Kermit is never, ever mean!
“…it’s easy to get a laugh making fun of somebody, but the Muppets never make jokes at other people’s expenses. It makes the writing a little bit harder, but it’s so much better.” Jason Segel, on co-writing The Muppets.
In the original draft of the Muppets, apparently there were a couple of scenes where Kermit insulted some folks, but the original muppet puppeteers read the script and told Segel that, “Kermit is never, ever mean, no matter what.”
I’d like to write an article or book called, “The Leadership Secrets of Kermit the Frog”. I like the character—a lot. One of the reasons I’m attracted to him is that though he can get frustrated, and even lose his cool occasionally, he always seems to be able to rally the troops and make a decision that saves the day…and he’s never cynical, and never mean.
But of course, Kermit is just a puppet.
Today I finally watched the Davis Guggenheim documentary “From the Sky Down” about the conditions leading up to the seminal work by U2, Achtung Baby. This was a moment at which the band was on the verge of breaking up, and getting through the challenge of recording this album established their trajectory for the next 20 years. In the course of the movie, the filmmaker revealed that one thing that set the members of this band apart from others was that they were always kind to one another, and even when they disagreed they worked hard to move ahead together.
Whether it’s muppets or rock stars, spouses or churches, I’m attracted to teams that can maintain a humble attitude towards one another and who aren’t out for themselves: backbiting, cutting, and “throwing people under the bus” has no place on a team that is going to impact the world. And the attitude has to be set by the leader. If either Bono or Kermit decided that he was the star of the show and could do without the others, I’m convinced that there wouldn’t be the same kind of magic on those “teams”.
If you are a leader in your church or organization and you are mean to people, or feel like you are entitled to lead out of pride, you may continue to be the leader, but your team will never have that something special that sets you above the others. Decisions have to be made, disagreements will happen, and discussions might need to be blunt, but the person in the lead can set a culture of kindness and respect. It may be a little harder to “write that story” (sometimes cynicism and being mean can just come naturally) but it’s so much better, and it makes a team much more effective and enduring.