Can we engage The Middle?

Later this week will be the Spring Equinox – the day that we officially move from Winter to Spring (at least in Astronomy). The sun will be right over the equator at 5:01 am Thursday EDT, and thus within some tolerance, everyone on the planet has exactly the same amount of light and dark. So at least for one day, we all have about the same – The Middle…

The renewal of Surfing…

Where I was raised in Texas, we didn’t do a lot Surfing…. but we did do a lot of water skiing. As I was graduating from High School, my parents bought a small “fishing shack” on a local lake – including a “ski boat”. It BARELY qualified, and probably by a factor of 10 to 1, I spent more time working ON the boat than USING the boat… but no matter. Like Surfing, the basic principles are the same – a wing gliding on top of the water, and unlike snow skiing, you lean back…

How do you execute Surfing?

As I started this series on Surf music, today’s song is probably what came to mind first. The song—this version as well as cover versions—has been featured in over 20 films and television series since 1964, appearing at least once a decade since. You may not know the name of it, but the opening and ongoing drums instantly identify it as one of the most well-known songs of that era….

Surfing Wonder

An exercise we did this week was to find a picture of ourselves before 10 – hopefully, around 6 or 8 – before many of the “worlds” voices have had a chance to change the “music” in your life. Pictures were posted of “little kids” invariably smiling, many of them twirling, dancing, playing… enjoying life. The concept is that is your natural self …

When do you observe Surfing?

As I hope you have noticed, the “talent” that gave us Surf music came from all over. By the early 60’s, globally the availability of relatively inexpensive amps and guitars, along with the popularity of radio and TV created a tidal wave of kids trying to figure out how to put that all together into something that would Surf them into fame.

Who is your Surf partner?

For this workshop, we needed at least 3 others who would contract to partner with us. “The Pod” had to commit to meet weekly for at least half an hour… and also to check in daily on our progress. At first, this seemed a bit over the top,

What manages to Surf?

We were recently out at a pond with our daughter/granddaughters… and of course, we started skipping rocks. The delicate approach of first finding a smooth, flat rock, and then throwing it sidearm so it would land nearly parallel with the surface of the water came back to me….. after a few misses 😉 Watching the rock bounce 2, 3… 5… 15 times…

About Leading with Music

Brought to you by empoweringLEADERS; authored by Mark K. House.

While there are many blog sites on both Leadership and Music, our site aims to deepen the understanding of both – and do it in the length of a song.

Select a post (like the one above),
Hit play on YouTube, Apple Music, or Spotify for the music selection
Read a short article about Leadership

In less than 5 minutes, get an artist to explore further with a bite-sized leadership point as you dive into your day. Buttons below take you to the previous or more recent post to keep reading. Join us on LinkedIn to leave a comment, and subscribe below for Daily or Weekly email updates. Share your own findings about #leadingWithMusic on LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Each week we select a Band of the week to emphasize a Leadership theme. Daily we emphasize one of the empower leadership competencies (to the left here). For example, Monday will always be about engage, and Sunday will always be about renew. All include real-world best practices learned from many years of global leadership and many mistakes that you can avoid.

You can Browse or Search for music or topics of interest to you. We are always looking for new Leadership Topics or Bands to cover and welcome your contributions to those lists. Workshops using the power of music either virtually or in person are also available.

About the Author, Mark House

Mark has been immersed in music and singing since his youth, including singing in a Boys Choir at the 1968 Methodist Church Global meeting. He also watched as his Dad returned from meetings at IBM with his “songbook”, charged up by singing at offsite meetings regularly. He helped lead music for his high school and college Youth Groups, and was part of a Bluegrass Gospel group as the bass player for over 15 years. As he noticed the absence of music and creativity in the workplace, he wrote “musical skits” in his corporate roles at IBM, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and VeriSign.

As he transitioned from corporate roles, he co-led singing for every session of his coaching cohort at Georgetown University. It was there he saw the power of music to get strangers and teammates to bond quickly. Backed up by the science in Daniel Levitin’s great book This is Your Brain on Music, he began a 15-year focus on bringing music back into the workplace.

This led to offering multiple Music Makes Me workshops at Georgetown and other commercial and government organizations. He is now structuring offsite and meetings around music, and as an anthym certified consultant, can work with virtual teams around the globe. More details are here. He is recognized for his ability to find a song or build a playlist for just about any occasion and looks forward to your tune.