It Is Not About Falling Down; It Is About What You Do When You Get Back Up: Leadership Lessons from Indiana High School Marching Band

This one is for all my Indiana family and friends with their kids now in marching band, best of luck as state finals approach! I share this moment of nostalgia with you all. To my parents, my sister and brother-in-law for always being in the stands!

And a thank you to Mr. Bob Medworth, my high school marching band director, for the “Mr. Miyagi” style leadership lessons you instilled if we were paying attention. I was paying attention.

The year was 1990-something and high school angst was being expressed in the most recent Green Day song on the radio or a debrief of the latest episode of Dawson’s Creek (that you watched with your dictionary opened by your side to translate the dialogue and banter). I was a freshman in high school, and I was a clarinet player in the marching band. The amazing thing about high school marching band in Indiana is that the season all culminates around this time of year with a state-wide competition at the once Hoosier Dome, then RCA Dome, and now Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. When you commit to marching band it means your summer will be spent on a hot asphalt parking lot learning to march and play music at the same time, getting to know your section, and getting to test the limits of what you are actually physically capable of achieving. How many laps can you run? How many push-ups can you do? How still can you hold when you are called to attention? How many times will it take you to do the same move and drill over and over and over again until you have it committed to memory and you dream about it at night, and it becomes as easy as breathing?

Yes, that is all true. That was, and to some degree still is, high school marching band in Indiana. Though, I understand times have changed and there may be fewer push-ups involved and a little less time getting cooked on that hot asphalt these days. Times have changed, but the goal to be the last band standing on that stadium field, remains the same.

Here is where I want to pause and tell you that I could probably write an entire book on the leadership lessons that I have crafted from reflections on lessons during my high school marching band days. There are moments of truth in all of our lives where we rise or fall in the eyes of ourselves and others and throughout my adult life in these moments, I often think back to this version of myself. This high school kid that was trying so hard to just fit in, belong, and survive. Why do I go back to high school marching band? Because when I look back now, I see more than just the moments with friends and the competitions. With 20/20 hindsight I understand that being a part of a team, with a common goal, at that time of my life was a transformative experience. The core of some of my foundational beliefs about work ethic and good leadership were formed on those parking lots and football fields. Again, I know I was not aware of it in that moment, but in reflection and in leadership practices now when I am faced with a new leadership challenge, I take comfort in processing it through remembering these lessons that I have carried with me through my life and career. With time and experience I have been able to synthesize so many stories from this time in my life into moments in my leadership journey that I instinctively knew what to do. Stories that have helped me explain, practice, and embrace leadership characteristics like being a listener first, having goals, practicing, being supportive, developing others, resiliency, collaboration, thinking creatively, being respectful of the competition, having humility, and most importantly knowing that when you fall down you have to own it, get back up, and keep going.

The first competition of the marching band season was at Indiana State University in Terre Haute. The band, as a team, had spent the summer practicing the show, A John Williams Collection. I love movies, always have, and this theme for our show was so exciting for me. We were all hoping for Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and Superman themes and we did get to try some of those songs. However, I really can’t remember which tunes made it to the final show, but the one that I do remember was called The Land Race. It was from the Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman movie, Far and Away. Why do I remember this tune you ask? Well, it was this tune that we were playing when I fell down. I didn’t just fall, I brought at least 4 others down with me. That fall feels movie worthy to this day in my mind.

The formation was a clockwise rotation of a four-leaf clover shape and it was moving fast! The clarinet section and much of the saxophone section were moving fast while marching backwards! I remember feeling confident that I had the music memorized, I had the tempo, I was up on my tiptoes pumping my legs to keep marching backwards, and I was feeling like I was where I was supposed to be. Then, the pivot to get around the curve of the clover happened, and I tripped. I managed to make the person behind me stumble and as I went down, I quickly felt the feet of the tenor saxophone in front of me, now on top of me, and he was down. In fact, the majority of the tenor saxophone section (maybe all of them) came down with me at the bottom of the pile. The smell of AstroTurf, the pain of a clarinet bell under my rib with 3 to 4 tenor saxophone players piling up on top of me. We were a wreck, and the music was not stopping, and that formation was still going. Within seconds everyone got up and shouted out to each other to help all of us find our way and after much confusion we got to our next form and we kept going. The show kept going. I was covered in green stains from the fall and my hat with the plume and all were completely crooked on top of my head. I would later learn that this was great for my family as they could find me and follow me for the rest of the show with ease. These seconds of crumbling and bringing others down with me lasted for what felt like a lifetime. What would be the consequences?

Surprisingly the consequences were not in the results of that competition. We got first. I chalk this up to every band there is doing their show and competing for the first time of the season. I also like to think that we recovered faster than I thought. Perhaps that quick pile up on the 40-yard line was one hiccup where other bands might have had a series of hiccups? Not sure that I will ever know how that all is judged, but none the less. We came out okay as a team that day.

The next morning back in the band room the director came in with the tape (yes, VHS days) of the show in his hand. Now, it was time for consequences. My heart was in my throat. I knew we would have to watch the show to see where we could improve, but I already knew where. I knew the exact moment and for a split-second I thought, maybe no one will notice it was me, but everyone already knew it was me on the bottom of that pile. I knew I had to own it. So, we got to that Land Race moment and there it was in all of its glory. Stumble, tumble, fall, roll, pop-up, and keep moving! ?The tape paused. “Who was that?” The director asked with authority and a slightly raised voice of frustration. There was silence and without a second passing my hand shot up into the air. “It was me,” I said timidly before he had turned his eyes to look at all of us watching the video. All the eyes were looking between me and the director. “Targett,” he said exasperated and then he hit rewind. We watched it at least one more time. To this day, I am not sure if it was the speed at which I owned my mistake or what, but he simply said seriously and sternly, “roll out of the way next time, will you?” We spent only a few moments discussing it in that band room, but that moment of owning my mistake would be one of the ones that would shape my character through adulthood. My heart was in my throat and there was a ringing in my ears. I was nervous and anxious, but I knew that I had fallen down, taken others with me, and ultimately that we all recovered as best we could. I had to own that mistake and to this day anything that fails that I am responsible for…I own.

Falling down is going to happen. It is what you do when you get back up that is most important. Leadership is not about replaying the fall. It is about learning from it. ?We get back up, we improve, we move forward.?