What Kenny G Can Teach Us about Corporate Team Building

I admit it – I like Kenny G.

In fact, as a lifelong sax player, I’ve always liked Kenny G. Coming of age during Mr. G’s high water marks in the 80s & 90s, thousands of music students out there – myself included – were introduced via radio & VH1 to his sound and style on the sax that was different from anything we’d heard before: a woodwind player, being featured on pop music stations for Pete’s sake!

And I liked it.

Oh, save your ridicule – I’ve heard it all before, and I’m not ashamed of it. I like the guy’s music, and we’ll just leave it at that. Love him or hate him, however, Kenny G is actually the embodiment of all things which, when combined, make for positive employee team building experiences.

Just what the heck am I talking about? Consider this:

1. Pop culture – Especially as related to trivia team building activities, people love all things pop culture – it’s a common thread, something which binds staff across ages, departments & managerial levels. Regardless of your opinion of him, Kenny G is a pop culture icon: his look, his sound, his style are all familiar. I mean really, he doesn’t even need a last name (it’s Gorelick, in case you’re wondering).

1. Strong Opinions – Poor Kenny has been the brunt of just about every joke, insult and taunt out there. People who know me know that I will stick up for the guy, but by and large, mention his name and it can get pretty ugly (I recently saw the man himself in a restaurant bar, standing right behind my friend – I got all excited. My friend, a musician, deliberately kept his back to him. Ouch.). With corporate team building activities, the goal is also to stoke those emotional embers among your staff – not to get them to argue, mind you, but to get their passions fired up. The office has a muting tendency on peoples’ true emotions, and this is a chance to let people reveal something about themselves.

1. Nostalgia – The nostalgia factor plays a huge role in creating positive group bonding experiences. Get a group of people to start fondly (or disparagingly) talking about a long-forgotten person, place or thing which they all remember, and you will have found the gold which makes team building events effective. For many of your staff, thinking of Kenny G is to transport them back in time to a younger age and place in their lives – which is just what you want them to do.

1. Humor – Hey, what can I say, Kenny G makes people laugh. Mention the name, and people chuckle (he’s even gotten in on the game recently, making a humorous Super Bowl commercial poking fun at himself, as well as other viral videos.) Any time you can inject humor into a team building event is time well spent; people love to laugh, and getting a group of coworkers to laugh together is gold.

Few things can bring a disparate group of people together as quickly and enjoyably as nostalgic pop culture, doused with humor and passionate emotion. In my opinion, Kenny G fits the bill perfectly, and is the ideal mascot for what a corporate team building activity should be.

Do you think my analogy is “sharp,” or am I playing completely off-key? Share your thoughts below!