Blogs

Leadership lessons from the Simpsons

Governance | Tesse Akpeki | 19 Jan 2010

Celebrating its 20-year anniversary and 450th episode, The Simpsons is the longest-running prime-time show in television history.  Generation upon generation of fans have either grown old or grown up watching the half-hour animated show about a dysfunctionally functional family that first appeared in 1987 as a series of shorts during The Tracey Ullman Show. 

I continue to bond with my 16 year old nephew Darren through our Simpson connection (yes at Christmas I checked that the Simpsons is still a treasured part of his life).  Like most fans I have a favourite character - Homer Simpson. 

Homer Simpson is a simple man who through punishing trial and error has proven that even one's loftiest goals are attainable - provided you set them low enough.  So what is the enduring attraction of the show?
 
What keep The Simpsons fresh are the Simpsons themselves. Every character is unique! The Simpsons keep a sharp edge and are never shy of challenging us and themselves.  The family has remained relevant, retaining a range of talent at all levels of operation – whether that is the massive team of writers, visitors on the show, identifying areas for development in their own lives or creating a community in Springfield where everyone can contribute and play their part.  The show has dealt with criticism at every level, and has persisted in keeping the programme funny while showing no sign of slowing down. 

Coming from a family of nine siblings, I relate to the analogy of ‘family’ where relationships can be multidimensional and multi layered.  Just as in The Simpsons, conflict is a natural part of human behaviour and can be used constructively and be transformational in reinventing relationships in an improved form.  The danger lies in dealing poorly with emerging stresses and eroding the quality of the relationships.  

Overcoming the dilemmas of organisational life is achieved by concentrating on our ability to work cooperatively and collaboratively with one another.  As a consultant, working with OnBoard at Bates, Wells and Braithwaite Solicitors, I am part of an organisational family.  We work hard, make time to laugh, have fun, increase our impact, and grow in our trust, respect and confidence in each other, and give the best value to our clients.  The values and beliefs systems in this 40 year old legal practice are lived out in how we think and work. 

So what can this mean in organisational life? 

Organisations are systems. To be effective and successful, at every level we need to pay attention to relationship maintenance, while focusing on structures  and processes. Well being and fulfilment abound as we value and treat each other with respect, keeping focused on our purpose, remaining relevant, using humour to weather uncertainty and maintaining a sense of perspective in the midst of a range of mixed challenges. 

You discover ways to create systems that contribute to the world and are deeply satisfying to you and other system members.  Building blocks for sustainability are trust, honesty, transparency, candour , humility and the courage to admit and learn from mistakes while boldly striding ahead.

“Seeing Systems, Unlocking the Mysteries of Organisational Life” by Barry Oshry explores the significance of seeing our systems’ processes in ways that enable us to create systems with extraordinary capacities for surviving and developing. From a personal perspective,   the experiences of The Simpsons sound an optimistic note by  offering strategies that actually preserve relationships. It’s tongue in cheek humour serves up  a different menu as I contemplate the ingredients to create an environment where people and organisations flourish, especially when things are far from perfect!              

Tweet

Directory: Bates Wells & Braithwaite
Who's Who: Tesse Akpeki