Categories: Articles

Music As Your Therapy And Your Inspiration

What music is on your iPhone?

I often (half-jokingly) tell people that if something should happen to me, I’m worried that my playlists will be discovered on my iPhone, and that I will be made fun of. I love very random, cheesy and weird stuff (everything from obscure hair metal bands from the eighties to fusion jazz musicians and beyond). As Sarah Silverman once brilliantly stated, "I don’t judge what my earholes like!" Sure, there are some artists that many would classify as "the greats," but the bulk of what I love would probably make the vast majority of you retch. I’m good with that. I don’t just like things like music, comic books, stand-up comedy, martial arts, architecture, etc… I like to unpack it, study it, understand and study the mechanics behind it. Yes, I do like to know, see and understand how the proverbial hot dogs are made. Great content (be it art, music or whatever) comes from a mysterious place and, more often than not, it has mysterious healing properties as well. Take music, for example. I do believe that music can change your brain and your body. It can make you more creative, more experimental, more free and more open.

I’m not a fan of Moby.

This happens a lot. I found myself recently reading the biography of Keith Richards. Some might nod their head in agreement, that this is an obvious, but I’m no fan of The Rolling Stones. Love The Who. Love The Beatles. Never felt much for the Stones. I respect them, and their contributions to rock n’ roll, but their music was never my bag. There are countless artists and musicians like this. Moby would also be one of the ones that I respect, but don’t love the music. Not a fan of the music, but a deep respect for who he is, how he creates and how he sees the work that he is creating.

Study music.

This week, The Aspen Institute published a presentation that Moby gave about music therapy. And, while the focus is on how music is used to restore, maintain and improve patients’ physical, emotional and neurological functions, there are benefits that extend well beyond health. Watch this presentation. Not because Moby is a very dynamic and well-spoken individual, but because there are probably many cues in here about where creativity and ideas can come from. It’s something that all of us need to spend some time and attention with. Imagine if we approached our work with the same passion that Moby brought to music and how it affects others?

A magical world. Right? Just watch: The Aspen Institute – Music as Therapy with Moby.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.