The star seeker

On June 12, 2010, in Skills and abilities, by Neculai Fantanaru

The final result of your "test of perfection" depends on your ability to recognize the value that others’ grants to your leadership.

I think I was 12 years old at that time, but how could I forget my first participation to a theater show? It was a very special play, in four acts, first of all, meant for children. I must confess, I really enjoyed it.

At the end of the show, when the curtain fell, when the lights were switched on in the hall, my mother took me in the backstage because, she said, I really had to meet the director, Mr. Baldovin, the one staging the show, who, with a lot of dedication and professionalism, had initiated, for years, hundreds of children in the art of acting.

Master Baldovin was not at all a cold and repulsing man, as I thought initially, he treated me like his own child from the first moment. I do not know why, maybe because of my very curious and avid for knowledge character, I felt the need to ask him:

- What makes a film director behind the scenes?

His look, very gentle, making him seem the kindest man in the world, was directed straight to me. He looked at me as if I were a pupil, who, burning with desire to play in a theater play, to become an artist, informs himself what are the benefits he can obtain, as well as the potential obstacles of which he may hit. He answered me very determined:

- I watch, breathlessly, how my students play their roles, my students whom I have carefully selected, and whom I have prepared for months. That's what I always do behind the scene. However, every time I am terrified that something will go wrong. I am afraid that one of my students will forget their lines or the script, that they will stumble and the play would turn, eventually, into a failure.

Then, after a short break, the master put a wide smile on his face and, fully satisfied, he added:

- Even so, on the other hand, as it happened tonight, I look at my students with an extraordinary pride. They gave everything that I had hoped for and overtopped all expectations – for three hours, for the duration of the show, they collaborated in a perfect collegiality. I am pleased of their acting, of how they managed and displayed their talent. I am happy that I have made a good selection, and that I wasn't wrong about their skills. I can only consider myself a truly happy teacher.

The leaders measure their skills by watching the show behind the scene

The master was so confident in himself, so enclosed in the carapace of his confidence when he talked to me that I knew at once that his life only consisted in leading his students to success, to a real triumph. His attitude was that of the man living, thinking and acting for one ideal: to discover young talents and guide them – always giving them indications, stimulating their spontaneity, creativity and appetite for theater, with the purpose to develop the abilities necessary for a real artist.

Looking at his students how well they were playing their roles, observing at the end of the show the passion and determination of the spectators applauding in the hall, what does master Baldovin really felt? Most certainly, he felt that his work, the hundreds of hours spent practicing with the students, the real effort he made for months had given the expected fruits by the performance of his students. He felt that he was a special man, worthy of all praise. Because, always, the teacher is evaluated by the results of his pupils. In other words, the better students play their roles, the more praised would be the "engineer" of the wonderful show.

Do you determine the evolution of those around you? Or you let them stand alone at a high level of performance by their own forces? Do you have the power to induce people seeing your vision, to implement it and to participate in it? What is your attitude opposite their performance? Do you cultivate the mutually advantageous relationships?  Is their growth potential directly related to your potential of being brilliant? What do you have to offer to others, and what do you expect in return from them? Are they satisfied of you? Or they doubt your guidance?

The final result of your "test of perfection" depends on your ability to recognize the value that others’ grants to your leadership.

The most gainable person in the world

The most gainable person in the world is not the one that has more resources, but the one that borrows power from his resources.

The master could not offer a more valuable gift to his students than sharing with them as much of his qualities as an actor. To make his little artists better and more devoted to acting, this was his greatest joy, his greatest accomplishment. How happy, how spiritually complete must the master have been when he saw his students covered by the noise of the spectator's applauds. After so many hours of work, his effort was fully rewarded.

He had sown in the hearts of his students the seeds of their future

Master Baldovin did nothing else than seeding the “seeds” for the benefit of all his students - great artists in the making. He gave them the necessary impulse to commit to a work, which requires a lot of passion, skill, creativity, practice, artistic talent, because an artist must continually create different spiritual moods depending on the play, therefore, to have the ability in playing all kinds of roles.

A leader, in any field, can be compared to a "star seeker" because his success depends on how well he had chosen the people on his team, and how well he trained them. The leader's success is the team's success. Or, in other words, a leader's success always starts from the people, and depends on his ability to recognize the value that others’ grants to his leadership.