Joe Ellis |
on February 20, 2008 |
category: lead generation |
Business Development Director
The subway virtuoso.
He stood in the midst of the very busy L'Enfant Plaza station of the Washington, D.C. Metrorail system. Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt with a Washington Nationals baseball cap on his head, he played his violin for nearly an hour. His empty instrument case lay open on the floor silently begging donations from those who passed by.
The location was chosen carefully, targeting the government workers, financial forecasters, policy analysts, and other professionals who pass through the station every work day. Mostly an above-average income crowd, they are often thought to enjoy classical music brilliantly played.
And he masterfully played some of the world's greatest classical music. His repertoire –some of the most difficult-to-master pieces — flowed from a priceless violin handcrafted by Antonio Stradivari in 1713. Clearly this was no ordinary street musician. This was Joshua Bell, the world-renowned violinist who regularly thrills and captivates audiences around the world.
Just three days earlier Bell had played to a packed house at the Boston Symphony Hall where most paid over $100 per ticket. Two weeks later he performed before a North Bethesda, MD standing-room-only crowd that was in awe and hushed silence, bedazzled by the deft blending of sound and movement.
Yet during this unceremonious concert performed in the rail system of D.C., he and his music were barely noticed.
An experiment conducted by The Washington Post wanted to know how many passersby would recognize beauty and genius and stop to acknowledge it. So, here was Bell, "one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made," wrote staff writer Gene Weingarten, but few recognized their encounter with musical greatness.
Of nearly a thousand people who walked by Bell, only seven paused for at least a minute to listen to his masterful presentation. Only 27 individuals showed their brief appreciation by dropping money in his violin case. A total of $32 and some change for a man whose talents can command $1,000 a minute.
Many of the commuters would undoubtedly have recognized Bell had they taken a few seconds to actually look his way. But, only one out of the crowd of a thousand recognized the world renowned virtuoso. She described it as "the most astonishing thing I've ever seen. Joshua Bell was standing there playing at rush hour and people were not stopping, not even looking".
The L'Enfant Plaza commuters did not recognize Bell because they were not seeking or paying attention. They were too busy going through the motions, head down, hell-bent on a timely execution of their daily travel ritual. As a result they missed what could have been the most memorable moment in a lifetime of commuting.
Like those commuters, many of us become so caught up in what we are doing in our own little world that we fail to recognize multiple opportunities that may pass us by. Schedules are tight; workloads full. Budgets are constantly reduced, but performance expectations remain high. We feel we must pay strict attention to what we are doing. We can't afford to be "distracted" — or can we?
The old saw, "If you keep doing what you're doing, you'll get more of what you've got" may speak volumes here. As professionals we can become so entrenched in the processes, structures and routines of our current situation that we don't even notice that better opportunities may be available.
Maybe we should look for those positive "interruptions" more often. I'll just bet most of us are passing up some "encounters with greatness" because were busily on our way down the all-too-familiar road of the "same 'ol, same 'ol."
Who knows what we might see if we took just a moment to look in a different direction. Trust me: There is always a "Joshua Bell" in your pathway vying for your attention. Look. Listen. It might be just what you are looking for.
Comments:
2/20/2008 at 9:25 p.m.The Joshua Bell of BDMPerhaps, Mr. Ellis, you are the Joshua Bell of blogging. And therefore, I just had my positive "distraction" from the everyday grind of proofreading by reading this well-written piece. Thanks for the encounter with greatness (time will tell, my friend. Time will tell).
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