Belief

I'm going through a study right now that focuses on examining our beliefs about what we can do, have or become. What we believe about ourself determines so much about what we attempt, whether or not we persevere, and how we lead ourselves and others. 

Snoopy is such a fun example of belief, and he believed in his own potential throughout the series of cartoons that ran for nearly 50 years. He often saw himself as a WWI flying ace, a world famous author or a college student named, "Joe Cool", and he brought that level of self-belief to his interactions with everyone else in the neighborhood. His belief in himself was part of what endeared him to us all. 

Snoopy believed and acted as though he had a leadership role in the group, even though his character was probably the most unlikely lead in the ensemble when the Peanuts cartoon was created. Did you know that the creator, Charles Schulz, didn't choose the name, Peanuts? The syndication editor of the cartoon chose that name, and Schultz never liked it. He saw Charlie Brown or Snoopy as the leads and thought the name, "Peanuts", was ridiculous and confusing, according to a 1987 interview. Since you can currently still visit Camp Snoopy and Planet Snoopy around the country, I guess we know which character the public wanted to follow too.

Let's adopt some of Snoopy's strategies in order to succeed in our own lives. First off, we need to give ourselves permission to dream! The way we see our potential in our mind is directly related to what we will let ourselves attempt in the world. Snoopy's vivid imagination should remind us of the power of our own. Creativity and imagination are a great jumpstart to belief.

Life is like a ten speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.  

Charles Schulz

How about someone to dream with us? Who is your Woodstock? Woodstock never sat Snoopy down and told him he wasn't able to become the things he was so busy imagining. Woodstock simply jumped in as his flight mechanic and even his secretary! Interesting to note that Woodstock wasn't there in the beginning. Snoopy and Woodstock didn't become friends until 17 years after the cartoon series began. Sometimes it takes time to find someone who can dream with you, and it's worthwhile to keep looking.

The whole Peanuts team discussed many things together over the years, like any good team should, but the adults voices were indiscernible in the cartoon. How often do we listen to the wrong voices and give credence to those who would distract us from our vision or our dream? How often are we the adults blah, blah, blah-ing on the dreams of the young or those of each other?

The Peanuts gang wasn't without conflict, and no team can be. There are a lot of personalities and priorities at play, and that complexity is one reason we cared about them, and still do, as each new generation gets introduced to Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and the others.

Teams succeed when they declare the value in their differences instead of the differences in their value.

?Trudy Menke

Charles Schulz kept it simple, and that's great advice for us all. The happy music in the background, the subtle familiarity of the experiences, and the real emotions that were portrayed all worked together to grab our hearts and keep our attention. Building a relationship with the reader allowed Schultz to take Snoopy to the bank all while doing the work he loved.

Here's the lesson. Build a relationship with your team and do the work that you love, and I bet you'll never feel like you're working for peanuts.

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Trudy Menke–Reframing Leadership