Guitar

I learned to play the guitar when I was 19 years old. That was the time when I started courting my girlfriend, who is now my wife. The first song I learned to play is a classical song called Romance de Amore. It is a nice song and I mastered it in just a few days. It was not perfect but just enough to impress my wife.

But I am not writing this to boast about my guitar skills as there is nothing to boast anyway because I have forgotten everything I learned. What I want to share is what I learn from the guitar. It’s the concept of teamwork.

The sound we hear from the guitar actually comes from the vibration of the guitar strings. Most guitars have six strings, and each of the guitar strings must be at very precise frequency in order to produce a nice and harmony music. When someone plucking guitar strings, what happens is that the strings vibrate and that vibration creates energy. The energy vibrates the air inside the body of the guitar, which in turn produces sound. The sound is projected out of the guitar through a sound hole of the guitar. The quality of the sound is determined by the type of wood and the shape of the guitar body. What really controls the tension of the strings is the heads called the Headstock. It adjusts the tension of the strings, which in turn affects the frequency and pitch.

In summary, a guitar consists of three main components: (1) Body of the guitar that projects the sound, (2) Headstock that controls the strings, and (3) Neck of the guitar that support the strings which must be at very precise frequency and pitch.

The concept of teamwork is like the guitar. It is about a group of people working together

First, a team must have a body that is the people that constitute members of a team. Without the body, without the people, without members of the team, there is nothing to produce, there is no outcome to show, and there is no result to impress. It is like a guitar without the body.

Secondly, a team must have a leader who sets direction and makes sure everybody in the team are in the same tune. It is like the Headstock.

Finally, and most importantly, it is the people that make a difference. In order for a team to be effective, everybody in the team has important role to play no matter who they are, how junior or how senior they are, what role they have in the team, and what position they are holding in the team.Everybody is equally important and they must be in the same tune and play the same tune. To demonstrate this, If I play a melody with all the strings in the same tune, it will produce a nice and harmony music. If I tweak one of the strings a little so that the third string is out of tune from the rest of the strings, I will not get the same nice and harmony music.

The take away is that team work is like the guitar - a team must have a body, must have a leader but most importantly, it is the people that make a difference. Everybody has an important role to play, no matter who they are. For a team to be effective, everybody must be in the same frequency, same pitch and play the same tune. Nobody can be left behind and nobody can be left out.

To understand teamwork, just remember the Guitar!

~ Victor ~

Speech presented on Thurs 25 Feb