Tuning Slide 4.37- Life Lessons #3- Jazz and Life

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

What we play is life.
—Louis Armstrong

Before last week’s attempted sidetrack into humor I have been looking at the application of life lessons from music. This week I come to what may be the single best music to learn from:

Jazz.

Life is always better with jazz. This is not to discount all the other kinds of music. Classical, pop, rock and roll, bluegrass- they all have an important place in my life and experiences. Each one can change moods, open doors, give vision, and give life new dimensions.

But there is something about jazz.

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in blues and ragtime. Jazz is seen by many as "America's classical music". Since the 1920s Jazz Age, jazz has become recognized as a major form of musical expression. It then emerged in the form of independent traditional and popular musical styles, all linked by the common bonds of African-American and European-American musical parentage with a performance orientation. — Link

As a counselor, for example, I have to listen to what someone else is saying, make sense of it, figure out what it might mean, and then respond. It’s like improvising jazz. The same is true as a preacher, even working from a manuscript, or as a public speaker feeling the mood of the crowd.

Two interesting books come to mind when looking at an understanding of jazz:

• The Jazz of Physics by Stephon Alexander and
• Yes to the Mess: Surprising Leadership Lessons from Jazz by Frank Barrett

Google articles about jazz and business and on the first page you get:

• How Jazz Can Transform Business - Forbes
• What Can Jazz Teach Us about Business? | TIME.com
• Business and all that jazz | Education | The Guardian
• Jazz as a Metaphor for the New Model of the Enterprise - Don Tapscott
• What Leaders Can Learn from Jazz - Harvard Business Review
• How Jazz Music Prepared Me for Life as a CEO - Entrepreneur
• 8 Lessons that Entrepreneurs Can Learn from Jazz - Jazz Education

One of the articles I found gave a good list to “riff” on for me- Josh Linkner in “11 Leadership Lessons From Jazz Musicians” at Inc. Here’s his list with my thoughts interspersed.

1. Playing it safe gets you tossed off the stage. Take risks. Yes, it is risky to take steps outward, to step into center stage. But we all have to do it.
2. There are no do-overs in live performances. Practice so you know what you can do is the secret of jazz improvising. This helps us get certain things about ourselves into the realm of being natural. It is no different than learning to walk- it takes practice and then you don’t have to think about it anymore. Life is a live performance- go for it.
3. Listening to those around you is three times more important than what you play yourself. Pay attention to others. I know too many people, myself included at times, that are always thinking about that they are going to say next instead of listening. Listen! I am amazed at what I don’t know and what I can learn.
4. There's a time to stand out as a soloist and a time to support others and make them shine. Share the glory! What do you do when someone else is getting the congratulations? Stand and feel jealous? Wish it was you? That won’t get us anywhere. Celebrate with them.
5. Expect surprises and adversity, since jazz (and life) is about how you respond and adapt. Anticipate problems and plan. This is where that practice in #2 above really pays off.
6. Know your audience. It is often about the other person’s needs. Remember #3- listening. This is one of the reasons we do that when with others- so we can respond to them where they are.
7. It's always better leaving people wanting more, rather than less. Don’t overdo it.
8. The best leaders are those that make others sound good. Don’t hold back and keep others from shining.
9. Pattern recognition is easier than raw genius. Learn from what has happened. This helps when the surprises happen- “Oh, I’ve been through this before. I can handle it.”
10. Shy musicians are starving artists. Linkner says, If you're playing a gig, you get paid when there's butts in seats, so you can't be shy in telling people about the upcoming show. Learn to present your possibilities without bragging. It also means looking for opportunities to be yourself, to learn, to share, to grow.
11. Keeping it new and fresh is mandatory. Linkner reminds us that Jazz has its roots in real-time, collaborative innovation. Look for the new challenges. Then look for those people who you can work with to make it real. Find the friends, the colleagues, the significant other who does more than just agrees with you, but who will also challenge and enhance what you have to offer!

Linkner ends with this:

Legendary jazz pianist Dave Brubeck put it best, and his words resonate not only on stage for musicians but also in life for business leaders. As he so eloquently described it, "There's a way of playing safe, there's a way of using tricks and there's the way I like to play, which is dangerously, where you're going to take a chance on making mistakes in order to create something you haven't created before."

I would sum this all up with the idea that life does not come with an instruction manual. How can it? Each of us is unique with our own blend of ideas, abilities, insights, and experiences. We build on what we have been given and what we know. In the end you compose your own operations manual and the song that is you!