Symphony at the Metro

This is a great story the Washington Post ran last week. They setup a world class violinist in the Metro to play some of the finest classical music on one of the most expensive violins in the world. Their goal - see how many people would pay attention and for how long.

Their assumption was that a lot of people would immediately recognize this famous violinist and a crowd would quickly form. At bare minimum people would appreciate the quality of the music they were hearing and stop to listen. They were wrong.

In the 43 minutes he played, 1,097 people passed by. Only 34 total people paused what they were doing to give him some change or stop and listen - most only for a minute or less.

Average cost of one ticket to see this violinist play at the symphony: $100. In a little over a half hour at the Metro people gave him change totaling $32.

The lesson here is simple - if you aren't presenting your best at the right time and place, no one will recognize it as excellent. This is true whether you are trying to pitch ideas to a client or trying to pitch your boss on giving you a raise. Greatness in the wrong context will simply fall on deaf ears.

To see the full article, including videos of the violinist at the Metro, click here.