You don’t have to be a rock star with a million-selling album to say, “Music replaced my life. ” You may be the leader of an organization looking for a way to overcome an impediment or challenge that has plagued you, potentially for years.
The key to solving an ongoing leadership challenge could be in the music you pay attention to. Listening to the right music can change the way you think, help you overcome obstacles, and make you a better leader.
Let’s say you’re frustrated with your team and wondering why they’re not as motivated or engaged as you are, why they’re not treating consumers the way you’d like, why you can’t fully delegate, or anything else. In this case, you’re probably wondering, “How do I get them to change?” »
But that’s probably not the right question. What if you asked, “What can I replace in myself?”What if what you want to replace is your internal environment, not your external environment?
That’s how complicated that The Leader’s Playlist, the debut book by Harvard lawyer-turned-CEO coach Susan Drumm, invites leaders to ask.
I had the opportunity to interview Drumm for an episode of Amazing Business Radio. In the interview, he talked about revolutionary tactics that leaders can make more effective. Specifically, he shared a practical and resilient tool for turning subconscious perspectives and behaviors that can create poor leadership outcomes. This tool is music.
According to Drumm, music is “a brain tool to turn useless leadership models. “With decades of training senior executives, adding billionaire CEOs and high-profile political figures, Drumm knows that when someone struggles as a leader, especially if they’re experiencing strong feelings like burnout, frustration, imposter syndrome, etc. , it’s because there’s an internal “playlist” loop that shapes how they understand their situation, and not external pressures.
Drumm says, “That playlist of ideas helps keep them stuck. It has comfortable background music that they couldn’t possibly hear, but it’s there, distracting their emotional state.
The internal playlist is rooted in the “wounds” of the formative years. Drumm highlights the not unusual “playlist titles” he encounters among the executives and leaders he coaches, adding, among others, the following:
· I’m all alone
· I am smart enough
· I am trapped and confined
These subconscious messages are deeply ingrained in the leader’s psyche, and it’s challenging for top leaders to simply ponder how to get off their reading list.
During my interview, I asked Drumm if gambling music could dramatically replace a mood. She temporarily responded, “Yes,” so I shared a short story with her about a favorite song I pay attention to in the morning when I want a little spice to keep me going. The song is Perfect Day by Hoku. This is the upbeat song that played at the beginning of Legally Blonde. The lyrics don’t fit the ethos of my paintings (The sun is rising/It’s a little past noon/Make me breakfast/Leave the paintings to someone else), however the energy, lightness and overall meaning make it in a wonderful song, at least for me.
Music can adjust your mood, clear your mind, and replace your thinking over time. Drum’s book describes a way for music to tap into your subconscious. It changes how you feel and replaces your thought patterns. Its purpose is to help leaders create a playlist that reflects the life they want to lead, understand how their existing playlists came to be, and see how the strength of music can unlock a leader’s true potential.
So if you’re struggling to lead your team effectively, find an internal playlist that’s playing in the background and then create a literal playlist to redefine those beliefs. As Drumm says: your personal evolution triggers your leadership evolution!
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