What We Can Learn About Leadership From Conducting

This is an absolutely delightful contemplation on leadership through the eyes of a orchestra conductor. 

Think about the dynamics such a person must master . . .

There is the responsibility to the composer, perhaps a minor one, perhaps one like Mozart who takes tea with the Gods.

There are the musicians, each of whom have a story to tell, a skill to display, a wellspring from which to draw.  How to bring those stories together?  How to highlight this one just so? 

And of course there is you, the conductor, with your story, your experiences, your beliefs about structure, process, control, meaning, and more. 

As Talgam points out, there isn’t a single way.  In fact, if you as a musician had the opportunity to play for more than one great conductor, you might find their differences in approach maddening. But by some means, they each are able to bring together and balance the seeming tensions to bring out the best in the individual story teller / musicians, the meaning they find in the music, all within the structure and integrity provided by the composer (who may be centuries gone).  Wonderful.