Drawing Inspiration: How Jim Lee’s Approach To Improving His Art Skills Can Benefit Your Leadership Style

Jim Lee is a celebrated comic book artist. His run on the 1990s X-Men is considered legendary. He worked on the title from the beginning of the relaunch in 1991.

While not his first work, this is the work I most think of when I think of Jim Lee. His beautiful characters and purposeful lines drew my attention to the X-Men #1 on the comic book shelves. His attention to detail and skill still blows me away to this day.

His artwork drew in millions of readers. That X-Men #1 sold over eight million copies. Over 30 years later, X-Men #1 holds the distinction of being the single bestselling issue of all time, in no small part due to Lee’s artwork.

Person pulling out an issue of X-Men (1991) #1 out of a box of comics. Cover featuring Beast, Storm, Rogue and other X-Men

Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

Recently, Jim Lee shared on his Facebook a photo of an image he drew as a 12 or 13-year-old kid.

Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Chang Can Dunk

A Reel Leadership Article

My latest book, Reel Leadership, is now available on Amazon. If you love movies and leadership, you will love this book.

Chang Can Dunk is a Disney+ exclusive movie about a young Asian-American teen who longs to get the girl, defeat the school bully, and maybe play some basketball. While geared toward the younger crowd, Chang Can Dunk is a fun experience.

Chang (Bloom Li) is a 5’8″ student in high school. His rival and former friend, Matt (Chase Liefeld, son of the legendary comic book artist and my good friend (Rob’s words on his WhatNot stream) Rob Liefeld), are at each other’s throats over basketball and a girl, Kristy (Zoe Renee). Their rivalry becomes real when Chang tells Matt that he will be able to dunk within ten weeks.

Bloom Li as Chang in Chang Can Dunk. Making a dunk.

This is a challenge. He’s short, not very good, and isn’t motivated to do much of anything. Throughout the movie, we’re reminded that Chang doesn’t stick with things.

Leading From Our Hands And Our Knees

How are your hands and knees?

For so many, leadership is all about a position of authority. When most people think of leadership, they think of someone sitting in the plush corner office. They think of someone sitting on a throne. Or they think of someone who stands tall above everyone else.

Authority is an important aspect of leadership, but there is something else leaders should consider.

Image by Andrea Rose

Image by Andrea Rose

Leaders lead best when they lead from their hands and knees.

Let me explain with 3 Ways To Lead From Your Hands and Knees:

The Right Time To Visualize

Visualizing where we want to end up is a big part of leadership. We’ve got to have an idea of where we’re going.

When we visualize, it’s like painting a picture of the end. It’s beautiful and we know the way we want it to end.

Did you know though that you can visualize the end at the wrong time?

Sunset Vision at Kalalau Trail

Image by Paul Bica

Visualizing At The Wrong Time

There’s a right and a wrong time to visualize. The wrong time can kill your momentum.

You shouldn’t visualize the end victory while you’re in the middle of the work. It can cripple you. Taking away vital energy you need to complete the work.

Meb Keflezighi, an Olympic runner and the 2009 New York Marathon winner, discovered this the hard way. In his book, Run To Overcome, he describes an incident where he visualized his win only to fail miserably.