5 Things I Learned about Life and Business Playing in a Band

             I should say right up front, that I've never made a living as a musician, although   I have been playing guitar and singing with various groups and bands most of my life. I get great enjoyment from it. Playing alone is a wonderful way to relax and enjoy music, and since it requires little setup or coordination, there's little prior planning. But at some point, if you're any good, you begin to yearn for more, and that's where getting a group together becomes a lot of fun. 

 Over the years, playing with various bands, I've noticed some similarities between the requisites of being a contributing and fulfilled band member, and the requisites of business (and life) success. I thought I'd share a few of them with you.

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            1.  A shared vision is essential.

 There are many styles, paces, complexities, and opinions about music. One could argue all day about jazz versus classical, versus country, versus gospel, versus rock, versus bluegrass. One person may really enjoy playing in 6/8 time, while another waltzes to  3/4 time, while another pushes everything into  4/4 time.  One loves fast songs, another enjoys minor keys, someone else likes everything loud while  his partner likes soft melodies.

 The same could be said about business.  There are great arguments to be made for  the various  nuances of business strategy, what color the logo should be, what our "brand" should be, whether we advertise on radio or the internet, what type of commission plan we should be providing our sales people, and many other perfectly viable business elements and decisions.

 If you're going to play alone, then it doesn't really matter how your vision is communicated and whether or not others take ownership of it, but the moment you begin playing with a group it does.  If one guitar player hears the song as a soft finger picked style, while the other cranks up his amp and distortion effects, then the result isn't going to be music as much as two individuals playing different things in the same room. This is true regardless of how talented those two individuals may be.  

 The best and most useful visions are not dictated to others by someone at the top, but instead are worked out by the group participants.  In most band situations, this goes something like, "hey guys, listen to this" followed by a few bars of a song, to which someone else usually says "that's neat, but what if we..." and then proceeds to add some nuance to the original, followed by others that begin to play along. By listening to each other, and agreeing to slight adjustments, the band begins to arrive at a shared vision.  This informal process is very fulfilling to creative people, and serves a dual function of not only forming a vision worthy of being shared, but of actually motivating and teaching your band members to be creative. Caution, it's a messy and seemingly inefficient process.  The temptation for a strong leader is to just step in and dictate the vision, but the end result will never be as good.

The best leadership style is often the most unobtrusive.  Real leaders are not threatened by others or their talents, but instead encourage others to be their best.  When preparing a song with talented musicians, many worthy opinions and ideas emerge.  The job of the leader is to take the best of those, get buy in from the group, and then get the song done.  Many bands operate just fine having never entitled anyone as the band leader, but all of them defer to someone in the group as the leader.  Best selling author Ken Blanchard (The One Minute Manager) wrote a book recently on the leadership style of Jesus.  That style of leadership is often defined as servant leadership and it's effective.  Leadership is about caring a lot more than it's about bossing.  The US Naval Academy in their leadership courses teach that "sailors will obey orders, but they will  follow leaders. "

I had the opportunity to hear James Belasco, author of "Flight of the Buffalo" some years ago addressing this very issue. Followers that are so intimidated by their leader that they will not act without him, are compared by Belasco to a herd of buffalo when their leader is gone.  The old buffalo hunters used to easily kill an entire herd by first shooting the dominate bull.  The rest of the herd would then stand in confusion until all were killed.

As silly as this sounds, all of us know of companies and organizations that are managed in exactly this fashion.  It's uncaring, foolish, and horrible leadership, and there's really no place for it in a viable organization.  Everything in business, life, or a band rises and falls on leadership. Do it right!

 A shared vision, enthusiastically embraced by all participants, is an empowering and energizing force whether in a band, business, or life.

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            2.  You play like you practice.       

 Most of us have learned, often the hard way, that little of value comes without sacrifice and hard work. Gary Player, the great golfer was famous for saying, "the harder I work, the luckier I get."   Samuel Johnson said "what we ever hope to do with ease, we must first do with diligence." In music we sometimes compliment a band by saying, "they play tight."  It just means that all the timings are dead on, they start together end together, and make great music. "Tightness" comes from nothing but practice.  Groups learn to listen to each other, anticipate each other, play to each others' strengths, and cover for one another in weak spots. 

 I'm one that's notorious for starting into the bridge of a song too soon, or forgetting to repeat the chorus, but our tight little band, covering my weakness, plays right along and the audience rarely knows the difference.  There is no shortcut for practice. Bands that don't rehearse, don't play well, period.

 In a business environment, while we rarely refer to it as practice or rehearsal, the same principles apply.  Your business team only gets good at what they do by doing it.  Here at EMA, we spend a lot of time, money, and resources on being sure that our systems, people, and culture engenders good customer service. That doesn't mean we never make mistakes, but when we do, our goal is for our group to play tightly and react and respond in an honorable and good faith fashion to minimize the damage to our reputation, and to continue to provide value to our customers. 

 In the same manner, you don't learn how to be a good father or mother by reading about it. Vicki and I raised four children, and are now learning to be good grandparents (I highly recommend that vocation).  Almost everything I learned about being a Dad (or Granddad), I learned simply by practicing at being one. You become a great Dad or Mom  primarily by being there.  Your family tightly knits together  by encouraging each other, and growing together as you practice the melodies of life.

