martes, 31 de marzo de 2015

StarShine Academy on the path to Global Learning

Dear Friends

Last year I had the honor to be invited to speak to the students at Star Shine Academy in Phoenix, AZ. What a group of very valuable kids. Although most live in difficult, negative and poor environments, Star Shine Academy devotes itself to providing them with the best K-12 education.

This year Star Shine has embarked yet in another more challenging project, reaching out to 250 million kids worldwide. They are doing a magnificent effort and if they succeed, they will receive the X-Prize for Global Learning to pursue this amazing goal; but they need our help. They need to raise enough funds to help this project get started.

If you want to find out more about the project and what this amazing prize means, I invite you to please read the link below:


I am sure you will love the project and if possible contribute to its success. Go ahead, share the news and become involved in this worldwide education improvement.

Muchas gracias anticipadas,

Luis Vicente

sábado, 28 de marzo de 2015

Augustin Hadelich: An inspiring Performance!

I was not ready to see tonight’s concert and was not prepared for the wonderful musical experience I had. And now I must say I was very fortunate to see Augustin Hadelich’s amazing performance of Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2 (the first performance of the concert in 1939 has come to be regarded as one of the great 20th-century violin concertos, according to the LA Philharmonic).

When you attend a Classical Concert or an Opera you prepare yourself in advance. You see the program and learn about the concert; you read the biographies of the composer, the conductor and the concertist; and you buy the tickets in advance. Well, until today, as I decided to attend tonight’s concert by the Houston Symphony Orchestra only 40 minutes before it started.

As I have been travelling these past few months between Caracas and Houston, I have been able to see several performances by the Houston Symphony (@housymphony). Tonight I just simply read that the Orchestra would be playing Mozart and headed downtown Houston; and I was treated to an evening of sound, magic and excitement.

Tonight’s concert conducted by Gilbert Varga, was an incredible performance by the Houston Symphony which started with Mendelssohn’s Overture to A Midsummer Nights’ Dream and ended with Mozart’s Symphony No. 39. Beautiful, elegant, enchanting and melodic concertos that make you start dreaming as you listen to their first notes.

And then, violinist Augustin Hadelich played Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2. I have to say I had read about his concert at Carnegie Hall in New York in December last year, but as I started to enjoy this very powerful and fast paced concert, I realized I was seeing a very talented musician who commanded the scenario with strong energy and a compelling dynamism.

Very demanding of his 1723 Stradivarius Violin (that at times appeared to be talking to us), he transmitted a level of excellence that seemed beyond us at certain moments and that we very seldom seen today. And Bartok’s very challenging concert was played with ‘beauty’, which was how the Washington Post described Hadelich’s essence of playing. On my way back I read what the Houston Chronicle wrote about his previous performance at Jones Hall which indicated that Hadelich “exerted the kind of excitement that threatens to lift the listener right out of his seat.” And of course, we all got lifted again this time.

As a Business Performance Coach I started asking questions in my head. How do we get this kind of performance from our team members? How do you get that kind of performance in your companies? How do we leave audiences in ‘awe’? How do we get a standing ovation? We don’t if we do not prepare and work to achieve our goals, our purpose and our vision.

This is why we need to constantly generate new ideas, learn new skills, practice for perfection, and continuously train our co-workers and team members, including ourselves. Not an easy task, but if we want to give a level of performance that exceeds our customer’s expectations, we need to prepare, practice, train and develop the abilities and qualities of the individuals that surround us, that work with us and from whom we require the kind of excellent performance level I saw this evening.

Tonight’s concert by the Houston Symphony was incredible; and Augustin Hadelich’s and exquisite and distinguished performance was – simply – inspirational, after which the audience gave a long and deserving standing ovation, with sounds of ‘Bravo’ and ‘Bravssimo’ being heard, while the Orchestra musicians were applauding along (he came back to the delight the audience with a beautiful encore piece by Paganini; greeted of course with his second standing ovation of the evening). One of those concerts and amazing performances you will be able to cherish and remember forever.

 

Luis Vicente Garcia is a Business Performance Coach and Consultant, an international speaker and best-selling author. You can follow Luis Vicente at @lvgarciag and www.luisvicentegarcia.com You may also contact Luis Vicente at coachluis@luisvicentegarcia.com