Most people who know me at work think I'm a workaholic... which may be partially true. Today as part of the Diwali festivities I shared a very different side of me and a big part of my life that helps me keep my sanity.
I began dancing at the age of 3 and never looked back. Through the rollercoaster life has put me on, dance has always helped me get back on track. It's a great form of meditation that clears the storm of thoughts that constantly run through my head. It's an excellent stress reliever. And let's not forget... It sure helps get those steps in!
I've been performing for as long as I can remember. I started with dance and got into theatre around middle school. It's rather interesting to think about the things I learned from performing that help me at work. As a performer, you may be performing solo or in a group, similar to the environment you work in, but what could possibly be useful?
The first similarity is passion. A few years ago, as I was writing my MBA application essays, I really did my share of soul-searching. What was it that I was really passionate about? Low and behold... one of those answers was dance. Some others were solving problems, fixing things, serving others and helping them succeed. After I finished my Masters, I was in Engineering, but my innate desire to make things happen found me doing tasks of a Product Manager. When I did finally transition to Product Management, it was that very passion that was contagious. One of the Engineering teams I worked very closely with ended up in a different organization for a short period of time. When I finally joined them, one of the engineers actually asked me what I did because it was as if I suddenly woke everyone up after a few months of slumber and got the momentum going again.
As I thought of an answer to what seemed like a simple question, I found the second similarity. As you perform with others, you begin to learn each other's styles as if it were your own. You end up with an unusual ability to predict if something out the norm is about to happen and flawlessly make a change look intentional or know exactly what to do to get your fellow performer(s) back on track. I got to know my Engineering peers so well that when I interviewed new engineers for the team, I had the exact same feedback as my development manager with a completely different set of interview questions. Before a requirement or design was fully vetted, I could predict their questions, concerns, and even how they might architect the solution. When there was a new requirement, I knew exactly which engineer's expertise we needed. If anything, this made deploying new features so much easier because I knew the direction, it was just a matter of getting everyone on the same page.
The challenge, however, was not letting my understanding of Engineering and the architecture sway the product requirements I was submitting. It was essential to remember what the vision of the product was. Think of it as directing or choreographing a piece. You have a vision in mind of how a specific scene should play out, but now you have to orchestrate between lighting, sound, dancers, musicians, set designers, and so on to get that exact effect you imagined. Sometimes this means telling them exactly what you want and other times it means giving them a little and letting them get creative and bring their expertise to the table with something you may not have thought of initially.
Lastly, you learn to prepare for anything and think on your toes. I haven't had a performance 'til date where something hasn't gone wrong. Costume malfunctions, technical glitches, injuries, the works. In fact, during today's performance, the track I had originally shared with the organizer was completely distorted. Within minutes, I was up and dancing again. I grabbed my Bluetooth speaker from my car and stuck the mic in front of it to make it louder.
Thinking on your toes requires you to really know your trade. In dance, we do this by practicing and understanding music. In the dance form I learned, it was mandatory that all dancers learn music theory and either to sing or play an instrument. There are times where preparing for a performance merely means I've learned every change in the music after listening to it while driving because I didn't have the time to choreograph a dance. Similarly, knowing my customer's in and out allowed me to participate in many architectural discussions in which I may not have specified a use case, but could define one on the spot if any questions came up.
It's always interesting to see how we apply lessons from various walks of life without even thinking about it.
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