How to get 522 CEOs to sing?
Captivating title, don’t you think?
Rest assured, our team will not teach you how to wield your CEO. Although we might recognize your desire to do so, we can do something even better: we can tell you how we literally got 522 CEOs to sing (yes, really sing with their voices!).
The G500 – A family like (no) other
This unique experience took place at the GCEQ’s (Groupement des chefs d’entreprise du Québec) flagship event: the G500.
Long story short, the GCEQ is an authentic family of business leaders that share common values, like mutual assistance, solidarity, business and collaboration. That being said, you can compare the G500 event to an annual family meeting, except replace the usual topics of discord (such as politics) with high-caliber conferences on managing organizational change or accelerated growth.
Therefore, it might seem a bit more complex to make this group of entrepreneurs sing all together than getting your uncle Tommy to sing at every family party, right?
Just imagine the elaborate challenge lying ahead for Claire Hayek- CEO of MSP.
More than (just) a pitch – A collective unique experience
Claire is revising her pitch, she’s ready for a couple of hours now, Rob is preparing the mobile recording studio, the lights dim, the room is silent, “the show is on”.
The pitch begins. Claire presents the benefits and strengths of singing as a creative tool in developing a strong and rich company culture, the type of culture so important for employee retention, employee satisfaction and productivity optimization.
It is time to get the 522 CEOs into action. In order to do so, Michel Bundock, GCEQ’s CEO, is invited on stage to sing the first notes of the song “Let it Be” by the Beatles .
The crowd laughs, loosens up, and then appears the first glimpses of an intrigued audience as they are stunned. Michel then decides to call 4 of his partners to join him on stage to sing with him the second verse.
The magic of music begins…
From then on, the magic of music begins: collaboration, creativity, fulfillment.
*** Rather than reading about this, we suggest for you to live and feel the experience by listening to this video here. ***
The collaboration is felt from the very beginning of the song. The notes harmonize throughout the participants, some even stand up to sing along with enthusiasm. All eyes show great emotion and feeling.
Creativity appears when the artistic side of 5 participants blossoms towards the 522 CEOs. The group’s creativity takes precedence over the fear of singing, the voices are heard throughout the room: tenor, baritone, soprano, you name it, the diversity of the group builds an energy due to collective effort.
The fulfillment is then achieved during the applause and the final laughter concluding this experience, that is so rich in emotion that participants have lived through.
Magic that lives on
After experiencing this success story, our team decided to meet up with the participants during the G Bar 5@7 (happy hour).
What a pleasant surprise to hear from these CEOs that this experience had enabled them to “get out of their comfort zone”, to “discover the strength of team work and collaboration”, and then again to have felt “goosebumps” when the singing transitioned from 5 to 522 singers.
*** To savor the participants’ emotions, click here. ***
The magic felt during that very moment will stay engraved in their emotional memory for a longtime to come.
Who is next?
You are probably asking yourself THE question: Who will be MSP’s next target?
As much as we would like to produce a ‘Poutine – Trump’ collaboration during the G20 singing “We are the World”, our next challenge is to make YOUR TEAM sing!
We invite you to visit us here for more information.
Looking forward to singing with you!
