The Sospiro System
The Sospiro System teaches the techniques that professional musical performers use to work at optimum level under intense pressure, and transforms those skills into practical solutions for the challenges of contemporary business.
The Sospiro Performer
Working with the Sospiro System, leaders can achieve more in less time and invigorate themselves and their teams. They can become Sospiro performers.
Sospiro performers;
- are as effective under stress as when they are relaxed
- have a calm and poise that is an example to others
- seem to have energy to spare
They are people who have developed an ease with themselves and their roles. Like professional musicians, they have highly developed technical skills, but also a composure and self awareness that allows them to think clearly and act wisely under pressure; they can lead a group of disparate people through turbulent times, as a conductor leads an orchestra through an intricate symphony; they anticipate problems intuitively and can improvise effective solutions like an expert jazz musician; they can connect with their team to create an atmosphere for ideas to flow like a great string quartet. They persuade and influence through the genuine power that comes with working with the Sospiro System.
The Link to the Renaissance
The two essential qualities of successful people were defined more clearly in the Renaissance than they are today. They were:
- a profound knowledge of your chosen profession
- an ease and persuasiveness in communicating it to all
Successfully embodied into a dynamic whole, these complementary skills represented charisma, and were taught as prerequisites for aspirants to any leading role in politics, high-level business or entertainment -- where the ability to influence, capture an audience or lead other people was an essential part of everyday life.
As time has passed, the relevance of these concepts to the world outside musical performance has been lost, and with the Sospiro System, John Harle has reconnected them with business and the professions -- where they rightly belong, and for which they were also originally intended. It is the rebirth of the Renaissance performance ideal, through the proven channel of music.
Renaissance Ideals
In the Renaissance, the highest level of audience engagement was called grazia, or grace. It meant complete connection between performer and audience. Grazia was not always attainable, even by seasoned performers. To achieve grazia, the performer needed to have two fundamental skills:
- decoro -- rational skills (technique, discipline and knowledge).
- sprezzatura -- emotional skills (ease, impact and persuasiveness).
Today, in the Sospiro System we use these terms. It's our shorthand. With practice and experience, decoro and sprezzatura merge to reveal both our authentic selves and our true performance power.
