Experts and Leaders

It's really more about whom we choose to follow, isn't it?

• The impressive academic, research or clinical professional with lots of letters after their name...or the poet who faced down cancer and is quietly changing the world one insight at a time.

• The CEO of a huge company...or the five orphaned kids whose string quintet in their parents' honor helps open new possibilities for at-risk kids and adults.

• The minister of a world-wide mega-church...or an almost-unknown nun whose simple advocacy made her a legend in her own lifetime.

• The decorated bureaucrat or the soldier finally returning to his family after too many deployments, often without one or more limbs.

What really matters is authenticity...what's real. This is not to say that folks with advanced degrees, Fortune-500 CEOs and mega-ministers aren't authentic -- some of them are -- but rather to note that some experts come from a different kind of school, learn their skills in a crucible rather than a classroom and forge their insight from experience.

Both kinds of experts are necessary. We need experts asking the hard questions now more than ever...and we need experts courageous enough to ask world-shifting questions to which no clear answer is yet known. We need experts brave enough to say "I don't know" and with conviction lead us to the unknown answer.

Leaders must have the will to ask the hard questions. Courageous leaders must challenge followers to look for better solutions...and inspire followers to stay the course when no good options appear, even if that means rejecting "expert" advice, taking a risk, being wrong.

My head respects the experts, but my heart years for an authentic leader.

• I want a leader who isn't afraid to ask questions the experts think are foolish, and who doesn't bash those who ask truly foolish questions.

• I want a leader who's resume includes recovery from addiction, or cancer, or loss of a limb or two, and who has had real results since then. 

• I want a leader who has survived being blown up, watched buddies die and inspires my will to end the wars that result in such violence, and I want a leader with the strength of will to defend and enforce peace.

• I want a leader who strongly defends my freedom to choose his or her leadership, and has compassion and grace for my friends who chose someone else.

• Most of all, I want to know that my leader didn't result from a popularity contest or 10-best survey.

This isn't about politics, government, religion or capitalism. It's about being a member of some skillful multi-million-member orchestra auditioning conductors. Anyone can wave a baton; to really invite a miraculous performance takes a maestro -- an expert -- with a studied, hard-won authenticity that even the newest concert-goer can feel when such a conductor takes the stage. I imagine great musicians can see it in the movement of the the baton...how its silent tracing outlines, inspires and welcomes the possibility for sublime sound...leading member of the orchestra to a new potential.

With such a leader, great things become possible.

With such leadership, even the least of us achieve.

Led in this way, each of us aspire to inspire -- to be examples for each another -- to create a culture in which potential becomes common currency and individuals are valued without the sickness of individualism.

Yes, there will be detractors, and nay-sayers, and even violent resistors. There will be loss of life, both for those who assail such an ideal leader and those who protect him or her. I could give my life either to defend or to serve a leader like that.

What about you?

Resilient Leaders for Our Era

We're told that out of great wounding comes great resilience. Truly great leaders seem to have been moulded from endured injury.

Resilient, great leaders? Yes.

Would you not rather follow a leader who can admit mistakes, correct them and move ahead? Owning a mistake chisels character from the raw block of humanity. It takes guts to recover from a mistake and change course boldly and confidently, especially when lives balance on that choice.

It takes resilience to stand honestly before a bad decision and those who shame it. A resilient leader inspires followers' confidence. Who among us hasn't made a mistake, tried to recover, and then move on? Character and resilience forge a leader's armor against shame, and offer a natural empathic mirror of our lesser trials, errors and recoveries.

Where are these leaders? Young men and women who have survived war? Poets, artists and musicians persevering through poverty, illness and obscurity? Sages and teachers, some displaced from their homes and homelands, quietly telling ageless stories to the next generation of devotees?

Yes. These are the resilient leaders. They always have been.

They are the character worthy of the sculptor's finest marble, where neither shameful incision nor cowardly explosion pierces the armor, where wounding carried deep in the heart gives breath to the next choice.

