All That Jazz: Josh Linkner on Improvising to Innovate

It was an unusual assertion to make in front of a room full of people who solve complex problems for a living, but entrepreneur, jazz musician, and author Josh Linkner made it just the same: the way you’ve been innovating up to now is probably no longer enough.

Don’t Limit Yourself to Notes on a Page

Linkner opened his remarks Monday afternoon with a true story that illustrates the kind of thinking that separates the creative from the stuck. Linkner’s firm was seeking a massive contract with Conagra, the company behind iconic brands like Orville Redenbacher and Duncan Hines. Linkner was a finalist, but the goalposts kept moving and it was beginning to look like it was not going to be a go.

Linkner found himself on the same flight as the person in charge of signing the contract; both were upgraded to adjacent first-class seats, while the Conagra contact’s wife was consigned to economy. Linkner thought fast. The easy answer was to take the shot — sit next to “Mr. Conagra,” take the 30,000-foot captive audience, and use the flight as the ultimate elevator pitch. That’s not what happened. Instead, Linkner offered his first-class seat to “Mrs. Conagra,” saying he planned to spend the flight working anyway, and that the spouses should sit together. When Linkner checked his phone upon landing, a message from his office was waiting for him.

The contract was a done deal. The jazz musician had just improvised his way into a $30 million payday.

Tapping Your Inner Coltrane

All of us are built to be creative, Linkner said. And tapping that creativity is especially important in moments of major cultural change. It’s moments like these that call for tapping into your inner jazz musician.

“One percent of jazz is notes on the page,” he said. “The rest is improvised.”

And in that improvisation are lessons for leaders.

Consider.

Linkner showed a list of five traits of jazz musicians. They adapt to changing conditions. Navigate uncertainty and ambiguity. Have situational awareness and employ active listening. Use real-time collaboration and problem solving. Recover quickly from setbacks. Improvise to deliver the best outcomes.

Look at that list. Now swap out “jazz musicians” for “leaders.” Nothing changes.

Postage Stamp Moments

The best innovators know that everything isn’t, can’t be, shouldn’t be a moonshot. But even small things can have big, big results.

Case in point. In 1902, French engineer Philippe Bunau-Varilla was lobbying for a new interoceanic canal to be built in Panama rather than Nicaragua, so he sent a Nicaraguan postage stamp to every member of Congress depicting a volcano in Nicaragua. His message was simple: if Nicaragua featured an active volcano on its postage stamps, perhaps it was not the safest place for an interoceanic canal.

The rest is history. Panama got the canal – and the $1 trillion in economic impact that goes along with it.

“You don’t have to be DaVinci,” Linkner said. “Just look for postage stamp moments.”

Going Bananas

If there is one lesson Linkner would impart it would be this: Start before you’re ready. “There’s real risk in waiting. It’s best to figure it out as you go.”

Jesse Cole was flat broke when he saw a notice that Savannah, Georgia’s minor league baseball team was headed for bankruptcy court. On a whim, he attended the disposition hearing and expressed interest. He was the only one there, so the judge gave him a shot at turning it around. Cole did more than turn it around. He turned the newly branded Savannah Bananas into the most successful team in baseball, powered by an obsessive focus on innovation and customer experience. Today, the Bananas are a worldwide phenomenon, boasting more than 36 million social media followers (eclipsing MLB teams) and selling out Fenway Park.

As a Savannah Bananas board member, Linkner has had a seat behind home plate for the team’s meteoric rise. The lesson in Cole’s story is no surprise to any jazz musician accustomed to playing everything by ear. There’s no such thing as a “right” way to play jazz.

Just as there’s no “right” way to innovate. The only wrong thing is to do nothing.

“I know I’m not going to get it right,” Linkner said. “The confidence comes from knowing that I know how to recover.”