How can business leaders and entrepreneurs learn from the jazz masters? Andy Lockett, Dean of Warwick Business School and Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, together with Deniz Ucbasaran, Professor of Entrepreneurship, offer practical research on leadership – with a difference. 

Related research: Leading Entrepreneurial Teams: Insights from jazz groups, Deniz Ucbasaran, Andy Lockett, Michael Humphreys. CoBS Research Pod developed by CoBS Editor Ana Sofia Bello.

Why go for jazz as a focus of research? For a start, assert Warwick Profs. Locket and Ucbasaran, jazz bands are synonymous with creativity, improvisation and innovation – all essential ingredients for entrepreneurship. Moreover, jazz groups and their members often operate in uncertain and dynamic environments characterised by unpredictable and rapid change – much like those of the entrepreneur-leader. However, through collective endeavour many famous jazz bands find their own structure and harmony, despite apparent disorder, and become profitable enterprises.

Traditional team leadership theory suggests that to achieve the best team performance a leader should foster conflict that promotes productive behaviours – functional conflict – while minimizing and eradicating dysfunctional and destructive conflict. This is difficult when the sources of productive and destructive conflict – differences in personality and thinking – are the same.

So how does this chime with the past jazz greats? In fact, it didn’t seem to bother the likes of Ellington, Davis and Blakey. Their attitude was “the music comes first”. In this light, discordant behaviour was tolerated on a journey towards overall harmony. The bad behaviour of individuals, whether turning up late for practice, or stepping out of a performance to eat a previously ordered steak, was seen as a small price to pay for the moments of musical genius, when everything came together.

All in all, the evidence from the jazz world suggests that team leaders could attempt a wider concept of diversity when building their teams, taking into account cognitive and personality difference as desirable team attributes. This can be especially relevant for ventures and teams where high levels of creativity are needed – for instance in the media industry, biotech, or high-tech start-ups.

In this CoBS research pod, you will gain insight into the research findings through a set of key takeaways and identify leadership style, tips and knowledge based on the jazz greats. You’ll then project the knowledge onto your own situation, team, and organisation. And finish off by putting it all into practice through a set of action prompts.

Browse and download the CoBS Research Pod Striking the Right Note: Leadership insights from jazz legends

Useful links:

• Link up with Deniz Ucbasaran and Andy Lockett on LinkedIn
• Download a related research pod: How leaders can create a fun working climate for their teams
• Discover Warwick Business School
• Apply for the MBA programme at Warwick.

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