They are the young over-deployed warrior, the homeless, the street performer, the single parent, the blogger. They have ideas no one has discovered...yet. They are poised and ready but not called...until now.

We need you.

The Conversation: Does Music Heal? How?

Some of you have beliefs that include healing through prayer alone -- no doctors, therapists or shamans. You seem uninterested in the idea that music -- on its own -- can heal or change physical, emotional or mental conditions. I can see why you might feel compelled by your beliefs to exclude music as a healing tool, and so it is with much compassion that I'd like to offer you the following conversation.

On the other hand, if your belief set is already open and you just want to feel better, bust up the doldrums -- or create some -- read on.

How Does Music Work?

It's not really music, or sound, that heals, but music is the trigger. What does the work is your own body responding to chemicals released when you hear certain types of sounds. For example, if you listen to high-pitched bouncy music or even bird song, your IQ will increase slightly for a brief period of time. This can be measured. Researchers have confirmed other kinds of responses you will have, ranging from learning faster to deadening pain, based on the types of music or sound you hear.

You might become agitated listening to certain types of music or to a jackhammer. Perfect! Your response indicates that your ears, chemistry and brain all agree. Other music might soothe you. Again, that's exactly right. Other kinds of music might make you want to dance. Researchers were surprised that folks who otherwise could not walk walked immediately while listening to music with a strong beat -- something about music short-circuits the connection between thinking and walking with a really great effect.

What Evidence is There?

Don Cambell's seminal book, "The Mozart Effect," was assembled from his observations about how listening to Mozart made folks smarter, but there was a more profound reason for Campbell's interest in the power of music: by listening to music, Campbell was able to dissolve an inoperable blood clot in his brain. This was medically confirmed.

There have been many scientific studies in the last few years on the effects of music. Researchers find that listeners need half as much pain medication, or can increase levels of chemicals known to speed healing or lower their blood pressure, sleep better, and build -- or rebuild -- memory. Campbell's most recent book, co-authored with Alex Doman, "Healing at the Speed of Sound," catalogs in written, audio and video detail the many various ways music has been shown to work on the human system.

In my own experience with warriors and post-traumatic stress caused by war, I've been told many times that music was the "only way" to keep going, in one case, by a Viet Nam vet who couldn't find relief from drinking or drugs and used music for more than 30 years before finally getting traditional therapy.

Does It Matter What Music I Listen To?

I think it does. Rather than give you my favorite playlists, I encourage you to find music you like and listen to it. You might find you like different music at different times of the day, or for different activities, or for different moods. Good! Use that knowledge to make yourself soundtracks -- playlists -- for all the various times, activities or moods that happen frequently in your life.

I think it's important for you to become aware of the music and sound that's already around you. Once you identify what you're already hearing, try to connect the sounds with the times of day, activities or moods during your typical day. See if you always hear the same music or sounds and decide whether you like them or not; if not, get some headphones for your music player and listen to something else instead. You have a choice about what you're hearing: use it.

You'll know intuitively what kind of music you like, and through experience you'll also know what you like to listen to under various conditions. Trust your ears on this one! Speed up the search for "your" music at www.pandora.com where you can test-drive music by category until you find your perfect fit.

So, Is There Specific Music for Specific Conditions?

Sure! If you want calm, put on soothing music. Aerobics class? Better use some dance music. Try watching a movie without the sound track to give yourself a quick idea of music's supporting role. If you have some spare cash, buy a few of those CD sets that assemble mood-specific music from various artists and listen to what someone else thought was "right for the moment." You'll find that, as you listen with awareness, you will quickly be able to connect your mood with music that fits or even complements how you feel. Liking what you hear seems to have the maximum impact for change.

Next time you're feeling agitated and want a change, switch on the soothing music and just observe what happens. Or, if don't want change, turn up your favorite agitating music. My point here is to get you to play around with music and pay attention to how you feel -- it's safe and effective and you're going to learn something about yourself and may even change yourself in ways that surprise you.

But It All Seems Obvious!

