Wrinkles in Perfection

By Anna Peters

I had the privilege of seeing the incredible Lizz Wright sing. Her voice and her poetry punched me in the gut—raw, soulful, and deeply moving. There were some free-flowing tears. Between songs, she shared a few stories, including one about her striking red and black dress. She joked it was wrinkled because her puppy ate her steamer. But the reason it was wrinkly in the first place? She’d spent the afternoon at a protest. (How badass is that to protest in a gown?) I don’t think Wright told that story to justify any wrinkles, but to remind us of what really matters.

There’s a lesson here for organizational leaders. Too often, we watch clients strive for a polished image of perfection while losing sight of the deeper meaning. A few examples come to mind:

Teams that spend hours polishing email language to cover every detail, instead of opting for an authentic human touch or just picking up the phone.

Organizations that double down on practices that their communities say aren’t working, rather than recognizing the flaws and accepting help.

Leaders who scrutinize every detail of a plan to eliminate uncertainties, unintentionally stifling their team’s creativity and flexibility.

Leaders who undervalue (messy) qualitative stories and over-rely on neatly packaged quantitative data as their rationale for making decisions, or who ask staff to collect excessive data to build an air-tight case.

But we’ve also seen leaders lean into imperfection, and we see it make a difference. For example:

A nonprofit team, eager to hear from hard-to-reach community members, chose to meet people where they were at, even if it meant diverting from their methodology protocol.

A state agency leader, speaking to a task force, openly acknowledged her agency’s limitations, the tension between her values and her role, and her uncertainty about change. Her vulnerability built trust—and momentum.

A philanthropy leader stepped back from his own expectations and let a creative team chart their own course for a unique initiative.

In preparing legislative recommendations, state and community partners agreed that previously gathered data—though not perfectly aligned—was good enough to make their case.

An Executive Director, committed to shifting workplace culture, shared employee survey results that revealed racial disparities. It was a bold embrace of some uncomfortable issues.

If you get to see Lizz Wright sing someday, I hope you are inspired as I was—by her music and her message. Let’s not let perfection get in our way.