“I can’t just learn lines and do my job, perhaps that’s because I don’t want to act, I want to be. And I do think there’s a difference.” - Kate Winslet
At the age of 47 Kate Winslet has spent 30 years on set as a leader in her craft. A journey that began at the age of 16 when she withdrew from Redroofs theatre school for a more hands on learning experience.
Why study acting, when you can actually do acting?
Winslet wanted the most active learning experience possible. The experience only found on the edge of mastery, actively pursuing excellence in a craft. What started with early success has blossomed into one of the best acting careers of all time. What is more intriguing is with all of the fame, fortune and success, Winslet is still honing her craft. Still dedicated to taking on new challenges and stretching the boundaries of her capabilities.
In her latest film Avatar: The Way of Water, Winslet demonstrated a willingness to learn and grow that would be impressive for an up and comer and is even more impressive when you consider that she’s “been there and done that” in her acting career.
While on set, Winslet broke the record for time spent underwater holding her breath (over 7 minutes!)
This was no small feat and took months of preparation. Winslet trained with deep sea divers, listened to expert coaches and submitted to their expertise, knowledge and instruction. All at the age of 46 and with a closet full of Academy Awards already racked up! Winslet’s net worth is valued at $65 million, and she’s already one of the greatest actresses of all time. Yet here she is pushing the boundaries of her physical and mental limitations to excel in her craft.
How does an emerging leader develop this type of mastery driven mindset?
What is it in Kate Winslet that led to an ongoing commitment to growth and development of her craft?
Is it ego, pride, competitiveness? Highly unlikely.
In an industry typically marked by the pursuit of fame, fortune, ego, and all the trappings of success, it’s likely what has made Kate Winslet so successful, for going on 30 years is actually an authentic commitment to the pursuit of mastery. It’s a lifestyle she’s living and it’s evidence and fruit is visible to us all.
Let’s dive into the masterclass in mastery mindset from the career of Kate Winslet.
A Strong Sense of Self
At the age of 18, Kate Winslet received her first big break. After spending a few years as a television actress she was now on the big screen. Her film debut came with her role in the movie Heavenly Creatures. One year later she won her first British Academy Film Award for best actress in a supporting role for her role in Sense & Sensibility.
In 1997 at the young age of 19 years old, everything would begin to shift for Kate Winslet. James Cameron was the director of Titanic. A film production with a major financial backing and a lineup of emerging stars auditioning. In her first few rounds of auditions she auditioned with a young Matthew McConaughey. Highly competitive and even with so much to learn in the acting world, Winslet was in the fray with some of the best and brightest actresses the world has seen.
While on location filming for another project, Winslet got the call at 5am that she would get the part of Rose. Ecstatic about this new breakthrough. She danced and cried in the hallway of a small bed and breakfast with legendary British actress Julie Christie, a mentor and guide for the young actress.
While it was a big deal, Winslet did not think of it as a “big break.” Such is the case for most of the events in the life of an emerging leader. At the time no one knew the success that Titanic would become. She viewed it as a great opportunity. A chance to make it work and give it her all.
What followed was thrilling results in the box office, the global response to the movie was incredible. The success of the James Cameron film thrusted Winslet into the global spotlight. She was now a megastar, but at her core she still felt she had so much to learn.
The post Titanic days were hard and overwhelming for the young actor. She still felt like she had so much to learn in the craft of acting. Yet now she was globally famous and had starred in a major film. With the fame came an onslaught of criticism and the ever daunting reality of rejection.
While success in Titanic opened the door for other blockbuster films the allure of ego enlargement and “success” front and center.
But deep down Winslet wanted a different route. Here we see the first inkling of someone truly pursuing betterment in their craft. Instead of going the route of higher paying blockbuster films, Winslet intentionally sought out roles in more focused films that would stretch her skills and allow her the chance to grow. Her next films were Quills in 2000 and Iris in 2001.
While many would “ride the wave” of Titanic to more mainstream and front line films where fame and fortune would be ensured, Winslet wanted to actually get better at acting and sought after challenging opportunities.
A true mastery mindset is centrally focused on pursuing the best possible opportunities to develop our skills. It’s less about enlarging our status and more about honing our craft. This type of perspective on life and leadership is the way of mastery.
We’re wired to pursue the best paying and most high profile opportunities. Why? Because we often feel these opportunities will enhance our sense of self.
It takes a strong sense of self, rooted in the truth about where our abilities are to realize some “better” opportunities are actually not going to manufacture the type of growth we really desire if we’re serious about mastering the craft of leadership. Winslet revealed in her early days of acting, it wasn’t about making it big or being worldly known. It wasn’t about the fortune or the highest paying opportunities. It was truly about getting better.
The type of mindset that learns how to alter breathing and lung capacity for a role at 46 years old in Avatar is the same type of mindset that we see in the post - Titanic period of her career. An obsession with getting better and the craft.
There’s No Substitute for Pure Preparedness
When the average person looks at actors it looks easy. A sign you’re looking at someone truly excellent in what they do is they make it look easy. Watch an elite quarterback throw the ball and it looks effortless. Listen to an elite stand-up comedian tell jokes and you’ll think it’s simple. The reality is it’s no different when we look at the incredible acting of Kate Winslet. She makes it look easy.
The truth is, what we’re seeing is the result of a ridiculous work ethic.
“You’re only as good as your last gig.” - Kate Winslet
A mastery driven mindset is a hungry mindset. Hungry for improvement, not because it will unlock some new status for our lives, but because it’s really satisfying to improve.
Every time Winslet stepped into a new role that stretched her abilities she was met with self doubt. The same self-doubt we all experience in our lives on the edge of greatness, she too experienced in every step of the journey.