Yes, I think we already know this on some very basic level, just like the way being part of a drum circle -- a mimic for our mother's heartbeat -- can make us feel safe and comforted. We're all aware of sound and music on some level; my hope is that you will take this awareness out of your background and give yourself a foreground soundtrack that supercharges your life.

Music and Healing

In very broad terms, music, as a tool, falls into three categories: therapy, practice and experience. I'll explain each one for you, at least from my own understanding. See what you think.

Music Therapy

Recently I met a holistic health practitioner (certified and licensed) who shared with me that she has yet to encounter a music therapist who seemed to really be "lit up" from within. I have to concur. I know you're out there, you amazingly wonderful enlightened and dynamic music therapists, and I'd love to hear from you!

Music therapy is a rewarding but difficult profession: rewarding because one can really make a difference for patients and difficult because, as a therapist, much depends on one's ability to accurately diagnose and treat the symptoms a patient presents. There are rules -- lots of rules -- designed to make certain that the public -- me, the patient -- is cared for properly. It has to be this way for certifications and licenses to be issued. That's the trade-off we permit ourselves so that the agencies that regulate such things can give us assurance that we're not looking to some wingnut whacko snake-oil dealer for treatment. Sometimes those rules can bury the enthusiasm one might have originally brought to an enterprise, especially a healing enterprise; in rare cases, the healer's skill still shines.

Like all health practitioners, music therapists depend on their education and skill for success. A couple of skills that make for a really excellent health care practitioner are intuition and creativity, that is, the ability to find an inspired connection to the patient for a healing purpose, and the inventive ability to tailor a treatment plan that draws the patient into a sort of magical willingness to work with the healer toward better health. I tend to think of musicians as fairly creative people, don't you? The truth is, sadly, it ain't necessarily so.

Healers -- and anyone you really must hang out with for some reason or another -- need to radiate energetic qualities that you (the patient) want to be around! Think of the health care professionals you know...am I right? Think of your close friends, or the people you really enjoy encountering in business, at the store, or wherever your daily walk takes you: do you spend a lot of time with folks who inspire you? If you do, huzzah! If you don't...please change that!

So I really resonated when the holistic health practitioner began to talk about therapists who seem inspired -- lit up -- from within. And when I think of the music therapists I've met, they really aren't. I wish they were. They do such incredible work! Isn't that something to be lit up about?

If you seek out music therapy, take your time -- just as you would to choose a physician or surgeon -- to carefully select a therapist who seems to really "get" you, can "see into you," and radiates the compassion you deserve. They must be out there. You deserve it.

With the "right" music therapist, your issues will be understood. You will feel the care and compassion I mentioned. You will work together using either musical instruments, drums, your voices, or a combination of all of these to achieve progress toward healing. Your therapist will be your guide -- a sort of musical shaman -- and give you musical exercises you can practice on your own as well as intensive, hands-on or voice-on one-on-one sessions, specific to your healing goals.

Music Practice

This broad term covers all the music you make on your own. If you're in music therapy, this is what happens when you are not in session with your music therapist. It covers anyone taking music lessons, too, when they are practicing and not in a one-on-one with their teacher. Practice of music can mean just that: really working it out until you have developed a new skill.

Practice of music can also mean making music for fun, what some are beginning to call "recreational music making." This could be a novice drum circle, a jam session with skilled players, or a "music minus one" experience of creating sounds -- vocally or using an instrument -- for the very first time to a musical backup track.

Music practice implies that you are the musician, that you are creating the sounds. When you create sound -- music -- you engage the most powerful use of music possible. Music and sounds you make actually vibrate through you, and the physiological response of your brain and body to music and sound is immediate. You can use this physiological response in so many ways: to help you heal, to recover from grief, to relax, to get pumped up, to let off rage, to fall asleep, to learn things and to remember them later. The beauty of it is that, while you can't help your brain and body response to sound, you can become aware of the effect of the music you practice on your brain and body and then choose music that supports you in whatever your particular objective of the moment happens to be.

