Creative Leadership for Jazz Musicians
Long ago I was a jazz musician. I played the trumpet, an instrument with 3 buttons that was theoretically really hard to screw up. Growing up with a deep appreciation for music, and the option to join marching band or take gym class, my uncoordinated, non-music-reading ass found itself in beginner’s band. Despite not reading the sheet music, I still managed to play most songs well and upon realizing I was playing music by ear, my teacher suggested I take up jazz and learn to improvise.
Sadly I let my trumpet playing lapse and am forced to restart the whole journey. While reading deeper into music theory, composition, and ensemble structure, I stumbled upon a resemblance to how classical and jazz arrangements resemble distinct leadership styles and organizational structures. Presented for your consideration by a rocket scientist who’s too broke to pursue an MBA or attend Julliard, an analysis of creative leadership and its relation to musical styles.
Classical and Jazz Ensembles
When I was learning music in school we were presented two major tracks, classical and jazz. As I said, I haven’t really been able to link music notes on paper to rhythm and tone but had an affinity toward jazz and a decent ability to hold a musical conversation, so I went on the jazz track. My significant other is a classical pianist. I can tell you the way we approach the world and problems is dramatically different.For starters, let’s talk about how each ensemble type typically functions and what that might look like in the non-musical world.
Classical-Type Groups
Classical music looks like this most of the time. Each player is given a sheet for their part in the arrangement and are asked to play the notes and rhythm in time according to the conductor. Musicians hone their craft to recognize and execute these rhythmic arrangements of notes and to broaden their instrument’s range. A lot of prep goes into nailing pre-defined techniques and there’s a deep appreciation for how the whole group sounds better together.
In business this might look like a well oiled operational group of specialists. For example, you may be running a kitchen and you have prep cooks, sous chefs, line cooks, and dessert chefs. These specialists need tight coordination, room to hone their specialty, and exposure to a wide range of techniques. Chefs often follow exact recipes using known techniques and come together to craft an exquisite dish.
Generally, classical-type groups perform best when the task is well known and understood, relies on deep technical skill from different specialists, and when coordinated well in an unchanging environment, the output of these groups is more valuable than the sum of their parts.
Jazz-Type Groups
Contrast that with a jazz ensemble. First thing to notice is it’s much easier to read… largely because there isn’t much to read except the key changes. Typically you have a simple looping track played by the pianist, drummer, and bassist (PDB group for short). Depending on the style of jazz, there’s a well understood melody that gets played for 12–24 bars and then a big open section for solos. Musicians work within the framework laid down by the arranger and played by the PDB group to craft a novel, complex, temporal decoration that is pleasant to listen to.
Creative work is most like jazz. Running a shop of highly skilled engineers relying on a few core techniques but ultimately solving novel problems on each project is a lot like being a jazz composer. You want to establish a framework that gives direction without stifling your team’s ability to experiment, be creative, and build a unique experience.
Jazz-type groups work best when there’s some established guidance like a repeating 12-bar blues chord change and an easy to remember melody but plenty of room for the musicians to unleash their creativity. The techniques brought about by the musicians may be unknown or experimental, and the overall environment may change forcing the band to think on its feet like the time Ray Charles created “What’d I Say” to fill time at the end of a show. Frameworks, rather than processes and rules will bring out the best in your creatives as long as you give them room to experiment. This is how you unleash creativity and innovation on your marketing, design, or software teams.
So What
See what I did there? 😉 — I know, these kinds of articles usually have some sage wisdom neatly wrapped up at the end. Being a human-improved essay written over Sunday morning coffee and not a GPT generated marketing article, I had to think about what I wanted you to know, feel, and do. You should come away with this:
- Knowing about the differences between a “classical-type” and “jazz-type” group and when each formula works based on the type of work (classical for skilled specialists, doing operationally heavy unchanging work; jazz for creative types, doing ambiguous changing type work).
- Feeling aligned personally with one of these types of work more than the other. Creatives often find classical-type work a little stiff and boring and classical-type specialists find ambiguity and unclear definitions of “right” to be frustrating or annoying.
- Embrace your style and learn to adapt policies, frameworks, and personality types to fit the classical or jazz type environment under which your line of work may perform better.
