Harp player has lesson for leaders and coaches about emerging triumphant from the pandemic

You might not think that a piece written by Maurice Ravel, commissioned by a harp manufacturer around 1905 to sell their new line of harps, would be terribly inspiring or even interesting -- especially as a lesson about emerging triumphant from the pandemic. Not so. In fact, this very harp performance might have important implications about leadership and for your coaching practice.

My wife and I attended a free concert yesterday afternoon at a local church, featuring some local professional musicians. In Sarasota FL, we are blessed with a fantastic opera and a couple of symphony orchestras, and so we get some accomplished musicians performing at these local events.

It was great to get out to a live concert. At the same time, it was a pleasure seeing lots of more elderly citizens sitting with us, almost none wearing masks anymore.

I'm the least musical member of the family, and don't know much about who's who or what's what. I know the program began with a quartet playing something by Mozart in D, if the key matters, and then more musicians came out to play Bach's Brandenburg Concerto no. 4, and then something by a composer named Foote that I'd never heard of and lulled me to an almost nap (it was called "A Night Piece," and did its job).

It was all lovely. I think that's what you say about classical music when you don't know much about it: It was lovely.

Then they brought the harp out, followed soon after by the soloist, Guiseppina Ciarla. She changed everything.

While every other musician was dressed in black -- and maybe in clothes that were a bit rumpled after a year of Zoom practices and performances -- Guiseppina walk out in a beautiful red dress that immediately commanded our attention. Her harp was polished and looked like a piece of art. She came onto the stage with a huge smile, sat down at her harp, and played with passion and emotion that we haven't been able to see in person for months. Aside from amazing musical playing, her face was expressive, her arms and hands were gesturing -- it was a performance that went way beyond sound.

It was perfect and amazing -- and this is from a guy whose musical knowledge stops around AC/DC and Led Zeppelin.

After she was done, she gave a quick emotional thank you to the audience for coming. She shared how amazing it was to be able to perform live in front of an audience once again, and how much that meant to her. It was a short and moving statement.

Then she played a second piece, called Tango Libre, or freedom tango. She explained the importance of freedom to her, and wished us all to be able to enjoy freedom now that the pandemic is fading (at least where I live, and hopefully where you live, too).

When she was done, the audience gave her a standing ovation. We left the venue feeling energized.

Maybe you had to be there, but Guiseppina's performance can teach us all a lesson, especially coaches and other solo professionals. The past year has caused many of us to languish, a popular term in the business literature today. Many of us are burned out, feel like we are starting over, or like we have given up.

I empathize with you if this describes you. Each of us has to come out of the past year in whatever way works for us individually.

But...We all have the opportunity to emerge triumphant, as Giuseppina demonstrated this weekend.

It's your choice. It's time to see what you are made of, how passionate you are, and how well you can wow your audience.