Leadership Lessons from a Game Show

I didn’t want to be, but I got sucked in. I thought the premise of the show was goofy – that Fox was grasping at straws, trying to make the most of the reality TV game show craze. I watched one episode of Hell’s Kitchen halfway through the season and the show sucked me in – similar to the way RockStar: INXS did to me last summer (I enjoy the performances on RockStar: Supernova more, but I think I liked the first season better). I began looking forward to each Monday night’s episode.

Last night was the finale. Of the two, I’m glad that Heather won. She showed a much stronger leadership quality than Virginia did. Last night, Virginia became the poster girl for how not to motivate your team. For the final challenge, the two competitors had to run a kitchen staffed by former contestants. When Virginia gathered her team for a pep talk, she told them she picked them because everyone else thought they were weak and she wanted to see what show that she could make them better.

Say what?

It makes complete sense to tell your team, “Everyone thinks you’re losers. I do too. Let’s go, team!”

That’s a great way to rally your troops, isn’t it? I can see someone saying, “Everyone thinks you can’t do it. I picked you because I think you can. Let’s work together and show everyone else they were wrong. Go team!”

In the end, it was obvious that Virginia hadn’t properly motivated her team. I’m sure there’s some kind of lesson for me here as I continue to prepare for church leadership…

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Howdy. I'm Matt. My wife, Christy, and I have four kids and two dogs, I'm passionate about orphan care. I'm a die-hard fan of the Evansville Aces, the Indiana Hoosiers, and Star Wars. I'm trying to live life by the Todd family motto: "It behooves us to live!"
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