Cesaria Evora just passed away last month. So much poetry gone with this very special lady… So much depth, too, and life learnings. Just the perfect combination to inspire a short tribute to this great artist.  Why am I convinced she’s a source of learnings for everyone’s work life?

Take a small island, lots of music and someone special…

Here is why – Cesaria Evora can inspire any of us to understand and work on some really important things.

• Own your roots. There was a 48 hours national mourning period declared upon her death in Cabo Verde. Without any doubts, Cesaria Evora was one of the best ambassadors of this unique country. Her music, her style and the words she chose built on the incredible wealth of this island’s cultural heritage. Zouk, fado, coladeras, Arabic tones – she owned and leveraged all the ingredients of her culture.

What about you? Where do you come from? What are the unique elements which make up your identity? How do you integrate them into your daily work? How do you build on them to get strength, create, contribute and lead?

You get a work life lesson by Cesaria Evora

• Get up yet again. It’s pretty rare to go through life without being knocked down a few times.  Cesaria Evora grew up in a poor family, started singing and building a life around music in the late 1950′s and early 1960′s. The story goes that harsh times kept her down pretty much from the mid 1970′s to 1984.  Some key encounters. Music. Singing, singing and singing again – she got back on her feet and experienced international fame, collaborations with the greatest artists and a loving audience.

Have you been knocked down a few times? What is it that helped you get up again? Are you making sure these precious elements are well appreciated and fully part of your life? How persistent and patient are you? What could you do to increase your resilience?

Own your roots • Get up yet again • Be open to encounters • Build on your talents

• Be open to encounters. 1984 – the state women’s organization gets in touch with Cesaria Evora and convinces her to sing again and record a song on an album. She agrees. She slowly recovers. 1987 – Cesaria Evora is singing in Lisbon and meets a new fan. Jose Da Silva, a young employee with the French train company SNCF. A fan so enthusiastic, smart and dedicated he offers to be her manager. She agrees. She enters the international and most successful phase of her career.

How often do you meet new people? Does your job create interesting opportunities for new encounters? How attentive and open are you towards strangers? When was the last time you engaged in some real exchange with someone you don’t know too well?

• Build on your talents. I remember a concert by Cesaria Evora in Berlin, at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt. She seemed to be somewhere else, somewhere between dreaming, flying and singing. Yet believe me she was in tune. In rythm. Fully with her musicians. And powerfully taking the audience with her. She was exactly 57 year-old by then, or in other words a professional singer with 43 years of work experience.

What are you key talents? Those 2, 3 things you are really good at? How well do you take care of them? How often do you use them in your work? How often do you learn new things in these areas? What else could you do?