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uhr herren A couple weeks ago I won the Hamilton lottery!

I am very very lucky and grateful. I can’t believe that the SHN theatre gave away 44 prime orchestra center seats every night to lottery winners. So if you haven’t tried yet, apply to the lottery. You might win :).

I had heard about Hamilton a couple of years ago, when a flood of friends saw the show in NY. It was explained to me as a history lesson with rap? I’m so glad I finally got a chance to experience the show and see what all the fuss was about. I laughed, I cried, and I walked away sad that the experience was over. I listened to the soundtrack on repeat sometimes to try to recapture the magic that was on that stage.

Now, I don’t know if anyone else had this reaction, but I couldn’t help but compare the founding fathers to startups founders. The show was a great history lesson but it also had so many takeaways that I think applies to life and leadership.

Life and leadership lessons from Hamilton

The world’s wide enough for all of us.

Aaron Burr competed with Alexander Hamilton throughout his life. He compared himself to Hamilton every step of the way, who had more influence during the war, who had more influence in the government, who was in the room where it happened. In the end, he realized that there was room for both of them, but in some ways he forced a confrontation that wasn’t necessary.

How many times in life have we compared ourselves to someone who was a friend or colleague? How much of that energy could be saved and channeled into new opportunities?

It’s better to stand for something than nothing.

That’s one of the key themes of the play. Alexander Hamilton is portrayed as passionate and vocal. He’s not afraid to voice an popular opinion and to stand behind his arguments. Aaron Burr was portrayed as cautious and strategic. He waits to see who is going to win or for the right opportunity to pop up before joining a cause.

I believe the key to successful companies and teams is clear, decisive, leadership and vision. People can self select on whether they identify with that vision and leadership style but the lack of clarity is poisonous for a startup with limited resources and time.

Don’t waste your shot.

This may not be a surprise to anyone else. But my mental picture of the founding fathers from my middle school history classes was that they were a stuffy formal group of men. I realize now they were the ultimate rebels and risk takers. They took their shot whenever they could. They treated time as the most precious resource and didn’t waste a single moment.

They fought a war they had no idea how to win where they were out-manned and out-gunned. They were human and bickered among themselves just like any other team of opinionated, passionate, smart people. They had no idea what they were doing most of the time, after all none of them had experience running a country before. They cared deeply about creating the right culture for the country. Washington didn’t have to step down as president, he choose to to set a precedent for how democracy should work. During all this, they had families and they struggled with work and life balance. Does any of this sound familiar? :)

In conclusion, go see Hamilton!