Beethoven, Bach and Grandma Emily’s

What do Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Satie and Grandma Emily’s have in common?  Laura Heino of course.

Laura Heino, office administrator par excellence, runs the day to day operations of Grandma Emily’s.  She is also a professional French horn player, and playing first horn in the production “Edgar et ses fantomes” currently playing a string of shows this week at the Monument National. The show features excerpts of well known works by the above composers.  Composers interact with each other and the orchestra to create a unique, playful atmosphere.

“It’s a unique show for the orchestra” Laura explains.  “Usually we’re in the pit.  Not so in this show.  The orchestra has a role written into the script.  We interact with the actors and even occasionally have a speaking part. After Mozart is enthralled by the workings of a pen and begins scribbling notes, he rushes to the conductor, urging him to play.  The orchestra then plays an excerpt of the overture of Don Giovanni.”

For Laura, rehearsals and shows all week make for a pretty intense work schedule.  Up at 5am, work till noon, then off to play till 11pm.  Repeat.  It’s exhilarating and exhausting and makes all the practice worthwhile.  “To play with 23 professionals pushes my confidence level to a higher place.  The old feelings of anxiety over ‘can I do this’ are replaced by the sensation that ‘I can do this and I will.’

Parallels with running a business are evident. Each employee finds their own beat, works to improve through self motivation and discipline. As a team, especially when the output is food, harmony is essential.

I like the idea that Laura practices her horn in the early morning at the office.  Before any of us arrive, she has already filled the factory with music.  I wonder if that’s the vibration that makes the maple peanut butter granola taste so good…

For information on the show, go to www.edgaretsesfantomes.com

Eat Dessert First

Last month I received 14 women at my office from a Montreal job reinsertion program called Concertation Femme.  14 women trying to find their place in Montreal’s working world.  They enter timid, a little tired, expectations low and eyes glazed over by the monumental task at hand – finding a job.

My job is to give them a glimpse into small business Montreal style.  Hiring practices, interview questions, a typical work day. Instead, I give them a lesson in ‘eating dessert first.’

I tell them they have the criteria fundamental to success.  No, no, not a McGill MBA.  They have mouths to feed.  Women with children to care for just don’t give up.  They also have the extraordinary asset of being immigrants.   They stare blankly.