Our human tendency is to pounce on other people’s mistakes. So when someone makes a mistake on live television on the most watched TV event of the year, it tends to make a lot noise. Sure it’s embarrassing for Christina Aguilera that she flubbed the words to our national anthem. But we all make mistakes. And singing a capella in that situation is bound to be intense. We could chalk it up as a human condition. Or we could take it as a symbol of something greater at work.
Ms. Aguilera’s mistake is a bellwether for our national condition.
An anthem is a song of celebration, usually acting as a symbol for a distinct group of people. Our national anthem is the mission statement of our country. Yes, it is chronicling a specific event in time, but it is also a metaphor for the lengths we will go to ensure people’s freedom. Every American should be so well versed in the mission that the anthem trips off the tongue – even when you’re nervous. It should be a matter of “muscle memory” something you have done so many times that you don’t think it through anymore, it just happens. Clearly this was not the case with Ms. Aguilera.
It is leadership who needs to take notice.
This incident reminds me of all the YouTube videos my kids howl at where the basic premise is that the people being interviewed have so little knowledge of important facts that it’s funny. My favorite is “Ending Women’s Suffrage” (click here). Or the popular “Jaywalking” segments on the Tonight Show (click here). We laugh, when in reality it is a telling measure of the national condition.
We wonder about the state of our country. What does it say about us if people aren’t even rooted in the basics of what we stand for?
Mission statements are critical.
Missions need to be something every member of our “group” can recite in their sleep. How can we not know the words to our anthem of freedom? How can we not understand the right to vote?
Education is not about learning antiquated facts from yesteryear. It is about understanding how those facts affect our lives today. The War of 1812 is long over. Our defense of freedom is never over, no matter how many holes might be shot through our flag.
Each of us should have our own mission as well.
Personal missions should be as clear to us as organizational missions and should guide our decision-making.
Leadership Lesson: Focus on mission. Your organization’s mission should easily trip off the tongue of every member. Let people see it everywhere (singing it might not be practical). Put it on the top of your agendas, hang it as a banner, make it your email tag. There should never be an excuse for someone to flub the mission. Even if it’s not in front of millions of people, it could be in front of the most important people.