There's Rhythm Waiting

The piano has always taught me something about relationships.

The keys are cool to the touch when I first sit down. Familiar. Steady. Waiting patiently for me to return. One of the saddest days of my young adulthood was making the difficult decision to sell my piano and use the proceeds to get out of debt (did you know that financial strain is just one of the challenges that cancer survivors carry with them and don’t talk about enough?). 

In my postpartum days, eight years ago, a new mom, in a new home, in a new town, I was alone. I remember struggling to get my bearings. And my childhood piano became available again. I was able to have it delivered to my home and picked up the relationship where we left off. 

Nearly forty years of practice, repetition, frustration, discipline, and joy have shaped the relationship I have with that instrument. And even now, every time I sit at the bench, the music still asks something of me.

Attention.

Presence.

Consistency.

Devotion.

You cannot create music by occasionally touching the keys and hoping something beautiful happens.

You have to show up.

You have to study the music. Feel the rhythm. Learn the timing. Understand where movement and restraint belong. You have to practice long before anyone applauds the performance.

The older I get, the more I realize business development is deeply similar.

Healthy sales and business growth are not transactional events. They are relationships built over time through rhythm, responsiveness, trust, and consistency. They require attention and intentionality. They require someone willing to listen closely enough to understand what the other person actually needs.

In many ways, business development is its own kind of music.

There’s movement.

There’s management.

There’s improvisation.

There’s timing.

And every once in a while, there’s magic. (Like in this AI generated image - no way would I allow someone to catch a photo of me in practice mode!)

At NarrowSpaces, I often talk about the spaces between work and life — the narrow spaces where culture is shaped, trust is built, expectations are clarified, and relationships either strengthen or slowly erode. The narrow spaces where lives are built, shaped, changed, and sustained.

That weaving together of relationships is what creates sustainable growth.

Not pressure.

Not performance.

Not perfectly polished pitches.

Just people, showing up consistently enough to build trust over time.

Predictable Patterns of Behavior create predictable results.

The musician who practices faithfully develops fluency. The leader who communicates consistently builds trust. The business owner who nurtures relationships thoughtfully creates sustainable opportunities for growth.

And perhaps that’s why the piano still feels so personal to me.

The keys wait patiently.

The music invites participation.

And every single time I sit down, I’m reminded that meaningful things are almost always built through devotion long before they are recognized publicly.

My friends caught a stolen moment of sheer joy at a work conference and boy am I glad they did!

The same is true in music. And the same is true in business.