The Most Powerful Leadership Skill I Know Came From the Most Unlikely Place

If I could teach leaders only one skill, it would be theatrical scene analysis.

Only in the past few years did it occur to me that the skill I learned in my undergraduate theater program was the most powerful leadership skill I possess and that others might be missing.

And if you’re thinking, “what about empathy?!,” I hear you. Empathy is a critical skill. Scene analysis lays the foundation for it. It builds the skill and habit of considering context rather than jumping to judgment. It teaches you how to consider another person’s perspective and backstory, rather than only their impact on you, which is the default way of being.

It’s easy, common, and natural for us to judge others by their impact on us and the actions that we see them make, while judging ourselves by our intention or context.

Here’s how scene analysis changes that and why it’s the leadership skill you might be missing.

What It Is

I’ll be quick so we can get to the start of the show (pun intended)–– why you should care.

Scene analysis is when you (actor or director) go through a script (play, film, TV show) and break it apart, scene by scene. You break down each scene, as well, into smaller and smaller moments, down to each individual beat.

You look at the words and the actions, and the stillness and silences in between––or lack thereof. You ask yourself, why does each character do, think, and feel, what they do, think, and feel? Why do they say this and not that? Why do they move here, and sit there not somewhere else? Why do they say it with this intonation and not that intonation?

What do they want? What is their objective in this play, this scene, this moment? Who is on their side? Who or what is in their way? What blind spots do they have?

If they reach their objective, why? If they don’t, why not?

To make this imaginary world real for the actor and the audience, the answers to these questions can never be, “because the playwright said so” or “because the director said so”.

The answers must come from the imagined lived experience. In theater, imagined lived experience means the actor must inhabit the character’s inner world—motivations, memories, fears—so their actions feel authentic rather than mechanical.

This process parallels what leaders must do if they dare to be great. Instead of expecting people to behave a certain way just because they asked for it, or assuming everyone will follow a playbook, leaders need to lead from a deep understanding of people’s lived context and internal drivers.

This matters because authenticity only comes from understanding the inner logic behind behavior. In leadership, the same is true. Credible decisions and relationships come from connecting with the real (or imagined) lived experience of others, not from following a prescribed script of how leaders ‘should’ behave. Or how you want others to behave.

If you’re thinking, damn that is a lot of work, you are correct. Welcome to leadership. It takes a lot of work. And that work is worth it. For the actor and the audience. For the leader and the people they are charged with leading.

Why It Matters for Leadership

From a leadership perspective, how do you think that work would help you in your business? Can you see the answer yet?

Humans judge ourselves by our intentions. We judge others by their actions or impact on us. This is because we cannot really know their intentions without getting to know them. And getting to know someone is not possible unless we slow down and study them? Think through what their story might be, why they did what they did, and what thoughts or feelings they might be having while they did it.

Now, it is of course not always possible for us to do this with every person we encounter, like the driver who cut you off, for example. We can’t always deeply analyze strangers (like the driver). We can and should do this with people we lead and work with.

You can get to know them enough to give the benefit of the doubt about their intentions. To think through what might have been driving their actions or statements beyond your knee-jerk thought that “no one wants to work hard anymore,” or “this damn generation,” or “strong personalities,” or some other surface-level reason that typically masks real issues.

If you treated a workplace scenario like a scene in a play and ran scene analysis on it, what might you uncover about the cast of characters in your scene?

What do you think could be driving what each person is doing or not doing, saying or not saying? What do you think the goals are for each person, big and small? Who do they think is on their side and in their way?

How does this change your perspective? 

By running this kind of analysis, you equip yourself to respond rather than react, to make decisions or have conversations that address what’s really driving behavior, not just the surface-level performance of it. In other words, once you see the full scene—motives, obstacles, alliances—you can direct it differently. You can rewrite the blocking, not just critique the performance.

What I find is that this increases empathy. It dials down emotions. It facilitates sound decision-making, collaboration, and cohesion. People feel supported. They feel seen and heard.

And you are more likely to identify root causes of workplace challenges rather than settle for surface-level scapegoats.

How to Start

It may surprise you to hear this, but I use my theater background far more than my sports background in my work with teams that need to meet high-performance standards (and do you know a team that doesn’t?), particularly teams that need to perform at a high level under enduring pressure.

Theater companies spend most of their time performing, while professional athletes spend most of their time practicing. A theater cast and crew, once it’s go time, performs 8 shows a week, month after month, for the duration of the show’s run. Athletes, depending on the sport, of course, may have one or two games or races a week only during the season. This “performance-to-practice” ratio means that theater, in many ways, offers better analogies and lessons than the sports world. Though both certainly have value.

So how would you, as a leader, tap into this analogous world of theater and scene analysis to better understand your employees, clients, fellow leaders, and others you work with and for?

One easy way to start is by simply getting curious. Ask yourself, what’s really driving that (action, inaction, statement, silence)? Ask yourself, how well do I really know the underlying needs and goals of this person?

What might be another reason for X? (Did they cut me off in traffic because I know them to be an asshole, or might they be a lovely person having a bad day?) (Do all Gen-Zers “not want to work anymore,” or might this single individual have a different learning style than I am used to? Or might they not have clarity on job duties and expectations? Because you hired an entry-level person for an entry-level role, which inherently requires training and education.)

This work asks you to slow down for a beat, think through the possibilities, and have direct conversations. That’s what allows you to see root causes, dial down reactivity, and lead with more precision and empathy.

If that feels sticky, check out my prior discussions on why stillness, rest, and action-bias

are challenging for leaders (or just schedule a call here).

You should also schedule a call if you would prefer expert guidance on how to do this work in your workplace, rather than taking the time to teach yourself and your team.

“When it comes to understanding others, we rarely tax our imaginations.”
― Lawrence Hill