top of page

Leadership lessons from Ed

germanicus1935

The behaviour of Ed Sheeran reveals useful lessons for connecting more effectively as leaders in the workplace and beyond.


Eyes closed, mouth close to the mic, he was moving into the chorus of Bloodstream.


Then it happened.


The mic started to produce a grinding static and it didn’t come right. Ed stopped, flicked out his earpiece and scurried down the steps beneath the stage to sort the problem with his team. After a lengthy reset it still didn’t come right the second time. On the third attempt he conceded defeat. It had now been 20 minutes.


Ed's set had lost all momentum. But he hadn’t lost the audience.


When he finally came back to apologise and announce that he was finishing the gig with an acoustic set the crowd roared their approval.


It was a moment all artists must dread. It struck me though that the same patience wouldn’t necessarily have been extended to all other performers. Had their sound equipment failed at their concert in December last year, I’m not convinced that Guns N’ Roses would have experienced the same reception from an amped up crowd expecting a full-blooded rendition of Sweet Child Of Mine. And don’t get me wrong I love Guns N’ Roses.


Ed’s actions on tour and on stage remind us that it’s all the little moments in between, before and after the set-pieces that build trust and earn goodwill.

So what is it about Ed that means he can hold his audience and recover from this failure?


Let’s start with his set that kicked off at 8.15pm.


He committed

Like all great performers, from his first moment on stage he set the tone for the evening. Dynamic, expressive and energised, he started as he meant to go on. There was nothing half-hearted about him. That’s not something I can say about every artist I’ve seen in concert (Justin Timberlake take note).


He was accessible, generously so

Expecting the stage to be set up at the East Stand I had told my daughters that we’d be sat quite a distance from the action. We were surprised and delighted to see that the stage was in the middle of Eden Park, constructed 'in the round'.


A rotating walkway meant that he paced, strode and skipped to sing and play to every part of the audience. No matter what position you were in, there was no bad seat in the house.


As explained in his TV documentary Full Circle, the decision to perform the Mathematics tour ‘in the round’ was an innovation resulting in a bespoke set design and build. The result is the connection between artist and audience is all the stronger.


He communicated consistently

Some artists seem to hurry through their sets, barely pausing to engage or seemingly going through the motions. Not Ed. Between songs he paused to explain where or why he wrote the next song.


If there was a relevance to his previous tours and visits to Aotearoa, he shared them. He told the crowd that composing I See Fire was one of his top three projects in his song-writing career.


He talked about wanting his songs to help frame moments in life, however big or small, as well as his passion for collaboration with others and helping to produce songs for other artists.


He was grounded

He talked about how his initial ambition had only ever been to get on any stage to perform, and how he had never expected to be in stadiums around the world. This endeared him to the crowd all the more, especially in New Zealand where we like our celebrities to keep at least one foot firmly planted on the ground.


There’s a moment in Full Circle, when his Head of Tour Management Mark Friend shares the commitment that he and Ed made to work as hard as possible whilst at the same time being as nice as possible, no matter how challenging the circumstances or how tired they were feeling. His team reinforces the fact that Ed sets the tone for everyone as the leader. Later on, Production Manager Helen Himmons goes on to say of Ed ‘…with a lot of artists they are very removed from the crew…they turn up an hour before the show and leave at the end. Ed is very much part of the team.’


He invited participation

Again and again he invited participation and relished the opportunity for the 48,000 strong crowd to have a good old sing-along to some of his most famous tracks. There were repeated moments of call and response, that energised the crowd reinforcing the shared experience and connection between artist and audience.


He owned the mistake

When the fatal glitch occurred, though clearly frustrated he owned the mistake and apologised to the crowd for not being able to deliver the experience he had intended. He didn’t take our presence for granted nor did he let his frustration boil over into anger. No-one could ever accuse Ed of being a prima donna. He and his team tried valiantly to find a solve, then moved on.


He had a plan B

The concert had been disrupted. Ed was frustrated. The fix couldn’t be found. But the show went on as he reverted to an acoustic set, still delighting the crowd with the rest of the set, the final song culminating in fireworks set off above the halo. The next day people I met talked about the forced acoustic set bringing an additional dimension to the experience. There wasn’t a sense of resentment or of being short-changed. The crisis yielded an unexpected benefit.


The crowd was won over long before the gig

The key learning is long before he set foot on the stage stadium at 8.15pm last Friday he’d already earned respect from his actions in the days leading up to the concert as well as from his previous tours here.


He’d created a bank of goodwill that protected him in that moment of failure and the minutes that followed.


His commitment to surprising school assemblies on the Thursday before the concert cemented the particular affection in which he is held by fans.


I can’t think of many other international artists who bother with that kind of grass roots community engagement when they visit. Ed clearly sees his role as more than just entertaining but also inspiring the next generation of young talent.


In interviews and in social media, he had spoken of his excitement at being back in New Zealand with his family. He has even gone so far as to say that if he wasn’t married to his childhood sweetheart Cherry Seaborn who lived in the same village, then he’d be raising his family in Wellington. That endorsement from someone of his talent, fame and profile only strengthens our connection with him.


Consistency builds connection

As leaders and managers we all face big moments and set-pieces when we talk to our teams or present our strategies, updates and visions. These are important moments.


But they represent only one part of the discipline of leadership. Focusing on how you show up in these moments means you won’t lose the goodwill you need when your next big challenge turns up.

12 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


© 2023 by filament consulting. Powered and secured by Wix

bottom of page