Share Your Spotlight
The entertainment world, the business world, and – sadly – the church world is rife with stories of actors, CEOs, and pastors who steal the spotlight. Rather than turning it to the story, the product, or the mission, they turn it upon themselves.
The same goes for leaders and those whom they lead. Too often ministry leaders refuse to share credit with volunteers, business owners with employees, and megastars with co-stars.
That’s one reason I think this video has made the rounds on social media over the last few weeks. If you haven’t seen it, a bit of background:
Hugh Jackman (who has played everyone from Wolverine to Jean Valjean) is currently doing a stint as the headliner in The Music Man on Broadway. Two days before Christmas, his co-star Sutton Foster tested positive for covid.
That’s where Kathy Voytko stepped in. As a swing in the performance, she plays any one of ten characters in each night’s show, and also serves as Foster’s understudy. With just a few hours notice, she rehearsed and played Marian Paroo for the very first time.
But that’s not the best part of the story. That part came at the curtain call, when Jackman interrupted the applause to praise not only Voytko, but all the swings in the company, as well as all over Broadway.
I’m struck by the fact that Hugh Jackman is a superstar performer by anyone’s standards. But he also comes across as a genuinely nice guy who refused to take the applause for what was a team performance…and a last minute performance, at that.
Leaders, where are you sharing your spotlight? Where are you refusing to hoard the credit? When was the last time you called up a “supporting actor” to give them praise for a job well done?
