Ep 236: DJ Jackson - In 10

Edited highlights of our full conversation.

Here’s a question. How much of your real self are you showing?

This week’s guest is DJ Jackson. He’s the Vice President of Brand at EA Sports. They’re a division of Electronic Arts and one of the world’s largest developers and publishers of sports video games. Their slogan, “If it’s in the game, it’s in the game,” has become a reference point for judging the authenticity of their games.

Leading a business that exists in the digital world means straddling artificiality and reality. Information and emotion.

Which is a lot like leadership.

Leadership has gone through a generational shift in the least three years.

Leadership as a performance, which worked for more than half a century, has been made extinct overnight.

Human leadership is the complicated, contradictory path to success - both professionally and personally.

That creates a challenge for most of us. How much of ourselves do we want to show the world? And how much do we want to keep behind the curtain?

But even that has become complex. Because today’s world class talent aren’t willing to accept whatever you’re willing to give. They have their own needs and expectations, too.

First among which is they want to work for fully formed human beings. People with feelings, who don’t always have all the answers.

There’s a fine line balancing the confidence that all leaders need to project, with the vulnerability that comes from being a self-aware human.

Where are you on that continuum? How much of your real self are you showing?