“The wrong piano”: How the challenges we face can be an opportunity to create something extraordinary

When the pianist Keith Jarrett arrived at the Cologne / Köln opera house in 1975 he found that the wrong piano had been put on stage for him. Instead of a top of the range Steinway Grand, the workmen had left an old practice piano — out of tune, with keys that stuck. The upper register was harsh and tinny. It was simply not the kind of piano that a musician of his calibre should be expected to play.

Was this deliberate or was it a mistake? Either way, the workmen had now left for the day and the situation was impossible to rectify. So Jarrett refused to perform.

Somehow the young promoter managed to win him around. Perhaps she found a convincing argument. Perhaps Keith Jarrett decided to rise above it all. Perhaps he decided to teach her a lesson. We will never know.

But instead of walking away, Keith Jarrett chose to spend time getting to know the piano: which keys stuck and which were out of tune.

And then something extraordinary happened.

His improvisation that night* was described as “magical, amazing, breathtaking, electrifying… a masterpiece.”

By agreeing to work creatively within the constraints he faced, Jarrett somehow inspired himself to create what became “the most successful solo jazz album of all time” and “the most popular piano album in history”.

We all face challenges in our work. Overcoming them is not a barrier to our job, it is our job: to find a way forward within those constraints. And when we choose to treat the challenges we face not as limits to what we can achieve but as frames that we can use to refocus our energies on the differences we are able to make, then we all have the opportunity to create inspiration — and perhaps even a masterpiece.

Are you feeling held back in your work or in your personal life? Has someone given you the ‘wrong piano’? What would happen if you shifted your attention away from the keys that are broken or stuck to creating a masterpiece with what you have?

* You can listen to the concert here.

Adapted from The Churning, Inner Leadership: a framework and a set of tools for building inspiration in a time of change.

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