In March 2013, Bonnie Cain-Wood attended a session on
improvisation and leadership. Her notes, takeaways and follow up questions are
below.
Session Brief: An improvisational mindset is
important to a musician. If they listen carefully they can change their notes,
invent something new, and adapt to changing rhythms and melodies. That same
mindset is important in business.
Frank J. Barrett, jazz pianist and management scholar, says
this improvisational “jazz mindset” – and the skills and competencies that go
along with it—is crucial for effective leadership. Like skilled jazz musicians,
organizations must take this inventive approach to successfully deal with
issues that range from crisis management to spontaneous decision making to
unforeseen new realities.
Hashtags: http://twitter.com/#yesjazz
Takeaways:
·
Learn-then-execute model doesn't work for
everything. Radical receptivity. Take it, learn and do all in real
time.
·
When you're lost, any map will do. Belief and
hope give you confidence. A strategic plan isn't accurate; it is valuable
because it gives you confidence in a common ground and that allows you all to
move forward and learn as you go.
·
To live in the moment, unlearn your
patterns, interrupt habits and question routines. Throw yourself into
the terror and go.
·
Provocative confidence-throw people in over
their head, provoke them to act. They will not like you at the time.
Library Applications:
·
Are we developing a plan that gives confidence
to act?
·
We embrace a learn as we do mentality in our
training phase. Do we force/encourage a learn as we do mentality in the
innovation phase?
Suggested Readings: “Yes to the Mess: Surprising
Leadership Lessons from Jazz”
If you would like to share your notes on conference sessions
relevant to the Library Future Series contact lib-pub@okstate.edu.
