What We Can Learn About Excellence from Opera Performers
I can't explain why but I've always had deep respect for mastery and people who dedicated their lives to the pursuit of excellence in their craft. I've always been fascinated by the disciplined way of living of Shaolin Monks and how far they can push the boundaries of human mental and physical capabilities through focused pursuit.
The first 10 years of my professional career, as a trained software engineer, I tried to become a master in software development and design. I remember how back then I wanted to be the master of .NET programming and I studied relentlessly C# language, Common Intermediate Language and Common Language Runtime just to know how to optimize my programming even better. I became good at it and I got bored of it. It wasn't challenging enough anymore.
So I moved into building a startup for 7 years as a startup CEO having no business education. This completely disrupted my mastery path. My expertise expired after building the first prototypes as something else was required from me. I began learning business acumen and the discovery of business models, how to learn fast and be selectively ignorant about things I didn't need to know, how to lead and communicate. It was difficult to say the least both because of the adaptability it required from me and because I never felt I reached a competence level that felt sufficient. I was overwhelmed by the breadth of new skills to master and lack of time to do it. Retrospectively I can say it often resulted in faking a generalist when in truth it was plain and simple ignorance.
During this time, a colleague recommended to me "Jiro Dreams of Sushi", a documentary about 85-year-old Jiro Ono, considered by many to be the world's greatest sushi chef, who has dedicated his life to perfecting the art of sushi-making in a small Tokyo subway restaurant. The film reveals how Jiro's relentless dedication to mastery through daily discipline and meticulous attention to detail transformed simple sushi-making into a profound art form and life philosophy.
It made a tremendous impression on me, awakening my need to pursue true mastery. This newsletter emerged from that desire: to develop mastery as an innovation practitioner and build a community of reflective practitioners to grow with.
Recently, I met with my friend Mike Dewis, an accomplished opera soloist and one of the geekiest tech enthusiasts I know ❤️. Discussing potential collaborations between our seemingly distant worlds, Mike said something that intrigued me:
"Opera remains one of the purest performances left. There's no technology standing between the singer and audience. You can only rely on your craft."
That statement hit me like a revelation. Mike and I were exploring the same territory from opposite shores—I through innovation systems and organizational change, he through operatic performance.
This unexpected connection sparked an idea: what might we discover by bringing these worlds together? What could innovation practitioners learn from the embodied mastery of opera? What might performing artists gain from understanding systems of innovation?
The Collaboration
I'm excited to announce that Mike and I will be collaborating on a special exploration thread on "The Mastery and Pursuit of Excellence." We'll be examining excellence across our disparate fields, looking for the universal patterns that transcend domain boundaries.
For those innovation practitioners and change agents following this newsletter, this collaboration promises fresh perspectives on how mastery manifests beyond frameworks and methodologies—showing us what remains essentially human even as technology transforms our work.
Stay tuned. Sometimes the most valuable discoveries come from the most unexpected connections.
— Yarmo Covich