Manila, 23 February 2022 — When it is time to expand your preferences.

Story

It happened in late 2021. I signed up for a course to work on my voice. Yes, as in singing. However, while the program was oriented towards singing, my interest was broader. As a saxophonist, and more recently a wind-synthesizer enthusiast, I wanted to expand, and further develop, the way I play and appreciate music. And while the course wasn’t tailored to that, it didn’t disappoint in helping me forward. On the contrary, it was an unexpectedly profound experience.

Beyond my expectations, the course introduced me to some perspectives that I hadn’t thought of before in connection with music. For example, it helped me to explore my musical cosmology. Going back all the way to my childhood years, and reviewing my progression of favorite styles and songs through the years, it helped me to chart my relationship with music to where I am today, and where I want to go. Importantly, it also helped me discover how to handle the ‘chorus of small voices’ inside myself that want to hold me back from putting myself out there to take steps forward on my musical journey.

And then it hit me. What I was exploring about my musical journey bore a remarkable resemblance to my leadership journey. If you are a regular reader of my weekly leadership insights — a warm thanks for reading and using the insights to expand your leadership — you will have noticed that there are many ways to lead, and that we need to develop a repertoire of skills to lead in the right way with the right people at the right time. Different situations call for different leadership styles, and that’s quite similar to how we prefer different musical styles at different times, and how as players we want to keep expanding our repertoire of musical skills. So is there any problem here?

Challenge

Looking through the lens of challenges, we can see that there are several to confront us. In music, first, it’s easy to get stuck in the styles we liked before, and not make space for learning to appreciate new styles. Moving forward doesn’t mean that we discard what we enjoyed before. Rather, using the terminology of Integral philosophy, we ‘transcend and include’ as we move to the next level in our relationship with music. The same is true for our leadership styles and skills. What we learn will always add to our current repertoire and allow us to gain a better understanding of what will be most effective in the different situations we encounter.

Second, developing a new style or technique in singing or playing music requires practice. While we can be captured by enthusiasm for what we want to learn, we can’t escape the need to put an effort into regular practice. When we compare this with leaders practicing new skills, we are again struck by the similarity. Clearly, at first, we won’t be getting it right and up to our expectations. It’s only when we stick with it and develop a strong habit of practicing and getting feedback that we get better, in music, and in leadership. This is why, in the Leader in Transition Program, we focus on executing new habits and behaviors after we have done our assessment and determined our challenge. 

Third, whenever we attempt something new in music, to level up our proficiency and performance, we are bound to encounter the chorus of small voices I mentioned earlier. Some of these voices will try hard to convince you that you’re not good enough to become successful at this, that it’s not who you are, and that it’s not your place to try. This, again, is so similar to what we encounter in developing our leadership, where we talk about the ‘saboteur voice’ and about suffering from an ‘impostor syndrome.’ In fact, it will be hard to find anyone who has never felt like an impostor when they first tested a new leadership behavior in their workplace. Here again, what we need to expand our musical skills closely resembles what we need to move forward on our leadership journey. 

Question

However, let’s not just look at this through the lens of challenges. Rather, let’s also see what we get when we overcome these challenges. In music, we gain the ability to feast our senses and our soul with a new experience of how precious and beautiful life truly is, in ways that go beyond words. And in leadership? In my experience, that’s where we gain a deeper sense of excitement and fulfillment that we are working with others to bring about positive changes, while in the process we also bring out the best in ourselves. Again, something with a meaning that goes beyond words. Both in music and in leadership, we can experience a sense of enacting our Purpose in this life. Does that make sense?

So my question for you this week is: When is it time to expand your preferences, in both music and in leadership. What can you do to expand your repertoire of skills in both? Don’t listen too much to the chorus of small voices. Coming from the oldest parts of our brains, they try to protect you from danger. In today’s world, however, there is no need to fear a tiger jumping from behind a tree to have you for dinner. Rather, behind that tree, there might be valuable and exciting opportunities to learn new skills. While it’s true that you need to challenge yourself to get out of your comfort zone, and put in the necessary practice, the rewards are worth it. Do you agree?

That’s it for this week’s post, written on my birthday. I am celebrating the good fortune to have so many people in my life who are committed to learning and making the most of their skills — in music and leadership — while keeping up learning to expand their repertoire and discovering more value along the way. About music, I have come to see that Music Moves Life. Hopefully it moves yours too. And if you want to move forward on your leadership journey, consider booking a Free Strategy Call to let me know where you want to take it.