Return to blogLast week, I delivered a Music Paradigm session to a group of 140 financial services executives. For 90 minutes they sat inside the orchestra. Then for a half-hour we all discussed what they had experienced, and how they might put their learning to use.
Many people spoke about the magical quality of hearing live music right in front of them. Even those who described themselves as not-at-all-artistic people were awed by how all the intricate parts of the orchestra fell together into a whole that sounded complex, yet at the same time astonishingly simple. Their experience translated instantly into profound lessons about leadership and teamwork – lessons they were eager to immediately put into practice.
I’m always struck by how an emotional experience like great music, heard live and at close range, can liberate such creative insights. It is one of the fundamental differences between The Music Paradigm and other kinds of presentations that rely solely on the cognitive mind. David Nadler, Vice Chairman of Marsh and McLennan, has led countless business off-sites. He said, “We sit together, we listen together, we intellectually process things together. But we don’t often sit and feel and experience together, in the same way.”
The cognitive element is important, even critical. But does it inspire people to work together, to transmit enthusiasm for the mission? Does it energize workers to take the necessary risks to drive exceptional performance? I believe that a connection with emotion has an important place at these meetings, especially when the emotional experience points metaphorically back towards what happens in the workplace.
Transcending language, logic and thought, music can reveal the underlying human dynamics that influence us, even when we’re at work.
Roger Nierenberg
