Episode 189 – Harmonizing Potential – The Jazz of High-Performing Project Teams
The podcast by project managers for project managers. Learn from the intriguing parallels between a jazz ensemble and an effective project team. Gerald J. Leonard demonstrates that music and project management share common principles as he offers a unique perspective on fostering a high-performing project team through the integration of music, productivity, workplace culture, and neuroscience.
Table of Contents
01:41 … Combining Jazz and Project Management05:12 … Gerald the Author07:31 … Incorporating Jazz and Project Management09:39 … A Cadence to Managing Projects11:50 … Recognizing the Traits13:57 … Mentoring and Coaching14:52 … Kevin and Kyle16:10 … Jazz and Productivity20:01 … Gerald’s Recovery Story23:04 … The Pomodoro Technique and Flow26:03 … Motivation and Accountability31:23 … Employee Burnout34:33 … Getting into the Right Rhythm36:08 … Contact Gerald37:42 … Closing
GERALD LEONARD: ...it’s like playing jazz where things are moving quickly, meeting every day, things are happening. Every two weeks you’re delivering something. So things are happening really rapidly, and they can adjust because the customers say, “Hey, I don’t want that. Let’s move to this one. I want this requirement now.” And you have to move and adjust. Well, that’s like playing jazz. Again, the song is moving pretty quickly. So everyone has to, one, know their part, but also really lean in and listen.
WENDY GROUNDS: Welcome, fellow project champions, to Manage This! I'm Wendy Grounds, and joining me in the harmonious studio adventure today is Bill Yates, and Danny Brewer, our sound guy.
Hold onto your project plans, because today we're diving headfirst into a fusion of beats and business. You heard it right – jazz and project management are about to collide in a symphony of ideas with a trailblazing maestro of maximizing potential, Gerald J. Leonard.
Gerald is an IT project management consultant; but he also has two degrees in music and is an accomplished bass guitarist. As a professional bassist, he uses jazz metaphors to illustrate how to build supportive and effective team cultures. Creating successful projects and high-performing teams is much like building a jazz ensemble.
This isn't your average podcast – it's a symphony of ideas, where project management meets the jazzed-up art of success. So, buckle up, hit play, and let the show begin!
Hi, Gerald. Welcome to Manage This. Thank you so much for being our guest.
GERALD LEONARD: Wendy and Bill, thank you so much for having me. I’m really happy to be here.
Combining Jazz and Project Management
WENDY GROUNDS: Can you tell us, just as an introduction, how you’ve combined your dual careers as a professional jazz musician and as a project management consultant?
GERALD LEONARD: Yes. I had done my bachelor’s and master’s in music, studied through the Manhattan School of Music with a gentleman at Juilliard, and played professionally in the city. And then I did some ministry work back in the ‘80s, ‘90s, and I wanted to get back into music, but now I was married with two kids.
I was kind of done with clubs and those kinds of things and thought, “Okay, so how can I keep playing and also make a good living and raise my kids?” So I got into IT at a time where, if you could spell IT, they were letting you in. And so I got in. You know, and I had my master’s already, so I thought, “I’m not going to go back to school for another degree.” And then I realized they had all these certifications out there, the Novell certifications, the Microsoft certifications, the MCSE certifications, and all these different things like that. So I just started going that route.
That led me to a place where for years I was doing project work, became a project management consultant with a number of different companies, did work for the National Archives and major corporations, helping them at the enterprise level. And then I would go and play shows,
Table of Contents
01:41 … Combining Jazz and Project Management05:12 … Gerald the Author07:31 … Incorporating Jazz and Project Management09:39 … A Cadence to Managing Projects11:50 … Recognizing the Traits13:57 … Mentoring and Coaching14:52 … Kevin and Kyle16:10 … Jazz and Productivity20:01 … Gerald’s Recovery Story23:04 … The Pomodoro Technique and Flow26:03 … Motivation and Accountability31:23 … Employee Burnout34:33 … Getting into the Right Rhythm36:08 … Contact Gerald37:42 … Closing
GERALD LEONARD: ...it’s like playing jazz where things are moving quickly, meeting every day, things are happening. Every two weeks you’re delivering something. So things are happening really rapidly, and they can adjust because the customers say, “Hey, I don’t want that. Let’s move to this one. I want this requirement now.” And you have to move and adjust. Well, that’s like playing jazz. Again, the song is moving pretty quickly. So everyone has to, one, know their part, but also really lean in and listen.
WENDY GROUNDS: Welcome, fellow project champions, to Manage This! I'm Wendy Grounds, and joining me in the harmonious studio adventure today is Bill Yates, and Danny Brewer, our sound guy.
Hold onto your project plans, because today we're diving headfirst into a fusion of beats and business. You heard it right – jazz and project management are about to collide in a symphony of ideas with a trailblazing maestro of maximizing potential, Gerald J. Leonard.
Gerald is an IT project management consultant; but he also has two degrees in music and is an accomplished bass guitarist. As a professional bassist, he uses jazz metaphors to illustrate how to build supportive and effective team cultures. Creating successful projects and high-performing teams is much like building a jazz ensemble.
This isn't your average podcast – it's a symphony of ideas, where project management meets the jazzed-up art of success. So, buckle up, hit play, and let the show begin!
Hi, Gerald. Welcome to Manage This. Thank you so much for being our guest.
GERALD LEONARD: Wendy and Bill, thank you so much for having me. I’m really happy to be here.
Combining Jazz and Project Management
WENDY GROUNDS: Can you tell us, just as an introduction, how you’ve combined your dual careers as a professional jazz musician and as a project management consultant?
GERALD LEONARD: Yes. I had done my bachelor’s and master’s in music, studied through the Manhattan School of Music with a gentleman at Juilliard, and played professionally in the city. And then I did some ministry work back in the ‘80s, ‘90s, and I wanted to get back into music, but now I was married with two kids.
I was kind of done with clubs and those kinds of things and thought, “Okay, so how can I keep playing and also make a good living and raise my kids?” So I got into IT at a time where, if you could spell IT, they were letting you in. And so I got in. You know, and I had my master’s already, so I thought, “I’m not going to go back to school for another degree.” And then I realized they had all these certifications out there, the Novell certifications, the Microsoft certifications, the MCSE certifications, and all these different things like that. So I just started going that route.
That led me to a place where for years I was doing project work, became a project management consultant with a number of different companies, did work for the National Archives and major corporations, helping them at the enterprise level. And then I would go and play shows,
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