Listen to your business
Listen to your business

Listen to your business

This article was inspired by a talk by Evelyn Glennie, a deaf or whatever we that are not deaf might call it percussionist, who learned and studied music by learning to hear with her whole body.

This made me think. As a normal, abled person I never was in the need to hear in a different way, to see in a different way, to talk in a different way. I was never pushed to accomodate to the standard. At least not by my physical abilities. But what impressed me most, was Glennie’s exposition of how important experimenting and therefore experiencing with all your possible senses and physical and emotional ways in general is. And for me, it just struck my mind, that we do not only have that in music, art or literature. We also have that in our professional lives, in our businesses. If I experience myself and my business, my work with all senses and if I listen to what sounds, metaphorical or real, there are, I might be able to offer more to a service, a product an idea than the simple explanation. I can offer my very own interpretation, I can offer what I really want to do and how I want to do it and what I need to do it. Trying to use more parts than just our hands to clap, this can train your abilities to think about the „what else?“ What else is there to empower me? What else is there to realize my idea, my vision? Who else is there to help me?

This might be a complex way of seeing the world and it might take longer than to just look from one superficial perspective. But it offers so much more understanding and experience of your own that I doubt it is not worth a try.

So, why not bring the idea of full-body-experience into business? Why not begin to think: What else could I do to make this project happen? What else can I try to motivate my colleague? What do I experience in my body when I talk to the clients and they are not happy with my work? What do I experience when they are happy with my work? It’s not about judging, it’s about experimenting: What is there? What is good? What isn’t?

So let’s allow ourselves to understand that we are more than just one perspective, more than just one sound and listen to us and to the sound of our businesses, of our jobs, of our lives. Doesn’t it sound interesting, impressive, familiar, warm, creative, powerful, maybe sad, but still full of light? I bet it does.

Here is the full talk by Evelyn Glennie:
http://on.ted.com/dhEZ