Jazz and Business
By Carli Muñoz
Jazz artist and restaurant owner
IN THE WEEDS
Restaurant staffers like to call it being ‘in the weeds’ when one gets caught up in a difficult situation resulting from overload in multitasking. As one of the performers and other outstanding guest artists, I was engaged in opening a most special performance at my club/restaurant, Carli Café Concierto. Moments before starting the show and as an owner and host, I found myself caught up and overwhelmed with endless details related to who comes in, who sits where--will everyone will fit, and so on. Then, is the staff ready, are my guest happy, are the regular customers getting a table? The chatter just went on and on!
Beginning the performance, I felt that I didn't accomplish any of the tasks at hand to my satisfaction! I thought, "God, my clients are upset! Besides, I'm not focusing on the show because I'm thinking and worrying about everything else! Everyone by now must be upset with me! I failed! I failed my clients, and worst of all, I am failing my co-players and myself!" Sounds bad… right? You bet! But was it really? No. Failure was only in my perception, created solely out of my own created circumstances. Once I shifted my way of thinking to the present moment, it all shifted along with me. After all, the manager and staff handled everything perfectly! If the euphoria of the crowd at the end meant something, the show was still highly successful. After the performance, on my way out for some well-needed fresh air, I bumped into a musician colleague who I highly respected and had been at the show. I told him how severely distracted I thought I played, he said to me: "even when you play badly distracted, you sound great." I thought that was a great compliment! Thanks to a lesson well learned; to let the staff do their work and trust the process. The next presentations turned out much better.
THE CHALLENGE
Not unlike a businessman executing a new interactive business task or presentation, it is common for a sensible jazz musician to feel challenged before a performance. I have been performing regularly in one place or another for more than 40 years (probably an average of 300 days of the year or more. Got a calculator? And I still feel challenged every time I sit at the piano to play––rarely with the stressful intensity I had on the story I just told you, but nevertheless challenged! Clearly, jazz playing is an ever-challenging and changing process. And the human and mental aspect of how you feel plays a huge role in the performance outcome. Some could argue that what really counts in business is how well you prepare yourself, and that should account for how you feel about confronting a business challenge. I couldn't agree more, and preparedness plays an important role when playing jazz and any other kind of music. But in jazz playing, there will always be other elements affecting the delicate balance between the performer and the audience. At its peak, the spontaneity present will never cease to flabbergast the audience and the performer.
I believe that good business can be almost an intense and rewarding musical experience. I say almost because it would be unfair to compare anything else to the joy and the magic of music improvisation - you can tell by the contorted faces and expressions of ecstasy when jazz musicians are improvising. On the other hand, if a business speaker made such nirvanic expressions or facial contortions, it would certainly be a comedy for the audience. And by rewarding, I mean beyond monetary gratification, or in addition to. Business indeed implies dealings where goods or services are exchanged in one way or another for the benefit of all parties involved, although this is much too often forgotten. To me, the only good business is the one that creates value for all concerned.
A NOBLE CAUSE
If it comes from a noble ideal, business and clear purpose could be the dynamo for a very productive outcome. By that, I mean a result where a significant number of people would be inspired and benefited, ideally benefited enough to help others, and so on. Although jazz playing is gratifying, it can also have a purpose, just like any other professional endeavor. The 'purpose' could be as simple and basic as just expressing oneself or as mundane as pandering to the crowd. I mention 'purpose' only in the context of making an analogy with business. 'Purpose' plays only a very abstract and distant role in the consciousness of actual jazz playing, wherein in doing business, it remains at the forefront as a significant consideration. When jazz music is paired with the industry for a common purpose and a noble cause, it is truly a beautiful thing and very powerful, although subtly.
BREAKING THE RULES
Business, the same as jazz, is also a creative process. And although there are routines, techniques, procedures, and strategies in business, creativity, as in music, plays an enormous role. It is probably not different than other creative processes except that in playing jazz, contrary to business, improvisation is the rule, even though technique and strategy play a substantial role. Jazz is an excellent example of where the rules must be learned to be broken. By the way, I wouldn't suggest doing the same with business on this last particular, especially when the rules imply ethical values!
Jazz also has its protocol, but it applies mostly to standard procedures and primarily within ensembles. Take a duo, for instance; you can agree to establish sharing a set number of bars during the solos to share or trade improvisation. Ideally, the duo players would know by experience and intuition if and when to share during improvisation. Personally, I find that the least said, the better. I figure that if I have to explicitly tell the musicians playing with me what to do or how to do it, I may not have the best choice of musicians. I find this to be somewhat true in business, except that verbal communication is highly critical for the alignment of purpose. In jazz, alignment of purpose is personal and generally unspoken.
JAZZ AND LEADERSHIP
Jazz leadership is a very delicate balance of power and humility and give and take. I compare it to a fragile ecological system where every little thing counts, including thoughts, attitudes, emotional state, surroundings, and general well-being affecting the whole experience. But most of all, I think it relates to the interaction with the other players and the level of awareness. Therefore, I find it very important to choose, or better yet, attract players that will be on the least, complementary at one's present level of playing, and even more advanced (that can be relative). I say 'on the least' because the 'better the player is, the 'better' I will play, be challenged and motivated, and be a leader. Note that 'better' for me may not be what is 'better' for someone else. 'Better' at a certain level may not be a valid term in jazz vocabulary. That is why I like to use the word 'complementary,' because it should relate to where you are or are going musically, just like in business; it is all relative to the context.
Many years ago, I read a book that caught my attention and became very significant later in my life. The name of the book was Leadership Jazz, written by Max De Pree. In this book, De Pree likens business leadership to the art of leading a jazz ensemble. To my surprise, I realized reading the book how highly top CEOs valued jazz ensemble leaders and composers. Many non-musician (and closet musicians) and high-end business professionals place jazz musicians, especially composers and leaders, in a bigger-than-life realm! It certainly gave me plenty to think about. The book cited countless ways in which jazz leadership is an ultimately sophisticated model for business leaders to emulate and draw inspiration. Although one should never second guess the writer's intention, I thought De Pree probably intended his book to inspire business leaders. But with me, it took different effects; it turned a jazz leader into a businessman.
In the next issue, I will share some insight into my journey in creating Carli Café Concierto.
