Fundamental to leadership is your ability to stimulate someone else’s creativity. It’s one thing to understand this concept, and often quite another to put it into practice.

In essence, true leadership is a consequence of other processes at work. It is a consequence of us authentically expressing our own vision and creativity through our relationships with others. It is a consequence of our willingness to put our own creativity to work for others. Our leadership capabilities are also shaped by our willingness to embrace the fullness of the impact we make on our audiences.

Our experience over 30 years of crossing the line between theatre and the corporate world shows us that theatre is a very practical model for outstanding leadership.

Take the theatre director. He works to tight deadlines and a strict budget. He must bring together a wide range of people, who often have conflicting interests and needs, to share a common goal. Everyone from the playwright and the actors, to the administrators and the marketers, to the set designers and the lighting team.

That’s the way it is for the rest of us too. Leaders in any walk of life are called on to play many different roles. Business leaders are playwrights who decide the themes to be communicated and craft the scripts. They are directors who must highlight their themes and choose the perfect cast and designers to deliver them. They must also unite many working styles so the final vision is coherent.

And business leaders must also present their scripts in the most powerful way possible, becoming consummate performers in the process. Like actors in the Greek sense – pleaders of a cause before a tribunal.

When you work on your vision and allow your creativity to flow – when you start having a real impact on others – then you will find you are doing what comes naturally. You are leading.