Have you ever wondered why some people prefer one kind of music to another?

Apparently there have been lots of studies on the subject – all of them inconclusive.

I like jazz. I don’t know why. It just connects with me in a way that no other music does, so I was interested to read recently that more than 450 well-known jazz solos have been studied by physicists from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization together with psychologists from the University of Göttingen and they have unraveled the secret of what makes jazz different to other forms of music.

They were able to demonstrate that jazz musicians use certain systematic deviations in timing that gives the jazz its unique rhythm – but that they use them unconsciously. Co-incidentally, many years ago, Charlie Watts (first and foremost, a jazz musician) was surprised to discover that this is what created the unique sound of the Rolling Stones.

If you’ve ever seen a jazz band play you’ll have noticed that they don’t need a conductor, rarely use sheet music and rely on a great deal of improvisation. They really listen to each other and move in and out of playing a lead role and then make way for others players without any direction.

So here’s my segue …

I’m often asked what makes this business community, Drive the Collaborative Network, so special. I didn’t design it to be the way it is. It’s become a unique and very special network because of the people who are in it and they way they respond to each other.

Our members have a lot in common with a jazz band:

* Everyone is talented
* Everyone respects each other’s talent
* Many people are talented in the same area but they all bring different qualities to their work
* Everyone is more than their work: their character and values influence everything they do and how they interact
* Members never try to grandstand or sell themselves, they turn up to contribute
* They play off each other’s strengths

It’s a subtle and unconscious way of creating a great feeling with no egos involved.

It’s taken me a long time to figure it out but now when some asks “What makes the Drive community so special?”, I’ll tell them maybe scientists could work it out but for us, its just like jazz – we do it without thinking about it!

If this style of collaborative networking appeals to you, come and try us out, see if we’re a fit for how you like to work and explore what we can do together.