CHAPTER 8
Empowering Soul Mates
Leadership consists in getting people to work
with, not for, you — particularly when they are
under no obligation to do so.
FRED SMITH SR.Executive Max DePree begins his book Leadership Jazzwith a very
personal illustration. His granddaughter Zoe was born premature
at one pound, seven ounces. Because Zoe’s father had “jumped
ship,” a nurse suggested DePree become surrogate father. She told
him to come to the hospital every day and “rub her body and her
legs and arms with the tip of your finger. While you’re caressing
her, you should tell her over and over how much you love her,
because she has to be able to connect the voice to your touch.”
DePree uses the story to say, “At the core of becoming a leader
is the need always to connect one’s voice and one’s touch,”
emphasizing the “mysterious energy” in the connection.
Then DePree explains his title, Leadership Jazz: “Jazz band-
leaders must choose the music, find the right musicians, and per-
form—in public.... A jazz band is an expression of servant
leadership. The leader of a jazz band has the beautiful opportunity
to draw the best out of the other musicians... to integrate the
‘voices’ in the band without diminishing their uniqueness.”
A. Larry Ross, who had directed Billy’s media and public rela-
tions for decades, applies this concept to Billy’s management style.
“A lot of people define leadership as functioning like a symphony
conductor. He mounts the podium, lifts his baton, and the musicians