 Individuals must hone their skills.

 While corporate band practice is essential, the basic skills of playing and singing are honed every day with practice.  The legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi said, "perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we catch excellence."  I've been playing guitar since High School and  try to practice every day.  But,  I'm a long way from being perfect.  I told someone recently after returning from a Ricky Skaggs bluegrass concert (if you don't know who Ricky Skaggs is, then you should get an education) that after watching those guys play, I wanted to come home and burn my guitar!  But because I practice, I do get better over time, not perfect, but better.

 I've noticed at sales seminars, that usually, the salespeople in attendance, are already very successful.  Most motivational books are bought and read by already highly motivated people.  The implication is clear, people that are good, aspire to be better, while losers are satisfied to stay where they are and make excuses. 

 If your company doesn't pay for professional training, then take your career into your own hands (it's already there whether you realize it or not) and pay for it yourself. Start reading good books on business and leadership.  What's a better investment than you? 

 And while you're at it, invest in your family and friends.  In the New Testament, “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed" is a famous verse, that has deep meaning on several levels.

 Your band, your company, and your family expects you to show up prepared; don't let them down.  

 

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 3. Who is in the band is the first decision, not how or what you're going to play.

 Jim Collins wrote a terrific book a few years ago, "Good to Great," in which he uses the analogy of a bus.  He says that the first priority is determining who is on the bus, not where the bus is going. His reasoning is that the folks on the bus will determine where the bus is capable of going (and conversely, where it cannot go).  

 When a group of folks decide to form a band, the skills and motivations of those individuals will determine what kind of band they're going to be, much more than any strategic decision they might make.  Very successful professional bands were formed by guys that initially played very poorly, but were determined and motivated to get better.  Along the way they developed great skills and a style that became their signature.  Rarely was there an overriding strategy about style; the guys that formed the group just arrived at it based upon who they were.  

Nowhere is this more true than in business. Far too often, strategic plans are made with little regard to the skills, motivations, and aspirations of those within the company. Leading and pushing are two different things altogether.  Learning this simple fact has made my life as a business leader and band member much easier. 

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4. Mistakes are inevitable, so play hard!           

In fact, mistakes are usually a necessary part of progress.  I love a saying by Zig Ziglar, "no one ever stumbled over anything sitting down."  No band wants its members to be timid.  They may laugh at your missed notes, but they will be disgusted if you don't play for fear of missing one.

 Some of the coolest instrumental breaks I've ever heard came when a band member just turned loose and went for it, not worrying about mistakes.  If you want to ski, you're going to  fall down, if you want to make sales, you're going to face some rejection, and if you want to play guitar, you're going to make some horrible sounds.  We all make mistakes, but in music, in business, and in life- play hard anyhow.

           

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 5.  Have fun.

 Fun is greatly under-rated. I hear musicians  come up with reason after reason they work so hard at perfecting their music, but if you boil it down, the essence is..   it's fun. It is fun to play music, and it's especially fun to play in a band.  I had a conversation with Dr. Eric Nelson, a professor of music at Emory University some years ago about choral music.  In the course of the conversation he asked me why I thought people sang in choirs.  I gave several decidedly un-thoughtful answers, and then he answered his own question by saying, "because it's more fun to sing harmony with others than to sing alone."

People that play well, ENJOY playing.   People that sing well, ENJOY singing.   People that sell well ENJOY selling.  People that do field service well ENJOY doing it, and people that manage businesses well, ENJOY doing so.

Conversely (and don't miss this) people that play, sing, sell, do field service, and manage businesses POORLY, do NOT enjoy it.  Get the point?  Having fun at doing anything is a huge part of doing it well. 

I'm not sure why, but some folks go to enormous lengths to remove all enjoyment from everything they do.  These are the folks that complain constantly about being over-loaded at work, but the moment you try to take any of the work from them, they get offended.  I'm convinced that an inability to enjoy yourself is a sign of low self esteem and the insecurity that accompanies it. 

 The Bible says that a merry heart does good like a medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.  More and more evidence confirms that a good sense of humor and a  positive outlook has great health benefits.

There are also success benefits.  People that have fun at life, are much more attractive and influential  than those that do not.  One of the things most admired about Ronald Reagan, by both Republicans and Democrats,  was his sense of humor.  It was a practiced and integral part of his life. When he was wheeled into the emergency room after being shot, his first comment to the group of doctors standing there was "I hope you're all Republicans!"

One way of keeping fun in your life is to keep it simple.  Great songs are often very simple songs, and our group has always had the philosophy that we'd rather do simple things very well, than complex things fairly. Physicists sometimes use an interesting definition of beauty:  elegant simplicity.   We've learned here at EMA that the most likely solution to a complex problem is usually the most simple solution. 

I love a line from a Ricky Skaggs song that says "it's only life, enjoy the ride."

Why not?

 

Eddie Mayfield,
EMA Drive Lines June 2008
edmayfield@emainc.net

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