There’s a force that is really powerful that you can use to everyone’s benefit, and to tap into it just takes a bit of humility.
What is this power that people like Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Queen, David Bowie and so many others have discovered?
I’m talking about the power of collaboration.
This weekend I watched a movie called Echo in the Canyon about the music scene in southern California in the mid-sixties.
In the movie they described how people worked together to write music that defined a generation. They would just show up at each other’s houses, often times unannounced, and sit and jam together for hours.
I can attest to this power. As I was out driving around today, I was listening to my album, The Dream Highway
. One thing that stood out to me was a particular drum fill that I thought worked very nicely.
The thing is, I had nothing to do with that drum fill. I know I can’t play drums. If it weren’t for my friend Rick Heath playing drums on my album and giving me priceless input and feedback on the production of the music, that album would not sound nearly as good as (I think) it does.
And, the good news is, you don’t have to be a musician to tap into the power of collaboration. It is something that everyone has access to.
If you’re in a relationship, have a family, have a job, have any kind of a project you’re working on, then your success is going to be dependent on how well you can collaborate with others. It takes trust, humility and a good deal of self-confidence to do this.
Can you think of ways that your life has benefitted, or is currently benefitting, from collaboration? Is there something that you have yet to achieve that perhaps can be achieved through more collaboration?
I’d love to hear about it!