Music Experience

When I think about the experience of music, even as a musician and performer who really has to practice a lot, I tend to think of myself as a member of the audience in a concert setting, or just sitting still with headphones on. The experience of hearing and appreciating music without becoming involved in making is by no means passive. It has the same kind of effect that practicing music has on your brain and body, just generally not as intense.

I know plenty of people who really wouldn't ever join a drum circle or spontaneous sing-along, but who are perfectly content to listen to music and can become quite moved when doing so. Nothing wrong with that! We Westerners are generally listeners; we gladly give kudos to the few among us who are actually brave enough to make music in public in exchange for experiencing that gift.

As you know, I offer a workshop on the topic of using music for maximum effect. I've recently expanded "Connected: the Workshop" into a full-day "Connected: the Seminar." If you're interested in experiencing the power of music first-hand, please contact me. You don't have to "be a musician" or even be musical in any way to enjoy this workshop -- a good many accomplished musicians I know haven't experienced the power of music in the way I teach it -- and I promise you it won't hurt a bit.

Recent Research on the Power of Music

Effect of Music on Power, Pain, Depression and Disability

This is one of my favorites, and even though it's from work done at the Cleveland Clinic in 2006, it reached the conclusion that nurses "can teach patients how to use music to enhance the effects of analgesics, decrease pain, depression and disability, and promote feelings of power." A "listening" group and a "non-listening" control group were evaluated on several accepted pain-measurement scales, and it was found that  the music group[s] had more power and less pain, depression and disability than the control group. The model predicting both a direct and indirect effect for music was supported."

Music of Mozart Soothes the Preemie Baby 

The study was conducted on the effects of music on babies. The results found that listening for just 30 minutes a day helped premature babies use less energy, which may help them grow faster. "Within 10 minutes of listening to Mozart music, healthy infants born prematurely had a 10 percent to 13 percent reduction of their resting energy expenditure," the study authors wrote. "We speculate that this effect of music on resting energy expenditure might explain, in part, the improved weight gain that results from this Mozart effect."

The next two articles reference studies done by Dr Claudius Conrad, a Surgery Resident at Massachusetts General Hospital, and a trained classical pianist, who examined the effect of music on surgeons in the operating room.

Opera in the Operating Room

"What he's looking at is the subliminal effect that could produce a positive effect on performance.... If I'm in some difficult operation, maybe there is some positive effect on my physiology - not even on my conscious mood - that would translate into a better surgical performance,'' said Dr Andrew Warshaw, Surgeon in Chief at Massachusetts General.

To systematically test the effects of music in the operating room, Conrad created tasks for surgeons to complete on a computer simulator of laparoscopic procedures -- surgeries that involve operating through a small incision. He tested the speed and accuracy of eight expert surgeons under different conditions: Surgeons performed the tasks in silence; while listening to Mozart; and accompanied by the chaotic, stressful noise produced by hearing a different stream of music in each ear - one, German folk music; the other, death metal.

Regular readers of this newsletter will be able to guess correctly how this impacted the surgeons' performance. Or you can just read the next abstract....

Musical Surgeon Examines the OR Soundtrack

"Conrad found that the folk and death metal mix increased the time it took expert surgeons to do the procedures, but did not affect their accuracy compared with silence. It also negatively affected their ability to learn a task: their accuracy did not improve when doing the task a second time while listening to the same music. While listening to Mozart, surgeons' speed varied, but their accuracy improved compared with silence.

"When Conrad tried the same test on 40 participants who had received no surgical training, he found that the Mozart music also had a beneficial effect when they repeated the procedure."

Why Music Matters NOW

Around the world, emotional and mental disorders are on the rise. If you want to know why, read or watch the news, then pick your poison. This is in spite of the best efforts of religion, psychology, alternative therapies of all kinds -- including music therapy -- and medicine. We like to think we know how to deal with depression, attention-deficit (hyperactivity) disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolarity disorder (this one used to be called manic-depression), borderline personality disorder, toxic behavior, phobias, psychoses and deviant behavior of any conceivable kind, and we do have ways of treating all of these with some success, but here's the deal: there are simply not enough healers for all the patients. We're losing the war on sanity, and it's making us nuts.

