Once Upon a Business – Episode 83
Nasruddin’s Note
Lisa Bloom: Nasruddin wanted to learn a musical instrument. Finally, he found the one of his dreams. He took it home and played it to his wife.
Hi, I’m Lisa Bloom, the story coach, and you’re listening to Once Upon a Business. In each episode, we explore a story, a fairy tale, folk tale, or traditional story, so that we can discover the amazing lessons relevant for business and for entrepreneurs.
But when Nasruddin played the instrument, on and on, he played the same note, the very same note, for hours. His wife was going crazy. What are you doing, Nasruddin? Everyone else who plays that instrument plays scales and cadenzas and mazurkas. I know, said Nasruddin. They’re all looking for this one note.
This is a story of Hodja Nasruddin. Since the first time I heard a Hodja Nasruddin story, I’ve always loved them. He’s a character and folklore of the Muslim world from the Balkans to China. A hero known as Mula or Hodja or Juha. His stories are familiar to all. He plays the fool or the joker and often shares wisdom in a similar way to the court jester. The role of these wise fools is often to tell the truth, and often a truth that no one else is willing to tell. And these truths provide great lessons to the listeners and to us as business owners.
In this story, Nasruddin plays the same note all the time, just one single note from his instrument. And when asked, what are you doing? He says that everyone else who plays many notes, they do so because they’re still looking for the one. As entrepreneurs, we often spend a lot of time searching for our voice, trying out different approaches and perspectives, and taking a long time to figure out how we want to show up in the world. I totally resonate with the idea that everyone might be searching for their note, but he’s already found it. He’s found out who he wants to be, how he wants to sound. Wouldn’t it be great if we could all find our one note?
What was also interesting in this story is Nasruddin’s confidence. He’s just a beginner, and yet he knows exactly what he’s looking for and what others should be looking for, too. As someone who works with startup entrepreneurs and small business owners, this can be a big challenge. Many of us struggle to find our own authentic voice, to uncover our sound from scratch. Hodja says we shouldn’t play forms that others have invented. Like his wife says, the scales, cadenzas and mazurkas. We should play that which is wholly unique to us.
There is a tension here, though. We all know that there’s nothing new under the sun. There are no new stories. The Grimms Brothers and even Shakespeare never created a brand-new story. They borrowed stories from folklore and local tradition. And there’s a lesson in this for entrepreneurs, too. The lesson of taking material and content and repurposing it. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. You can take your work and offer it in many different ways. But what is true for entrepreneurs, as it was for Shakespeare, is that the magic is in the voice, the way the story is told, the wonder of our true sound.
So let’s spend less time worrying about searching for all that is shiny, bright, and new, and instead focus on how we find our one note so that we can show up with a distinctive voice, a differentiated offer, and an empowered sound.
I’m Lisa Bloom, and you’ve been listening to Once Upon a Business. You can find out more about me at story-coach.com. That’s story dash coach dot com. Once Upon a Business is part of the Mirasee FM Podcast Network, which also includes such shows as Consciousness Explored and To Lead is Human. To catch the great episodes that are coming up on Once Upon a Business, please like and follow us on Mirasee FM’s YouTube channel or your favorite podcast player. And if you enjoyed the show, please leave us a comment or a starred review. It’s the best way to help us get these ideas to more people. Thank you. We’ll see you next time.