What do music and professional creativity have in common? In this article, I explore how my passion for music has taught me to work better in teams, innovate, and lead collaboratively in my role as a creative director in the health sector.
What do music and professional creativity have in common? In this article, I explore how my passion for music has taught me to work better in teams, innovate, and lead collaboratively in my role as a creative director in the health sector.
I am a Creative Director at GOC, a consulting firm in the Health sector. I am passionate about my profession, and my company makes it very easy for me to feel comfortable where I am, so I could say that my job happiness is complete. Although we always want more, it’s natural: more challenges, more recognition, more money, more projection... more of everything. Then I wondered: “Why do I feel so comfortable doing my job, as if I’m not really working?” I’m referring to the negative sense of "work," the obligation to do something you’d rather not do, but can’t avoid mainly for economic reasons. My conclusion was that I identify the same processes, behaviors, and attitudes in my profession and my greatest passion, which is music.
Since my university years, in the last decade of the past century, I’ve been involved as a bassist in various alternative rock bands and similar styles. What strikes me about the way my bands operate is that it’s very similar in many aspects to my professional performance, to the way the teams I’ve worked with function. So, here are my conclusions:
At GOC, every project requires a team made up of different profiles. Strategists, designers, developers, and analysts work together to create innovative and unique solutions. They are the instruments, each contributing their own color and occupying a specific position in the harmonic range. The diversity of talents creates something special, addressing a challenge from different points of view but with the same objective.
In the article “Collaboration in Creative Teams” from the Journal of Marketing Research, it’s analyzed how creative teams structurally resemble a musical ensemble, where each member knows and respects the skills and responsibilities of the rest of the group.
These are key concepts in both music and business. We explore new ideas together, seek new expressive paths; we look outward and inward to find that special something that triggers the creative flow. Everyone can propose out-of-the-box solutions, quickly adapting and finding what we believe will work best for our purposes. However, we always maintain our values, style, and essence. Not everything goes.
In The Art of Collaboration, a book by John Smith and Paul Brown, it’s shown how creative processes in music and advertising can share a similar structure: generating initial ideas, experimenting, and adjusting until reaching the final product.
My role as a leader might be compared to that of a conductor, but in a good project or composition, leadership is shared. I can guide the team at certain moments, I can coordinate them from a position with a broader perspective, but each member takes the reins in different phases of the project. Sharing responsibilities, both in business and in music, fosters a sense of belonging and empowerment that would otherwise be difficult to achieve.
The tempos. The dreaded tempos! Maintaining a good work rhythm is like following the tempo in a song: we’ll have calmer moments, choral moments, and leading solos, there will be a buildup, and we’ll finish the composition naturally and coherently. Let’s try not to stretch the song too much, or we’ll bore the audience, and they won’t come back to see us again. Synchronization, communication, and common sense are essential.
Vision, structure, and creativity. We start with an idea, develop it, and execute it with precision, always aiming to connect with our audience. We hope our proposal satisfies them, as we’ve created it especially for them, and while we do it for pleasure, we don’t just stay in the rehearsal room. We seek out an audience that aligns with our style and vision, and we offer them the best of ourselves so they can have a moment of happiness and satisfaction. We aim to provide something positive and valuable.
Constant feedback is essential for refining compositions/projects and ensuring that everyone is satisfied with the final result. Iterative feedback between team members and clients is crucial to adjusting and perfecting the project until it meets expectations and goals.
According to a study published in Harvard Business Review, the most effective creative teams have robust feedback exchange processes and implementation of improvements, similar to how a musical band works together to improve their compositions before publishing them.
Creativity is not an end in itself; it’s an attitude, a journey of collaboration, improvisation, and shared leadership to achieve something special. The magic happens when we work together toward a common goal. I’m proud to be part of a talented team at GOC and to share my passion with my bandmates. Teamwork and creativity will lead us to achieve extraordinary results and connect with our audience, who are waiting for us on the other side of the stage.
SMITH, J., & BROWN, P. (2021). THE ART OF COLLABORATION. CREATIVE PUBLISHING.
“COLLABORATION IN CREATIVE TEAMS”. (2022). JOURNAL OF MARKETING RESEARCH.
“CREATIVITY IN MUSIC AND BUSINESS: PARALLELS AND LESSONS”. (2023). CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL.