Look closely around you: do you know someone who seems just a little bit off? Chances are, they are. In fact, most "normal" folks probably have something hidden under the surface, primed like a trigger wire to blow up in your face if and when the magic words or actions push their button -- or buttons -- as the case may be. It’s part of what makes us fascinating and individual, right?

I was a novice button-pusher for a while, but once I learned not to trip my ex-wife's triggers, things improved...marginally. (Unfortunately for the marriage, I also learned why she got triggered, and that she wasn't going to change, dammit, not now, not ever.)

This raises the primary reason Why Music Matters: most folks with issues can't or won't get help for them, and choose to endure under self-imposed and life-threatening stress, hidden from the rest of us, even those they love most. Life would be so much better for the rest of us if they did get help, wouldn't it? The truth is, like my ex, those same folks have learned to get along in life in spite of what the rest of us might call a "disorder" and act as if they were perfectly normal, in many cases, by simply keeping it hidden from the rest of us. Some folks have arranged their lives such that they really don't have to have much or any human interaction at all. That choice seems like it's great for the rest of us -- one less fruitcake to dispose of properly when the holidays are over -- but it's not so great for the one hiding from society (think homeless Vietnam veteran who can't even get the words "will work for food" on a piece of cardboard, and wouldn't know what to do with such an item anyhow -- don't laugh: that's reality for too many soldiers who served with honor, both in the United States and other countries). In many tragic cases, bearing the weight of a psychological burden is too much to live with, and suicide becomes the only reasonable option. This became clear to me when my best and life-long friend tried to end his life twice: once by jumping in front of a car while jogging at night (which didn't work -- he was in awesome physical shape), and then by setting himself on fire (which worked, but only later on after the paramedics got him to the burn unit and the doctors couldn't stabilize him). The real tragedy was that none of us knew my friend had any problems of that magnitude

(By the way, this is not about how this or that social center/government program/church has failed to help people in need. That's already the subject of too much paper and ink. There is help out there, ready and willing...if it could only get connected with the folks who need it most, which is another reason Why Music Matters. My friend was a top-earning employee, reasonably religious/spiritual, well-loved in his community, and an excellent father -- he had no apparent reason to seek help...and plenty of folks and resources around him who would have done something -- anything -- had we only known.)

So, we all know someone who needs some kind of help, right? That may include you, and if definitely includes Yours Truly. For my part, I've tried religion (several of them actually), talk therapy, acupuncture, and legal mind-altering drugs (anti-depressants); ultimately the only workable alternative was divorce. I'm not joking: nothing you can do for yourself can fix someone else's issues, so often leaving them behind becomes the only reasonable -- and sanity-preserving -- thing to do. Do I need to mention the homeless Vietnam vets again? Profoundly left behind. At the same time, as hard-headed as I am, I actually started to learn something from my ex...but that's not the subject here, and it's already the subject of too much paper and ink, redundancy intended. My point is that the folks we know, and in many cases care about very deeply, more often than not do not respond well to our best efforts to "help." In the case of my friend, we didn't even know there was a life-threatening problem. So what can we do? Honestly: not much. Someone who hasn't experienced any other way to be/behave/live/love has no reason to want to change just because we say it would be better (what do we know about their life anyhow?). It's like trying to order sushi at a hot dog stand. So do we give up? No, there is an option: we change the language.

Music Matters because it helps to remind us that there is a universal language that can give folks who don't even know they are suffering a glimpse of a different way to experience being/behaving/living/loving. Unlocking that experience is the primary goal of my work; if, at the end, I have convinced you that you can, on your own, open a magical portal to a better experience of being/behaving/living/loving, then I have done my job, and you will yourself experience Why Music Matters.

Music and suicide

I'm writing to you today about warriors in distress. Ones who have been discharged from active duty and ones who are about to be discharged. There's a huge issue facing too many of these fine your men and women: suicide.

