929. Helping His Brothers Discover the Road Less Traveled

Yaron Engler

“I did want to continue to be a musician, but to just go and do gigs and do weddings was really not my thing. I love to work in theater. I love the whole creation and the craziness and the lights and the whole madness of that. Playing music, as I said, became a tool for expression for me. It was no longer the goal.”

Yaron Engler delivers one-on-one and group coaching programs that are based on his CROP method. The focus is on men who are entrepreneurs or those who work in leadership roles. Yaron has a vast experience working with large groups of people from different countries and cultures. His direct, playful and honest approach inspires and motivates his clients and audience to create simple positive changes that lead to growth and well-being. He is also a professional drummer who has performed in front of over 500,000 people all around the world and he is a Summa Cum Laude graduate from Berklee College of Music.

The Most Impactful Turning Point?

“It was clear to me that if I want to pursue my career, I need to move to Tel Aviv. That is when I started to get gigs and I started to become more independent with my music. I played with a lot of different projects and bands. One of the biggest projects was a children’s show that I did with a tap dancer. I played drums and acted. We did the shows in schools and it was super successful. That show actually is a big part of my story because, what we did was to show people how, by listening to the rhythm of another person, we can really connect much more on a human level. It was beautiful to see six-year-old, eight-year-old, 10-year-old kids coming on stage. A lot of it was improvised so we didn’t really know what would happen on stage with the kids, but they showed the audtiences, teachers or parents how wise they are on a human level. And that part has stuck with me forever. I made a big, big career after that as a musician, but it’s these shows that were a massive milestone, for sure.”

The Most Powerful Lessons and Experiences?

1. “Around age 15 or 16, I was all about drumming. I started to perform in a band. And when I was about to leave high school, the biggest band in my city of Haifa did an audition for a drummer. I decided to go for the audition and they took me on board. That was amazing because, just when I started to run with this band, cable TV in Israel started a big competition of young rock bands. And we went as a band and won the competition, which was live on TV. It was really exciting. And then we got a record deal and so on!”

2. “For me, it was really, really powerful to get into a project like the one I did in schools, because I love using music as a tool. Until then music for me was kind of the goal, to go and perform and play music. From that point on, music for me became a tool to connect people, to connect on a human level. And I loved that. I loved going on stage for the first time. Before this the drum for me was like a war between me and the audience. That show taught me to be brave and go out and speak to people. And see the impact of art, the power of reason and the natural wisdom we have as human beings.”

3. ”I probably had done about 200 shows when I got offered a scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. I had to make a big decision, being already quite successful as a musician in Tel Aviv and having connections and being established. Do I accept that scholarship and go to Berklee? Or am I staying here in Tel Aviv? I made the decision to go. For me, going to Berklee after being a really horrible student in high school, was a massive big deal. I was scared. Berklee is considered to be one of the best. Am I good enough?’ But in the end, it was quite good.” (Yaron graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2003 and still has the photo of Steven Tyler from Aerosmith handing him his diploma.)

4. “I started to tour like crazy. There was no point in paying rent; we were just constantly on plane flights. It was to the point where I would come to an airport and give my passport and they asked me, where are you going? I had no idea. I had to look for the tour manager to ask him. There were months of touring everywhere, literally everywhere, and it was amazing and really beautiful, but we were also really tired. You know, when you have to be on stage in front of 2,000 people and your body is at 4:00 AM and wants to sleep? But yeah, I’m very grateful I had the chance to be literally all over the world and in places where I had not thought I would be performing, like Sydney Opera House, the Barbicon in London, and performing in Brazil, Japan, New Zealand, wherever…. And it has been a lot of fun.”

5. “I have seen, through my work, a lot of good men who in their core are good, but they’re confused. They didn’t have the right role models. They’re coming from all these systems. If I can provide, to the best of my ability, a space for these men to open up, to connect and to discover who they are so that they can be more in this world in a very different and more beautiful way, then this is my goal. So I’m doing it with my one-to-one clients. I’m doing it with my groups. But I have a much bigger vision to deliver the method that I’ve created, which I call CROP. I want to reach as many people and boys as I can–if it’s in schools, if it’s in prisons, if it’s wherever. I wouldn’t have a lot of support from people at first, but it will happen gradually. And that’s my biggest vision.”