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Training the Young and Fluency July 28, 2010

Repeat with Sensei, if you will, the Wolf Creedo:

The Wolf Credo:
Respect the elders
Teach the young
Cooperate with the pack
Play when you can
Hunt when you must
Rest in between
Share you affections
Voice your feelings
Leave your mark.*

What have you done to nurture your team?  Are you the resident Elvis, and if the newbies make the cut they’ll graduate from a Mort to be the next King, hand plucked by you from millions and millions of people?  Can I get a little ka-ra-te with that?

What makes you an Elvis, and are you a bloated drunk Elvis at the end, or the bad-ass version 1970 version who can jump start anything?  Elvis in 1970 practiced the Wolf Creedo.  Watch the documentory Elvis the Way It Is 2001, just the first half hour.  This short half hour will show you Elvis, after years of being away from touring, ready to return to touring again in attempts to re-start his career.  The first half hour of the movie focuses on the few weeks of rehearsals before the debut concert.  Elvis had a fluent, incredible means of communicating with his band members and back up singers.  With a glance, a gesture, a wink, a new song would spring up.  Maybe Elvis would say a quick word, hum a note, and suddenly a bass line would kick in, and not more than three beats later, the entire band and Elvis are playing a tune complete with improves.  While playing Little Sister, Elvis nods, and issues “Get Back” and off the group goes playing Get back from the Beatles.  Congruent would be best word to describe the synchronization that each member had.

Elvis nurtured that vibe.  They all keyed off of him, for to the band he was Elvis, not the King.  He lead by being a focal point, but not necessarily an ostentatious leader.  When you watch the practice sessions where Elvis worked on the orchestrations of each song it is clear that he could communicate what he wanted, and worked with his band members to produce the product he envisioned.

But in order to function like this unit, each member has to practice.  You, as pack leader, have to pick the scales, the arpeggios, the rudiments that you want to be second nature so that your team, the young ones and old warriors can produce what you want, fluently.

*Credit:  Del Getz and Associates