Not long ago, I sat in the monthly meeting of the San Diego County Veteran/Family Forum. VetFam was put together a few years back so that all the agencies and individuals and private and public companies and non-profit organizations who care about the second-largest population of veterans in America (hint: we'll all in San Diego County together) -- would have something like a clear shot at coordinating a County-wide approach to doing what needs to be done.

Unfortunately, even with that level of commitment, there's more to do than VetFam and all the various groups represented in it can handle.

This last meeting, VetFam touched on the topic of suicide, specifically among warriors. The most poignant observation, made by an individual with experience to back it up, is that counseling someone who is suicidal is NOT intuitive.

Let me repeat that: counseling -- helping -- someone who is suicidal is NOT intuitive.

This means that our human tendencies will not -- cannot -- serve us well if our goal is to help someone in need choose not to take their own life. We need to teach ourselves some very specific techniques if we are to be effective in preventing suicide, even and maybe especially for those who are closest to us.

I absolutely urge each of you to immediately contact one the many many services available to you to learn what you need to do to be effective in identifying and preventing suicide. It may be of use to you some day, especially if you are the family member or friend of a warrior or are in any kind of counseling capacity, professionally or as a volunteer -- and especially if you call San Diego County home.

It could save a life. Perhaps more than one life.

Here in San Diego County we are seeing a huge influx of warriors coming out the service with honorable discharges. As these men and women enter civilian life, they will face unemployment of 24% among their peers. They will face other financial hurdles of all kinds. If they have families, those two issues will be compounded. If they have combat experience, those two issues will be further compounded by recovery from wartime stress, commonly called post-traumatic stress. As if that's not enough, there's just no adrenalin rush from daily life in San Diego County that can compare to the war zone, and the camaraderie of the combat unit will be fractured and inadequately replaced by daily life without their fellow warriors. Getting through the first few months of assimilation is hard; some don't make it. Resilience is low at this stage. Very low.

It doesn't have to be that way.

All the agencies in VetFam are committed to a better result for all the warriors who return to San Diego County. I would hope that flagship corporations in San Diego -- Petco and Qualcomm come to mind -- also reach out to employ these talented warriors. It would be so cool if entire fighting units were employed as teams by savvy businesses. This could take full advantage of the built-in ironclad unit coherence forged as warriors and reduce the unemployment rate to something more like the civilian unemployment rate.

I hope that if you live in San Diego County or if you don't, you will do your part to prepare to be a resource for your returning family warrior(s) or friend warrior(s).

It turns out that one effect of adrenalin is the spontaneous creation of connections within groups. Strangers who are scared tend to join closer together, for example, and emerge from frightening situations as an ad-hoc cohesive unit. This effect is powerful in a trained fighting force. It can also be a powerful non-fighting force. If someone you love is scared, and it scares you, pull together rather than separating from one another. Ride it out together, in silence if that's what it takes -- locked in an embrace if that's what it takes -- but ride it out together. Brain chemicals are powerful things, and working with them instead of against them is good practice.

You can use music to activate your brain chemicals. I've written before about the Viet Nam veteran I met who told me that, without music, he would not have been able to live with the post-traumatic stress of combat. He tried everything, but music was the only way he could self-medicate for 30 years before he had the courage to seek treatment by conventional means.

Grab an iPod, or a CD, and give yourself and your family and your friends a meaningful soundtrack to ride through the adrenalin rush, or depression's pit, or the slashing, frustrating anger. Music will deepen the feeling, yes, and it will connect you with a way to understand that feeling for what it is: a feeling, one of many you may have, but not who you ARE. You will find that you can quickly develop an ability to program your own feelings using music. Program yourself some useful ones, ok?

You can use this for lots of things -- but it won't take the place of a short course in suicide counseling. Do that too, please, even if you don't have a pressing obvious need. It's like CPR; you never know when you'll be called on to use it and save a life.

And, if you'd like me to come over and do my "healing with music" presentation with you, your family, and your friends, please give me a call.

Be well.

Keep your music on!