Everything is Vocabulary

When I was in my early 20s, I decided that I wanted to learn the trumpet. The trumpet itself was a gift; I was originally interested in playing the saxophone and the giver said “use this, the three keys are easier to learn.” So I learned to have a deep appreciation for the sound, the clarity of the horn, and the creativity that actually comes from fewer keys. I set a goal to learn, and between being self taught and eventually taking lessons, I had a live performance in a small arts school near the town where I lived at the time.

During those years I became a student of the trumpet and jazz music. I loved Miles, Clifford, and Lee. I wanted to improvise like them. And for a number of years after I achieved my goal of a live performance, I still enjoyed practicing. But whenever I asked a teacher or another trumpet player what their biggest advice was, they always pointed back to scales (in case you’ve never heard them) and long tones (also in case you’ve never heard them). It was hard to make the mental connection between these single notes and scales and the tapestries of sound I’d hear at a live show or on Spotify.

Ultimately, the biggest hurdle for improvisation was building competence around every iteration of scales and notes that I could. I had to have a fluent vocabulary of every sound the trumpet could make, in countless orders, and across thousands of permutations. Only then could I hope to start expressing myself on the horn the way that I’d like.

The Trumpet Taught Me First Principles

Despite years of language study, school work, and even childhood Bible verse memorization, the lesson did not stick until my trumpet experience. My biggest takeaway was that rote memorization of the building blocks is a huge part of fluency. If I learned enough of a basic toolkit, I could iterate and build. The converse was also true. If I am struggling to create what I wanted to create, it’s often because I’m missing the requisite vocabulary.

We understand this intuitively with language. Letters build words, words build phrases, phrases build sentences, paragraphs and beyond. And many in the sciences would call this first principles thinking – starting with the fundamental trunk or root of a subject, the simplest concepts, and then building out the tree branches from there.

But new endeavors can obscure the building blocks, and make it hard to see what is necessary to learn and memorize. Basically, when it’s a trumpet, with three keys, it’s easy to hear what the notes are. And from there, it’s straightforward to build the scales. But when you’re facing an unfamiliar and constantly dynamic field, the basics may not be clear. We can lose sight of the key foundation: having the right vocabulary to iterate.

The Journey to Great Leadership Vocabulary

Sauces and scales present a truth relevant to leaders and innovators across industries. Everything is vocabulary. Every new leadership domain starts with understanding the vocabulary prior to exercising fluency. The steps that I’ve seen in my career are as follows:

• Comprehending Basics: Before building innovative solutions or leading authentically, understanding the basic ‘notes’ of your domain—be it team dynamics, industry knowledge, or technical skills—is essential. This is the awkward phase, where leaders tend to rely on their old toolkits, or have to think about each step consciously.
• Flexibility in Application: After the basics, leaders start to see patterns. From here, you can begin to have some flexibility, and apply some of the new tools to the new experiences.
• Self Reflection and Assimilation: The true fluency does not occur without self reflection. Self reflection allows a leader to both see what they’ve learned, and assimilate what they’ve learned. This is critical, because true leadership is rarely about the best application of technical skills. You can only go so far being the one that codes or executes the analysis. Leadership is often about quickly reflecting on dynamic situations and being able to draw and apply the right conclusions.
• Borrow, Iterate, Improvise: Once a leader gets to this stage of fluency, they can:
  • Borrow insights from other fields as sources of inspiration, and apply them to current experiences without. This requires judgment and good instincts.
  • Iterate to build new techniques and tools to solve problems.
  • Improvise by playing with elements, crafting unique, authentic solutions.

Practical Steps to Cultivate Your Leadership Vocabulary

1. Identify Core Elements of Your Work: Pinpoint the fundamental ‘ingredients’ or ‘notes’ within your leadership or industry domain. What are the conversations, intellectual challenges, or sticking points that you’re repeatedly running into?
2. Immerse to Internalize: Once you’ve identified the core elements, learn about the context, history, and best practices in the space. If you are in a knowledge profession you’re probably not reinventing the wheel. Engage in focused learning to internalize these elements, using tools, courses, or mentorship.
3. Practice Application: Apply the basics in varied contexts, ensuring flexibility and adaptability in your leadership approach. In your first 90 days of a role, you should be doing all you can to learn the context. But once you’ve had a few wins, you can apply your new “vocabulary” in more varied contexts.
4. Encourage Team Vocabulary: Facilitate workshops or training to ensure your team also cultivates a robust vocabulary, enabling cohesive, innovative collaboration.
5. Reflect and Innovate: Regularly revisit and refresh your foundational knowledge, ensuring it evolves and continues to support innovative leadership.

How has understanding the basics shaped your leadership or creative endeavors? Share your insights and join the dialogue on mastering your leadership style through the right vocabulary in your space. If you’re struggling to think through how to build or apply the right leadership vocabulary in your role, I’m always open for a chat.