I've been to two great concerts at the The Basement in Sydney in the last month. I've seen the Australian Jazz star James Morrison play with his quartet, and last Saturday night I went to a special Frank Sinatra show where we had a Big Band and four singers all belting out some great tunes. And it got me to thinking about how jazz music relates to leadership.
I've always been a big jazz fan, and I find that I am thinking more about the broader concepts of leadership as my life progresses. Now linking leadership and jazz is not new. Indeed, about 15 years ago or so I bought and read Max Depree's Leadership Jazz
But as I was sitting and listening to James Morrison, foot tapping away, one of the connections that fired for me, was how conceptually we often talk about the need for some things to be loose, and others tight.
For example, when we set ourselves or our organisation different goals to achieve, we will have some goals - generally the simple and short term ones - that can be very accurately defined, measured and targeted. But we will probably also have some goals that seem to defy a definition in the same way. At best we might be able to describe how they will look or feel when we get there. But they are kind of fuzzy.
These two categories of goals are good examples of some things that are tight and loose. They aren't good or bad because, in truth, we need both. But what is important for our loose goals is that we have some sense of where we are heading in all this fuzziness - and an organisation's vision or its culture may provide the necessary tightness that allows the looseness!
Let's have a think about how jazz music might shed some light on this.
Perhaps the strongest differentiator of jazz music from other musical forms is its improvisation component. When I was sitting back listening to the James Morrison quartet rip, swing and bop their way through their two sets, often the highlights were the solos performed by Morrison on the trumpet, trombone or piano; by his brother on the drums; by the bassist or the guitarist.
The point is that they didn't just make it up as they went along. Each performer's improvisation had to fit the structure of the tune in which it appeared. It had to be in the right key, the right tempo and, perhaps most importantly, it had to add that special something that had never been done before.
In that sense, the improvisation in jazz music is the loose part. But the loose part can't survive without the tight bit - the rest of the tune of which it is a component.
Jazz musicians get it. They know that they can't all improvise at the same time - that would be chaos, and it would sound like crap. While there may be a band leader, in a very real and practical sense, they all take it in turns to lead when they improvise. And while one member of the jazz team is center stage, the rest of the team are in the background providing the harmony and the rhythm.
If we think about it, it's not a bad way for all of our teams to work and to be led. At different times it will make sense for different people to take the lead. Sometimes - and more and more frequently - someone will have to improvise. But being able to do something that is totally new and improvisational is often best supported with the tightness provided by the rest of the team sticking to the tune.
Does your work team have jazz?
I've always been a big jazz fan, and I find that I am thinking more about the broader concepts of leadership as my life progresses. Now linking leadership and jazz is not new. Indeed, about 15 years ago or so I bought and read Max Depree's Leadership Jazz
But as I was sitting and listening to James Morrison, foot tapping away, one of the connections that fired for me, was how conceptually we often talk about the need for some things to be loose, and others tight.
For example, when we set ourselves or our organisation different goals to achieve, we will have some goals - generally the simple and short term ones - that can be very accurately defined, measured and targeted. But we will probably also have some goals that seem to defy a definition in the same way. At best we might be able to describe how they will look or feel when we get there. But they are kind of fuzzy.
These two categories of goals are good examples of some things that are tight and loose. They aren't good or bad because, in truth, we need both. But what is important for our loose goals is that we have some sense of where we are heading in all this fuzziness - and an organisation's vision or its culture may provide the necessary tightness that allows the looseness!
Let's have a think about how jazz music might shed some light on this.
Perhaps the strongest differentiator of jazz music from other musical forms is its improvisation component. When I was sitting back listening to the James Morrison quartet rip, swing and bop their way through their two sets, often the highlights were the solos performed by Morrison on the trumpet, trombone or piano; by his brother on the drums; by the bassist or the guitarist.
The point is that they didn't just make it up as they went along. Each performer's improvisation had to fit the structure of the tune in which it appeared. It had to be in the right key, the right tempo and, perhaps most importantly, it had to add that special something that had never been done before.
In that sense, the improvisation in jazz music is the loose part. But the loose part can't survive without the tight bit - the rest of the tune of which it is a component.
Jazz musicians get it. They know that they can't all improvise at the same time - that would be chaos, and it would sound like crap. While there may be a band leader, in a very real and practical sense, they all take it in turns to lead when they improvise. And while one member of the jazz team is center stage, the rest of the team are in the background providing the harmony and the rhythm.
If we think about it, it's not a bad way for all of our teams to work and to be led. At different times it will make sense for different people to take the lead. Sometimes - and more and more frequently - someone will have to improvise. But being able to do something that is totally new and improvisational is often best supported with the tightness provided by the rest of the team sticking to the tune.
Does your work team have jazz?
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