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In this short narration, Quentin Tarantino talks about the role of a director and it is a classic definition of what we need to do as leaders to become a leader worth following.
Very early in his career, he asked Terry Gilliam on what was the job of a director in the making of a movie and here is what he was told –
“It is not your job to create your vision, it is your job to have a vision!
And it is your job then to hire talented people who understand your vision.
You articulate your vision to them. Then they take your vision and they create it.
And with them creating it, you bring your inputs to play. Your vision is still two dimensional. They will take the distinct elements of your vision and make it three dimensional.
This way, you get back more than you gave into the vision. You will know even more what you are talking about and what you are seeing and your vision will get filled in.
You think you have to do everything, you don’t.
You don’t need to know anything about sewing to have wonderful costumes in your films, you just need to express what you need to the costume designers!
You don’t need to have a degree in engineering to have magnificent sets in your pieces, you just need to be able to describe what it is that you want.
You don’t need to know to take a bunch of light stands and put them together to create a specific lighting effect, that’s not your job.
You don’t need to know any of that.
What you need to know is that you need to have a vision and you need to know how to express it.
And you let the other people take it and do it for you. That is what a director does!”
Being a leader worth following is also the same.
It is your job to have a vision.
It is your job to know how to articulate the vision.
It is your job to go out and hire talented individuals and share the vision with.
It is then your job to let them take your vision and attempt to bring it alive.
You then give your inputs where needed and let the vision come alive.
You dont necessarily need to know how anything is done. You just need to know what you want and allow the talented individuals on your team to bring that to fruition.
Having a vision, articulating the vision, hiring the right people and letting them bring the vision alive – that is your job as a leader!
You can watch hear Tarantino share this in this video here.
