It was August 2016. Lori Gibson-Washington and Paul M. Wood met celebrating a mutual friend’s birthday. Unintentionally, we started talking about good and not-so-good leadership characteristics. We bonded over a mixture of Pinot Noir and tequila. (Yes, the 2 liquids were in the same glass. That’s a story for another day.)

We mind-melded over our disgust of the presidential election cycle. The handwriting was on the wall. The newest role model for leadership was going to do things differently – mostly with a lot of “alternative facts“.

So like any inspired “solutionistas”, we started talking about the alternatives to alternative facts. Maybe, just maybe, you think as we think – the world of alternative facts is the very swamp that is to be drained.

We bet you thought we mentioned “honesty” as an alternative to alternative facts. Well yeah, we did. But that came later. We agreed that leadership was like conducting a symphony. An excellent conductor is a trained leader who assembles the right players. Together they follow the score; share a common language, timing, key signature, and agreements to produce the most wonderful music that’s good for the souls of the team of players AND their audience (or stakeholders).

So, over the next few weeks, Paul and Lori are going to write about the ABCs of R3 Leadership; the A-Z of good and not-so-good leadership characteristics. Paul will write a satire about the leaders at the fictionalized Alviso Swamp in a serialized format every other week. And Lori will write a true-life experience linking to the leadership characteristic described in the satire.

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll ponder. We want to entertain you, stretch you, and call you to be better in your roles as formal and informal leaders. So we’ll be asking questions (not the rhetorical kind) to begin a conversation of how we can better and more accountable leaders.

Watch for our first installation: An Elusive Spectre Wades into the Swamp.

Here’s the first QUESTION:

From the description of a conductor as a leader, what do you think the 3R’s are?

To your calmness, Lori & Paul