Hallelujah and the Parallels to the Innovation Journey

Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” gives me goose bumps every single time I hear it. Regardless of the singer (Cohen, Jeff Buckley, KD Lang, Rufus Wainwright) the song evokes such a strong physical and emotional reaction that I call it a perfect song.

However, I recently read a Music Industry Blog called Kanye West, Leonard Cohen And Death Of The Creative Full Stop, that describes how “Hallelujah” was far from perfect when it was first recorded. It actually went through a timeline that parallels Accenture’s Innovation Journey.

Enhance:

Innovation Journey Definition:

Incremental enhancements that deliver value in the “here and now”.

It turns out that “Hallelujah” started out as a mediocre track on Cohen’s 1984 album called “Various Positions” that Cohen’s own label refused to release. As the blog states “The magic in the song was all but invisible at this stage.”

However, Cohen, the keen musical inventor, does not give up on the song and spends a few years tinkering with it by slowing it down, changing verses and making it even darker.

Comparing this to our Innovation Journey, Cohen is in the “Enhance stage”. He is enhancing the original idea in the song. He sees the potential and is making incremental enhancements that are going to deliver what will be a glorious song.

Disrupt:

Innovation Journey Definition:

Innovation that challenges the norm and introducing new ideas to address the challenges of tomorrow.

After all Cohen’s enhancements, John Cale (co-founder of the Velvet Underground) sees Cohen playing the reworked version and asks Cohen to send him the lyrics so he can record his own version of the song. Cale goes through the 15 pages of reworked lyrics and picks out the cheekiest ones and Cale’s recording becomes the arrangement which has become the standard of the song.

Back to our Innovation Journey, Cale challenges the norm with his new ideas: he introduces a new tempo, revises the lyrics and the song evolves into the version we know today.

The story isn’t over yet, the song has yet to find its commercial success and we continue on its journey.

Reinvent:

Innovation Journey Definition:

Innovation that pivots an industry “to the new” and unlocks the next generation of value.

Through some divine coincidence, Jeff Buckley stumbles upon Cale’s recording on an obscure tribute album while housesitting. Buckley is blown away and instantly performs his take on Cale’s version. Buckley’s A&R man hears Buckley’s version, is equally blown away and Buckley records it on his only studio album – 1994’s “Grace”. The rest is musical history.

In parallel to our Innovation Journey, the song is essentially pivoted “to the new”…Buckley unlocks the next generation of value for listeners. The world is immediately connected to the song and it becomes one of the most covered songs of all time. Insert goose bumps here.