Important notes on jazz and innovation
Sitting before his grand piano, John Kao, an internationally recognised innovation expert, played jazz music to metaphorically illustrate some of the similarities between jazz and the innovation process to participants attending the ASTD 2012 Internationa
Kao, also a former Harvard University professor and an accomplished jazz musician, guided his audience through some lessons from many great compositions, including those played earlier by Charlie Parker and Bill Evan. Showing a music sheet, Kao started playing strictly according to the notes, and then followed with an improvised version – which sounded much better.
Just like an innovator, “a Jazz musician takes the tune somewhere else”, he said.
But while there is no rule book on how to play, there is a “structure” and required discipline. It is like a chord progression where a musician still follows mostly the steps to make the music sound good.
“You break the rule only when you need to. It’s not dissonance for its own sake. And it’s not mere invention.” stressed Kao.
Moreover, both musician and innovator have to make some “upfront investments” to acquire the capabilities to “improvise”.
Risk is inhibited in the innovation process. Likewise, jazz is also about taking some constructive risks to get somewhere where the music sounds good.
“When you learn to ride a bicycle, you fail first,” he said.
Kao compared jazz musicians who used jam sessions where they learned and practised from good and bad feedback and improve, to innovations which can be fostered through communities and collaboration. And while Charlie Parker had a “woodshed” to hone his sax-playing skills, corporations have innovation labs.
Apple’s new headquarters under construction is in a sense “the Apple Woodshed,” he said.
Kao played the piano to demonstrate his belief that “music sounds best when I’m not thinking anything”. Similarly, all new knowledge begins with “the beginner’s mind”, he said.
He quoted Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki-Roshi: “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.”
Advising innovators to be “simple, authentic and true” like jazz musicians, Kao ended his lecture by playing beautifully the song “Over the Rainbow”, which drew a big applause from the audience.