So much of acting is rejection. And learning to deal with rejection. So much of life and leadership is learning to deal with rejection.
Getting rejected hurts. We all experience rejection if we’re in the pursuit long enough. It’s as if rejection gets a major return on its investment. Not only does it hurt and disrupt us in the present moment, but it begins to scare us as we perceive the future. Rejection can be the inciting event that causes all kinds of drift in our lives.
On the backend of rejection comes a loss of confidence. And worse, a possible loss of self-belief. Paving the way for chronic self-doubt.
It’s nearly impossible to excel at anything without some sense of self belief. We can lose confidence, but we can’t ever lose belief.
How did Winslet get rid of self-doubt?
She anchored herself in the role she was playing by way of elite preparation. She became the part. While we watch the masterpieces on the big screen we never realize that there is well over a year of preparation for an actor. For Winslet she would literally disappear into being the character. She would spend six or seven months thinking like the character, talking like the character, wearing the clothes of the character. In some cases she would even wear outdated old shoes to feel the stress it caused on the feet of the character. She wanted to think and feel everything in her effort to play the part, the posture, the mannerisms, how they walk, how they shift their weight when standing, how they hold their hands. All of it was to be mastered.
When it came time to step on the set, Winslet knew she WAS the character. A true master of their craft isn’t trying to fake it. Self doubt preys on the incongruencies at our core. That’s the problem with doubt, sometimes it’s actually true.
True confidence in our craft comes from the reality that we’ve done the work. We’ve put in the time and effort to grow. The only antidote to doubt is preparation. Show me a prepared leader and I’ll show you a convicted and confident leader. Show me a doubting leader and I’ll show you an underprepared leader. There’s no substitute for preparedness.
Marked By Humility
It’s often said “success leaves clues.” That’s a true statement. But it’s also true that a mastery driven mindset leaves clues. One of the loudest indicators of a mastery driven individual is the mark of humility. Mastery is at odds with ego and pride.
To truly pursue mastery is to humble ourselves to the reality that we need to get better. Ego hates to admit we need to get better. That’s why it hides and covers our faults, can’t ever be criticized, and can’t stomach the idea that our abilities just may not be enough… yet.
Where does humility get detected? What is true humility and what is false humility. I believe true humility needs a lot of data to be corroborated. It needs a lot of instances in which it’s displayed.
One instance of humility being displayed by Kate Winslet is that everyday on set she packs her own lunch. She’s one of Hollywood’s biggest stars and she’s not sending anyone out to get a salad.
“I said no tomatoes!” (Salad hits the door as an intern ducks.)
No instance of this occurring with Kate Winslet. She didn’t want to have to ask for anything.
In an industry of divas, and egos, entourages of people protecting the celebrities and famous, Winslet packs her own lunch. Nice sandwich from home, side salad with dressing. Simple living. Simple humility.
It’s this same type of humility that has produced a true commitment to learning. Learning on set and learning off set. Learning techniques from deep sea divers to better fulfill a role in Avatar. Learning how to become a better actor.
“Learning to let go. It’s easy in this job to be ultra disciplined with sleep patterns, and the lot. I had to learn to enforce a degree of structure on the stress of doing this job.”
Kate Winslet is a life-long learner. Constantly searching for feedback. Prepared to just be a member of the team on set. “What do you need from me?” “How can I fulfill this role to the fullest?”
Imagine showing up to your current position with this same type of approach. Many often feel as if they’re not compensated enough, not appreciated enough, not valued enough (and in some cases that may be true.) But we’re never going to learn if we’re in a mindset like that often. Constantly seeking to see what we can get from our environments instead of what we can give in our environments.
The Overflow of Lifestyle
The truth revealed in Kate Winslet’s career is that it isn’t about reading lines and mimicking. An elite actor doesn’t impersonate, they become. So it is true in leadership as well.
Actors don’t impersonate. They become.
Leader’s don’t impersonate. They become.
If you want to become a better leader, you need to live the lifestyle of a leader. It’s less about regurgitating some lines from the latest New York Times Best Seller. We can attend all the conferences we want, listen to all the podcasts we want, but at some point it has to become more about living like a leader.
For Winslet, the on-screen acting production was the overflow of her lifestyle. She was in it. She lived the part. There was no doubt she was prepared when the director said “Action!”
“Every time I do this job I would disappear into my character.”
In the modern day and age of leadership development I fear we are studying more than we are leading. It’s as if we are preparing for the part, but the director never says “ACTION!”
We’re studying and there is a healthy need for that.
But are the lights ever on? Is the camera ever rolling?
Are you taking opportunities that will stretch your leadership capacities or are you taking opportunities that will enlarge some semblance of success? Some status or post Titanic opportunity that feels like a step up but really is just another form of lifestyle drift.
Everyday you show up to lead you are walking on a metaphorical set in which you are playing the part of LEADER.
Are you impersonating the part or are you living the part?
The beauty found in the career of Kate Winslet is that we see an individual so committed to their craft. So locked in to the way of mastery that whenever the camera rolled she was the part. No impersonation, no mimicking, no regurgitating lines. Her commitment led to whatever length necessary to live the part she was playing. Play an underwater creature and her journey of mastery driven living pushed her to develop her lung capacity to literally live underwater longer than any actor in human history!
That’s what lifestyle does. We go from studying to being. From impersonating to being.
A transformational leader is operating out of their being. It’s the overflow of their lifestyle.
“I can’t just learn lines and do my job, perhaps that’s because I don’t want to act, I want to be. And I do think there’s a difference.” - Kate Winslet