Episode 9: Skyler Maxey-Wert
In the business world, there are many questions about how we turn an organization from a good organization into a great organization. How do we optimize the work experience so that a good employee can become a great employee and therefore help a company yield great results? What qualities do leaders need to have in order to marshal their human resources and physical assets into high performing units? Jim Collins wrote an exceptional book called Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t. He explores the traits of companies and leaders that have grasped the brass ring of greatness. He distills it down to disciplined people, with disciplined thoughts, taking disciplined actions all led by Level 5 Leaders who demonstrate the paradoxical qualities of fierce determination and deep humility.
Skyler Maxey-Wert unlocks what greatness looks like through the lens of his life as a dancer at the SemperOper Ballett in Dresden, Germany. His recipe is quite concise:
Developing strong technique and technical acumen ingrained in your body through years of training.
Understanding the specific vocabulary of dance.
Sticking it out even when you doubt yourself or face the ridicule of other people.
Having a strong network of support – no one who is successful does it alone.
And then, he says something extraordinary. Inspired dancing, expressive dancing is more than a well-arched foot or the line of a person’s body. For Skyler, dance is the physical manifestation or representation of something that is happening on the inside. It is taking the vocabulary of dance and then doing something with it, because in the “doing something with it” is where the artistry lives. It is dedicating yourself to authenticity, because in dance you can’t fake it if you want to create something great.
So why such intense focus on greatness? As Skyler succinctly states, “When you’re a professional, no one wants to see a very good student. They want to see someone who can make something out of their technique… You have to breathe into being an artist.”
