isn’t about that character, it is about the authentic leadership of the human playing that character.
Most popular television shows have one or two characters that fans tend to connect with. Many fans of The Office have a complex love-hate relationship with Michael Scott, the manager of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Supply Company. Michael has two very noticeable and consistent traits that emerge throughout the development of his character.
First, he has no filter. If he thinks it, he likely says it. He is often careless with his words and spends much of his time trying to undo the damage of what he has said out loud.
However, his second ever-present trait is much more endearing. Michael Scott genuinely loves his people. The employees at Dunder Mifflin are, in his eyes, family. This runs so deep for him that there are countless awkward moments when he inserts himself into the personal lives of other characters in very uncomfortable ways. For Michael — the boss — there are no boundaries when it comes to his employee’s relationships, weddings, or the birth of their children. While he desires to treat everyone like family, this does create some moments when Human Resources need to intervene, but it all stems from a place of love for those he is leading.
And while Michael has some endearing qualities, I am not sure he is a leader I would want to follow. However, Steve Carell, the man who plays Michael Scott, is a leader worth following. While Steve is mostly known for his world-class improvisation skills, his leadership skills are equally impressive.
On a television set, there are egos and people have different job descriptions with varying pay grades. For example, there are writers, videographers, directors, producers, and the liaison to NBC just to name a few. And while each person has unique responsibilities, one thing that doesn’t happen is a formal voting process to elect a leader of the show. At no point does everyone gather in a room to nominate and elect a Captain.
Steve Carell didn’t need a vote, he simply emerged as the team leader for everyone involved in creating The Office.
Let me share a few examples with you:
In 2008, the Writer’s Guild of America went on strike. At the time, the writers wanted a fair payment for the online content they were creating. The strike impacted over 60 television shows. While the writers were on strike most shows continued with production, but Steve Carell refused to show up to the set of The Office.
Despite threatening calls from lawyers informing him that he was in breach of contract, he wanted to make it clear that everyone involved in the show was a key team member and he was going to support his teammates. His decision to not cross the picket line was risky. Of all the actors he had the most to lose financially, but he put it all on the line for the team. He understood the influence he had, and he used that influence for the good of the group.
Another example of his leadership is how he handled his relationship with the Executives at NBC. At one point, NBC was making millions upon millions in profits from The Office, but the corporate executives wanted more money. They came up with a few ways to increase revenue and one suggestion included cutting cast members from the show. When Steve got words of this his response was, “no … no … no …” and that was it. Cutting cast members was suddenly off the table. But here’s what is interesting; it was not his call, this was not his decision, but once again, he used his influence to serve the entire team. His willingness to fight for everyone is a further indication of his genuine care and concern for others. Steve knew that the last character who would be cut from the show was Michael Scott, so this wasn’t going to impact his bottom line, but it would impact the people he cared about. Steve was a voice for those who may not have had a voice.
And lastly, at one point NBC wanted to integrate product placement into the show and when Steve heard this his response once again was, “no.” His argument was this; if a company wanted to hire one of his fellow actors to do a commercial, they could, but product placement meant NBC would get all the revenue, and the actors would get nothing. Once again, Steve was looking out for those that he cared about and using his influence to make things better for others.
Steve had clarity about what mattered to him. It was simple, people were his priority, and he used his voice and his platform to advocate for those people. That’s a leader I would follow.
I have often used this as a definition for leadership; “a leader is a person of influence who uses their influence for good.” I’d say Steve Carell has that definition down.
In our own character development, it would benefit all of us to use our voices and love others the way Steve does. Michael Scott may have been careless with his words, but Steve Carrel is very intentional with his. The one thing that Michael Scott and Steve Carell have in common is their deep love for those around them.
I have come to believe that how you love is how you lead. When you love who you lead it makes difficult and risky decisions very easy.
The world is simply better when it is full of leaders who choose to lead with love.
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