Rock-ing it

Musician and life coach Jonathan Sequeira chats with NT BUZZ about his recently released second book ‘Life Lessons From When I Was In A Rock Band’

DANUSKA DA GAMA | NT BUZZ

After quitting his career in HR (Human Resources) in the five-star hotel industry, Jonathan Sequeira went on to co-found his firm Yomorebi that provides hospitality solutions and leadership development. He now coaches and develops people across a spectrum of fields from hospitality, corporates, colleges, entertainment, and the armed forces.

Side by side, he has slowly been making inroads in the writing world. After his first psychological thriller ‘Pseudo’ set in an Indian metropolitan city and in Goa, his new second book, ‘Life Lessons from When I Was In A Rock Band’ draws from his life lessons learned from his stint in the rock band, along with examples of other leading rock bands and their performances.

He chose the title ‘Life Lessons From When I Was In A Rock Band’ as it was apt from his perspective of actually performing in a rock band and being in a leadership position at the same time.

Q. When did you decide you were going to pen a full-fledged book?

While working at music-themed hotel as learning and development manager, I also performed with the resident rock band every week. One day after we set up our instruments it started to rain. As we hurriedly rushed to cover all equipment, I thought that work environments and life itself is unpredictable and requires us to roll with the punches. That’s when I started noting down similarities between the rock performances and everyday work life which later began taking the shape of a self-help and leadership book.

Q. So how did things progress from there?

A thought in itself is worthless unless acted upon. Once I started my journey of documenting similarities, I grouped them under various headers such as joining a band, instrumental injuries, technical difficulties, and so on and these later became my chapter titles. The most interesting facet of the book apart from the storyline was the first-hand interviews of amazing Indian bands such as ‘Indian Ocean’, ‘Parikrama’, ‘Best Kept Secret’, ‘Girish And The Chronicles’, ‘A26’, ‘Forefront’, ‘Alcatrazz’ and ‘Fish Tank’. It was incredible listening to their stories and how they linked to the chapters in the storyline.

Q. Music as a theme is all good, but how did the storyline develop then?

‘Life Lessons From When I Was In A Rock Band’ is a self-help and leadership book that revolves around workplace culture and life that everyone experiences. It is important for people to not just work, but ROCK at work and in life. It could be the way they start something new, their relationships with their team, the way they approach projects and deadlines, issues and confrontations at work or in life, people leaving teams, and so on.

My book ratifies the point that living on auto-mode is not the way ahead, but ROCK-ing every moment is.

Q. This is your second publication. Tell us about your apprehensions and expectations?

Apprehensions, there are none. My expectations are that the ideas and lessons in the book will be of help to all people starting their first job, taking on new projects, or making transitions during their careers. The ROCK Instrument detailed in the book is a tool that can help individuals grow by deep-diving into how they currently function and can actually be used as a tool that showcases how impactful people are in their interactions.

Q. What’s next after ‘Life Lessons From When I Was In A Rock Band’?

‘Life Lessons From When I Was In A Rock Band’ is the first book in a life lessons self-help book series.