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At Whitney Young Magnet High School in Chicago, class was ending one day last week and the seniors were pulling pranks. One was to get in the face of teachers and challenge them to a dance off. "Foot-working in front of random people" they called it.
And so a young man did.
Egged on by his fellow students Norris Ogbuagu spied his mark: Dean of Students, John Fanning. The student flew across the room and abruptly landed in the Dean's face; immediately his arms and legs started flailing as the Dean watched from close quarters.
Students were gasping, laughing and shouting. Everyone knew that technically this wasn't behavior that would be encouraged.
They all wondered how Fanning would react. Ogbuagu said later that he was afraid he would get a detention or worse suspended. As he built into his wild and crazily energized dance, the nervous shouting and laughing of the students became shrill.
Ogbuagu lost his shoe in his verve and finished his dance with a punctuated stomp...and then by running away.
But in the time it would take a guillotine to flash, Fanning leapt into an Irish Jig. It was Riverdance all over again at Whitney Young. Across the floor he went.
The students went wild. They were clapping, laughing and pounding chairs in time to the jig. And when he finished, the Dean bowed and they gave him a huge ovation.
As he explained later, his first inclination was to get angry. But as Ogbuagu was thrashing about in front of him, he thought better of it. This was harmless, so why not go with it and have some fun.
Here's the YouTube video:
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Ah...in the face of the letter of the law, common sense prevailed. And the goodwill that that leader garnered from that moment of chill will come back to him in spades.
Sometimes leaders wear their belts too tight.
Indeed, for all of your bravado and standards and strength, you need to find balance with humility, common sense and a sense of humor.
I'm all about having high standards and rules having their import, but so much can be won with a wink once in a while. Employees stifled by constant rule-quoting are suffocated. Let them breathe once in a while. Don't be a stickler just to be a stickler. Don't be a stodge just to be a stodge.
When a behavior is harmless and inconsequential, drop the ego and bend a tad.
In the next moment you may find yourself dancing an Irish jig. And by that, winning hearts that will want to beat in time with your dance. In the end, that's what you want, right?
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