I’ve always thought of myself as...
Suzanne Ciani is a pioneer. She’s an innovator. She’s a musical genius. She helped create a whole new musical genre in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She is, arguably, an icon. She was the first female electronic musician.
Her instrument of choice was the Buchla qnalog modular synthesizer.
She created sounds no one had ever heard before. I had never heard of her. I had heard her work though, but was oblivious as to how it had been created. Her body of work is very impressive. She began producing sounds for ads in the 1970s.
She composed scores for TV commercials for corporations such as Coke, AT&T, Merrill Lynch and General Electric.
One of her most widely recognized sound effects was the sound of a bottle of Coke being opened and poured in countless radio and TV ads.
The demand for her work was so great she was doing up to 50 studio recording sessions each week.
In 1977, she provided the sound effects for the disco version of the Star Wars soundtrack.
She was the first woman to compose the soundtrack for a major Hollywood film when she wrote the score for The Incredible Shrinking Woman by Lily Tomlin.
She scored a number of films and also recorded many of her own albums throughout the years.
She helped pioneer the New Age music genre.
And, she even started her own record label.
The list of awards spanning her career is impressive and includes five Grammy nominations; best new age keyboardist from Keyboard magazine; Clio excellence in adversting awards from 1977 to 1989; best new age album from the American Federation of Independent Music; most valuable synthesizer award from the National Academy or Recording Arts and Sciences; best new age album from the Independent Music Awards; 2017 Moog innovation award; and a lifetime achievement award from the Audio and Engineering Society.
I listened to her being interviewed recently on CBC radio.
It was in this context I became aware of her impressive career, and her remarkable accomplishments.
However, it was something she said in passing that caught my attention.
What she said seemed to linger in the air as if to say: Pay attention to this.
I had to pull my car over and write it down.
“I’ve always thought of myself as a composer,” said Ciani.
Nothing too significant about that, you may be thinking. Perhaps, but this is what hit me. She was intentional about what she thought of herself.
When she thought of herself, she thought of herself in a positive and significant fashion.
I’ve met too many people who don’t think of themselves in this way.
They don’t think of themselves in the best possible light. They don’t think of themselves well. As author and leadership expert Eddie Lemoine said: “We bring about what we think about.” So, what do you think about yourself? What are you bringing about? How would you complete this declaration: I’ve always thought of myself as...
I have heard many different endings to that statement, such as not good enough, not smart enough, a loser, weak-willed, undisciplined, second best, an accident, a disappointment, a failure, a bad leader, not really a leader, all alone, someone who can’t trust others. Or how about this one? Let’s learn from Ciani’s example. Let’s choose to believe the best about ourselves.
Let’s not be afraid to think of ourselves in the best light possible.
Let’s set high standards for ourselves to which we will hold ourselves accountable.
It’s surprising the number of times I’ve heard leaders who don’t really recognize they are leaders. Leadership is all about influence. If you’re influencing others, you’re a leader.
It doesn’t do anyone any good for you to be insecure and not think of yourself as a leader.
Or, as spiritual leader and author Marianne Williamson said: “Your playing small does not serve the world.”
So, set a high standard for yourself for the good of those you influence.