Christmas Carols
We went to Christmas Carols at the Royal Albert Hall today.
It was amazing - the first time going with my newborn daughter, who we of course dressed as an elf. My brother and sister-in-law were there too, as were my Mum and Dad. It was great.
One of the traditions is that the crowd get quite heavily involved in the rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas, with different sections of the audience singing different lines. It creates a pretty cool cascading effect as the singers leap out of their seats section-by-section: a weird cross between a Mexican Wave and a high school Nativity.
It struck me how quickly the Host was able to direct the behaviour of over 5,000 people into something reasonably coherent and - to be honest - quite impressive. It just goes to show that if you have (1) people who are willing to mobilise towards a common goal: (2) clear instructions; and (3) good timing, you can pull off some pretty cool stuff.
I’d love that level of direction from leaders across business and politics - people who can galvanise others to a common goal and provide the clarity that enables it to happen. Let’s see if that Christmas wish comes true…