A friend of ours named Doug graciously invited us to the Santana show at the Hardrock last night, and it was such an amazing show. To witness the tool of his trade, a guitar, transformed as he caressed, tapped, thumped, strummed, picked, waved, tweaked, massaged, wailed, vibrated, and probably a hundred other actions I can’t put words was to watch Mastery in action.   But underneath all of it was a man who was deeply in love with the medium of his message.  He seems to be able to express his deepest self through the medium of his music.  Then you saw the conduit for this love of music, was a deeper love and that was to share it, he shared it with us nonstop for hours, and even more importantly he shared it with his team, in other words called his band.   He propped them up and made them just as much the stars as he was himself.  And in his desire to play great music he somehow knew, that he was not the issue, that it was in the collaboration that beauty was created.  I don’t know if he came to this through years of wisdom, or maybe he was more self absorbed earlier and life and perhaps he just got tired of it.  My friend Doug said that there was definetly a point in his career when “collaboration” with other artists is really what catapulted him to another level.  This was really witnessed in his Supernatural album release.

I think that the world is moving into a time when we are willing to callaborate more then ever.  It may be spurned out necessity but at the end of the day what we might have wanted to have the limelight for, we find out when we share the light we become even more of a star, and more importantly we enjoy the process of creating even more.  This life is about relationships, about supplementing your gifts, and ultimately it is the joy in sharing your talents with the band that makes even more incredible music.  So ask yourself, where are you trying to go it solo, and could use some help?  My bride and I are asking that question a lot lately, as we look at how we can get our voice out, to share our gift, and our light with more people.  Most importantly we ask how is it we can do this in collaboration with others, because our greatest joy is seeing others shine.  I just had the opportunity to see one of my past students who went through my Authentic Voice Speakers Bootcamp training do a talk for a very large audience.  To be able to witness the genius, and the message that was pooring forth, and knowing that I might have had some part in helping him realize his true potential was the most gratifying moment I can remember in a long time.

Where is it you need to spend time building others, to helping them rise their platform, finding their voice, and banding together so a greater sum can be created than from the whole than from the individual parts? So Carlos, I want to thank you for lifting up your team and sharing them all with us, and in your example as an enlightened leader I will have been reminded of the true joy in life, playing with others so we can amplify “all” of our gifts collectively.  Rock on.  Shore

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