Rich Coburn

Tactical Creativity

Pronouns: he/him/his

I began my career playing piano and organ, and collaborating with singers purely
for the fun of it. But at some point I realized that I wanted to understand how I could use
music—and the skills I had learned practicing it—to address larger issues that were
important to me.

It seemed to me that our biggest obstacle in solving large-scale problems—racial
equality, climate change, anything related to politics—usually has nothing to do with the
problems themselves. It is usually us that holds us back. When we feel threatened, we
struggle to hear others openly and honestly evaluate their. We get so focused on
overpowering their ideas that we lose our ability to think creatively, and to be inspired to
novel solutions.

So I studied mediation to learn about conflict resolution. I volunteered at a suicide
hotline to learn about changing people’s perspectives. I considered how my own
experiences collaborating with musicians of different backgrounds and ideas, often in
high-stress conditions, fit with what I was learning elsewhere.

Today I still love making music for fun. I also help my students at McGill
University and across North America understand how they can collaborate better with
others, and encourage creativity even under stress.