Music & Strategy


Saffron Steer is sponsoring an exciting music project. We are supporting a rising new singer-songwriter HANNAH who has been described as having a ‘fresh, new, British sound’. We instinctively responded to her appeal for crowd-funding since we love the music she makes and music is a vital part of life at Saffron Steer.

HANNAH said: “I am so grateful to Michael and all at Saffron Steer for supporting me on my musical journey.  I am an emerging singer-songwriter and I just released my debut single “Circles” in June this year. This was picked up by BBC introducing East Midlands, and became BBC Leicester’s track of the week. The release of a new single “Look Good in Blue” followed shortly after in September 2018, which was also BBC Introducing’s Track of the Week and described as…” a beautiful jewel of a song”. I’ve been writing songs for a couple of years and am influenced by great writers such as Joni Mitchell, the Cardigans, Sigrid and Carol King. I love honest lyrics and beautiful melodies and my music is best described as folk-pop/ singer-songwriter.  I am collaborating with Michael Garvin (J. Lo ‘Waiting For Tonight’, George Benson ‘Never Give Up on a Good Thing’) and more recently Ian Curnow (Kylie, Boyzone, East 17, Rick Astley) to develop a pop act. 

I am currently unsigned but my ambition is to tour festivals and release more music in 2019.  Saffron Steer’s support will enable me to continue to do this.

Music is powerful stuff – as is proper strategy.

Music shifts culture. It has the power to raise concerns, acknowledge and reflect on social norms. It stimulates emotional responses, develops creative, technical, social & vocational skills. It improves expression, communication, confidence & self-esteem, and it facilitates positive changes in behaviour and wellbeing. It can inspire.

“Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable” (Leonard Bernstein)

Proper strategy can transform organisations, offering a clear and differentiated point of view that supports determined and coordinated actions. But this word ‘strategy’ is still commonly misinterpreted and often equated with short term planning, forecasting and a raft of other business activities that have nothing to do with strategy. As a musician myself, and a campaigner for proper strategy, it struck me that making music provides a useful metaphor for understanding the components of proper strategy:

  • Before even starting to play any instrument or sing a song, the rhythm and groove must be determined, much like establishing the right culture to deliver any strategy
  • The keys/notes represent strategic options, but NOT all will make the right, differentiated and distinctive sound
  • Only when the right keys/notes are combined in a coordinated and coherent way (representing the tough decisions and actions that are needed in proper strategy development) is the experience conveyed to the listener (the ‘customer’)
  • Moreover, the competence of the player is correlated to the sound and emotions that the listener experiences; strategy often requires different talent to support the new direction

Thanks for reading this blog post. Now, time to enjoy some new music…

You can listen to HANNAH’s debut single “Circles” on Spotify here.Or, you can buy “Circles” via iTunes here. You can listen to “Look Good In Blue”here.Or, buy Look Good in Blue here.

Her stunning new release is “Porcelain”, which you can listen to here.

 

This has been ‘Away from the Heard’: The Saffron Steer blog. We’d be very interested in your views and comments.