Corporate leaders need to listen to music for pleasure

This morning, the playlist was set to Janis Joplin Radio.

That was a good choice.

After making breakfast, I sat for about an hour and listened.

Nothing else mattered except her and Bobby McGee, and wondering What a Fool Believes, and enjoying the Summer Breeze blowing through the jasmine of my mind.

I was not on my phone. I did not return emails. I may have sung to Dr. Carter. But I definitely didn’t multi-task. This was all about the music, and so I immersed myself.

Now, if you were Corporate, and you had observed me in my office, on the clock, with my headphones on staring into the middle distance, occasionally sipping coffee, you’d think, “She’s…not…doing anything”.

Nay.

I was doing All The Things: listening, internalizing, creating, joining in, interpreting, analyzing, feeling.

When a person, musician or not, is listening to music in this way, complex neurological processes are occurring. This means auditory processing, activation of several brain regions, memory function and more.

Here’s the thing:

I am Corporate.

I own this company.

I am great at my job, and part of my job requires allowing my brain to receive the vibrations. There is no other way around that if you want the extraordinary, consistent results I can produce, either on stage or in academia.

This is one of the reasons we need more artists in lead positions. We get this nuance.

Someone like Cai GoGwilt, cofounder of Ironclad, Inc. , would understand; he is a concert cellist. He believes his music skills enhance his technical and leadership abilities. In his own words:

“I’ve talked a bit about how cello has really helped me in my work. I don’t think it’s
necessarily from the perspective of being a cellist makes you a better engineer, or a better
co-founder, as much as playing music I really think helps you be a better collaborator.”

Science backs us up:

Besides enhancing the skills that we acquired as musicians, listening to music:

• improves productivity
• reduces stress
• boosts morale
• reduces perceived waiting time

These are benefits we all could use.

Listen to music purely for pleasure when you can, regularly, and return to that joy embedded into your DNA and stop being a stick in the mud.

We teach this.

And we train corporate leaders in the ways of dream acquisiton—how to achieve goals using solid educational practices amd ending all workshops with a jam session. Oh, and we offer piano lessons too. ThePianoInstructor.net