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How being a musician helps you in business.
I have been a musician for 30 years. A guitar player. I was weaned on music from the likes of Rush and Genesis, then moving jazz which led to amazing guitarists like Mike Stern, and Pat Metheny.
This led to influences from Brazil with artists like Djavan. Then I found more funk oriented groups such as Jamiroquai and Incognito and the lushness of groups like the insanely talented Swing Out Sister with their heavy Burt Bacharach influences. For the harder edge I started playing even a few tunes from metal groups like Iron Maiden (very fun to play live).
In all of this playing in a group setting, I’ve come to realize that there are many parallels between playing music in a live setting and doing business. At first you might think this is out of left field, but consider the following:
Patience and Practice: It takes time to learn a song and how to recreate the piece that was written. There is a great quote from Thomas Carlyle “Endurance is patience concentrated”. Learning music requires patience. Getting good at it requires patience. Mastering it requires practice and doing it live.
Rhythm: Setting the rhythm is key to making a song work or not. It’s the same with company culture. Set the pace, set the rhythm and let that take you forward. Check this out from Lyle Mays an watch how he switches it…
