The Tao of Leadership: Unleash Your Mojo Through Music and Songwriting
Calling leaders, changemakers, and people who desire to create cultures that are adaptive, resilient and life-affirming
Free Masterclasses: 11 am – 12:30 pm
Pacific Time, 9/10/24 or 9/17/24
Series One: Tuesdays, 11 am – 1 pm, Pacific Time
10/1/24 – 10/22/24, 4 zoom sessions, $397
Series Two will start in Jan 2025!
Unleash Your Mojo Through Music and Songwriting
Through this course, you will reconnect with the ancient, organic power of singing and music-making to enrich the experience of everyday life. You will learn an earthy approach to songwriting, expressing the authentic self and connecting with ancestors and guidance beyond the ego’s limitation in service of making a positive impact in the world.
We are not focusing on making polished, perfectly produced music. Instead, we celebrate singing as a birthright that everyone can claim, regardless of age, skill level (or lack of) and experience. You will be able to sing songs sourced from your authentic self to heighten your creativity in problem-solving, build confidence in your voice, and generate heart-felt resonance around you.
Why Tao of Leadership?
Our world is becoming increasingly uncertain, volatile and fast-changing. One way to adapt to this change is to build cultures that are more resilient and life-affirming. Such cultural paradigm calls for a shift in leadership style from domination, competition and control, to collaboration, creativity, authenticity and vulnerability.
Taoist philosophy holds that the interactions between Yin and Yang energy propels the ongoing evolution of a system, giving rise to infinite potentials. The Tao of Leadership is not just about leading (yang), but also about following (yin), listening to and empowering others. It is not just about acting from one’s own will and vision, but also about following the Tao, the forces and flows of the larger life.
In this course, you will discover how to open to the Tao and the flow of life through our earthy, organic and intuitive approaches to music-making and songwriting, accessible to everyone regardless of your prior experience of music!
Tao of leadership is open to everyone regardless of the position you preside in an organization or system. Leadership is not just a role or certain ranks. If you feel the calling to align your life with a purpose larger than yourself, and to be of service to others around you, you can be a leader.
In this course, you will
- Explore leadership themes such as purpose, guidance, vulnerability and resilience
- Practice the skills of improvisation to stay present and engage with what’s emerging
- Cultivate a non-judgmental attitude towards one’s creative expressions
- Transform your lived experiences, inspirations and visions into powerful songs
- Learn simple yet effective songwriting techniques and explore various styles
- Connect and collaborate with other participants in a supportive and inspiring environment
- Share your work with the audience you choose
This course is for you if:
- You are a leader, social change agent, activist, coach, therapist, human service professional, or someone who desires to take a stand for something you believe in the world as an authentic self.
- You believe in the power of embodied presence and vulnerability.
- You are ready to tap into your creative potential and discover the power of your voice.
- No prior songwriting experience required. Only willingness to experiment and play is sufficient.
What people say about our class:
“The designers and creators of this songwriting and leadership course have decades of experience not only as C-suite consultants on leadership and creativity, but also as accomplished teachers of songwriting and songcraft. The course opens new doorways of expression and collaborative creativity, and creates new opportunities for leaders to open new channels of communication. It’s engaging! and it works!” – Ellis, leadership coach
“I have issues paying attention for very long, especially in a classroom situation. I found this class held my attention and was spiritually uplifting. The exercises helped me declutter and at times I felt a weight lifted. I have never sat through a class like this one.” – Ernie, songwriter and songwriting festival organizer
“The three facilitators are each a unique and beautiful note that blend together in a wonderful chord.” – Joseph, organizational consultant
“The power of this class took me by surprise. Rather than thinking and strategizing my way into the fullest expression of my leadership, this class gave me an embodied experience of my leadership as the creative, powerful force it is. I was able to carry the experience forward in a real-world, meaningful way – it stuck!” – Claire, leadership coach
“If you want to be inspired, spend some time with Judi, Paul and Spring. They bring joy, soul and a grounded wisdom from decades of experience. This program will bring new dimensions to your leadership and unlock creativity that can help you explore new parts of yourself. – Michael, leadership coach
What People Say about Music, Songwriting and Leadership
This course is also a core course in the Living Resonance Leadership MA/PhD program in Ubiquity University. For those who are interested in joining degree program, please contact us.
Facilitators
This course is co-created and co-facilitated by Spring Cheng, Paul Kwiecinski & Judi Neal. Their respective bios can be found on Faculty Page.
Paul, Judi and Spring were called together by a song. In 2019, Spring as the only Asian representative attended Climate Change and Consciousness conference at Findhorn Foundation. She wrote a song called Children of the Earth to capture her experience of the human spirit as well as the challenge we are facing as a species. When Paul heard about the song, he committed himself to producing the song as an international project. His long-term creative collaborator Judi joined him.
Four years later, this projected has resulted into a music video that synthesized the input from artists and people from 14 countries, as well as the performance of a children’s choir. Watch the music video and a zoom launch of the song.
Through this project, they have forged a generative collaboration which naturally led them to creating this course.
Textbooks
The Cosmic Path to Melody & Lyric, by Ernie Hill
Saved by a Song by Mary Gauthier
