Disco fever

In 1976 a catchy tune became the first disco song to ever top the charts: 'You Should Be Dancing,' by the Bee Gees. Disco was hot: with repetitive vocals and booty-shakin’ beats, people flocked to groovy dance clubs like Studio 54 to boogie to their heart’s content.

Artists like the Bee Gees (‘Staying Alive’), Gloria Gaynor (‘I Will Survive’), and Donna Summers (‘Hot Stuff’) achieved global superstardom.

The iconic disco ball

The disco ball, in all its glory, dazzled dance floors and became a symbol of dance floor glee enjoyed by all. Surprisingly, the disco ball has been around as early as the Civil War, but it wasn’t patented until 1917 by Louis Bernard Woeste who gave it the somewhat-uncomfortable name: “Myriad Reflector.”

A typical disco ball has 1,920 mirrors, all meticulously angled to refract light for its hallmark effect. A single ray of light can be reflected hundreds—if not thousands!—of different directions. In many ways, the myriad lights, color and fun make the disco ball a natural icon for diversity, or in the very least, diverse perspectives.

Different angles, different perspectives 

We tend to see the world through the subjective lens of our own world view. Each human is inherently conditioned by their upbringing, experiences, friends, socioeconomic status, religion and experiences which shape how we think about the world.

The physicist sees the world as particles bouncing around as we all frenetically march toward entropy. The chemist envisions neverending reactions, creation and destruction. The mathematicians see proofs, theories, universal truths, and constants that reassure them of some semblance of order, perhaps purpose. The artist sees color, space, harmony, dissonance, beauty, etc. 

Each person’s worldview, it seems, is like a mirror reflecting the light of life. And if our unique views are mirrors, perhaps the world is a glorious disco ball—a radiant amalgamation of tiny mirrors, each reflecting our own unique angle. . .

Disco leaders

So much of our success as leaders is driven by relationships and communication. The best founders and executives I’ve worked with all seem to respect the uniqueness of each relationship which empowers them to be superb communicators. These “disco leaders” embrace—and seek to understand—everyone’s unique angle. As a result, they’re able to build insanely effective teams that thrive on diversity of thought. And diverse teams win more often.

Dance, dance, dance

It’s time to channel our inner disco leaders:

  • Is there someone whose perspective you could better understand? 

  • What unique perspective could you trumpet, celebrate or amplify?

  • What mirrors do you tend to consciously or subconsciously avoid?

  • Are any mirrors too bright or overshadowing softer lights?

  • What perspectives are missing from your team?

After all, life is short. . . You should be dancing!