MONTEREY, Calif.–Credit unions leaders share the same leadership choice as musicians: do they want to be performers sticking only to the notes, or do they want to be artists and transform lives?
Kai Kight, an accomplished violinist who has an engineering degree from the Stanford University of Design School and who has performed at venues ranging from the White House to the Great Wall of China, shared musical notes with credit unions at the California and Nevada leagues’ REACH Conference and lyrics that alternated between his own life story and the challenges both he and CU leaders face.
Kight, who said he has long been a credit union member, said that in looking to the future it’s important to “examine our relationship with the past.”
Trained as a traditional classical violinist, Kight noted “we often come together to play the music of Mozart and we judge each other critically if we don’t play every note on the page. But when he was alive, Mozart was always challenging the status quo, so this contradiction occurs. When we stick to every note we are doing the opposite of everything he stood for as a person.”
Just Playing the Notes?
Similarly, credit union leaders who stick to every note are also doing the opposite of everything needed to truly show leadership, he suggested.
“When you look to the leaders of the past, are you simply playing the notes or are you embodying their spirit?” asked Kight, who began and ended his presentation by playing the violin. “It’s time to redefine how we pay homage to the past. It’s not about adulation, it’s about if we can see ourselves.”
Kai Kight speaking to REACH meeting in Monterey.
Kight, who joked he grew up playing the kind of classical music “heard in the background of jewelry commercials,” said he spent his time practicing when other kids his age were doing crazy things “like going out and making friends."
The Air Violin
After earlier in his life having been chosen to join an orchestra, Kight described the conductor as the “most terrifying” person he knew, and became so afraid of making a mistake he became fluent at playing the “air violin.”
“But after one concert we get to next rehearsal and the conductor says ‘Something sounds a bit off,’ and we’re going to do what’s called a ‘down the line.’ It’s the most intense employee review process; it’s where one person stands up and plays alone in front of the 100 other people in the group. And the conductor picked the part of the music where I was the master air violinist.”
Within five seconds of playing, Kight said he learned the conductor was “not a fan of the air violin at all.” He was soon informed he would not be permitted to play in the next concert performed by the orchestra. Kight said he then spent months practicing to master a new piece of music.
“Are you bringing new music to the world as credit union leaders?” asked Kight. “Or maybe that’s not the most important question. Maybe it’s about what do you do with the most difficult music, when you’re given music you wouldn’t have chosen to play on your own? Do you become the student or do you play the air violin? In life and in music the best performers are the best students. In music, once you mastered the music you move on. They go out of the way to play the music that makes them stronger.”
Which Sessions Will You Attend?
As attendees looked to the REACH Conference agenda, Kight asked if they planned to choose sessions with which they are comfortable, or would they choose sessions that would challenge them and lead to their own growth?
Kight shared the story of having grown up in Washington and entering a competition to be the featured performer at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He auditioned on an empty stage before three judges, one of whom was the conductor who had earlier terrified him.
The Red Pen Lesson
“As soon as I lifted (my violin), they simultaneously pulled out these bright red pens. They had my sheet music right there in front of them and were ready to mark up the missed notes,” related Kight.
Kight won the competition and in the process said he came to have a new respect for red pens.
“The red pen didn’t mean my music was hopeless; it meant someone heard the potential in it,” he said. “So, the question for you as leaders when guiding a team during a time of disruption is, how do you use the red pen? What do you do when you are the conductor and have a vision for how things should go, but the performers around you aren’t living up to that vision?”
Kight encouraged CU execs not to view the red pen as a sign of pessimism, but instead optimism.
Kai Kight performing during REACH meeting.
“It’s your belief in the potential of others; that you believe in their inherent ability,” Kight shared. “Do you really express to others all that is wrong with their music, their missed notes, or do you take the time to articulate the vision you hear in them?”
During his Kennedy Center performance Kight said all he could think about were a fast-paced 60 notes he wasn’t able to master.
The Question to Ask
“You have to ask, as leaders yourselves, do you ever feel you are so lost in notes that you get disconnected from that higher purpose that brought you to this work in the first place?” Kight said. “You lose sight of that people helping people mission.”
But he said the notes are just the beginning.
“On top of that is your ability to affect others,” Kight told the meeting. “And therein lies the difference between the performer and the artist. The performer just tries to hit the right notes. The artist uses the notes to transform lives. Will you be the performer, or will you take the time to become the artist?”