Inner Voice of the Orchestra

Our intrapersonal intelligence’s an inner voice.. sort of a running commentary playing in our head throughout the day. Like the viola section in an orchestra – “inner voice” is quietly there. Yet it “plays a key role in the texture and feel of the music” that sings through our daily activities. What kind of music is your inner voice playing?

Cynthia Phelps, principal violist at the New York Philharmonic Orchestra makes fun links between a viola section and Inner Voice. Cynthia's insightful comments help us picture how the Intrapersonal Intelligence operates...

It's subtle but it's exciting, and it's the kind of thing that is great about being an inner voice, she says. You have a lot of control over how you allow the tune to be played.

The intrapersonal intelligence is the well of a person’s life and we’re the conductors of – experience, emotion, intellect.. . People move their bow in sync with selections or myriad thoughts processed during the course of a day.

Cynthia said, Often times, a conductor will just lean down and mutter something while he's in the middle of traffic-copping everything else, and it's up to me to translate it to the very back stand to make sure they heard it.

Translating is akin to creating. We create who we are, whether that be brassy, blaring, blushing, bumbling, bombastic, burdensome...you get the picture.

She add...A lot of what I have to say has to do with how our rhythm is fitting into the texture of the group.

From the intrapersonal, we decide to be competitive, condescending, cooperative, contentious, conforming, crabby, consoling...

In Cynthia's words...I try and create a balanced middle ground, Phelps added. It really resonates with the way I am as an individual.

As leader of her section, Phelps plays the role of a mediator of sorts. What you think about and do daily shapes who you are until you become the person others see in you. How's your leadership shaping up today?