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 Great Leaders Are Like Orchestra Conductors

By Shlomo Maital

      My wife and I recently enjoyed a Jerusalem Camerata concert, with a British guest conductor named Paul Goodwin.   The last piece was Josef Haydn’s Symphony #83 in G minor.  It was brilliant.  The orchestra played its heart out. The conductor’s leadership was spirited, energetic, and his body language interpreted the music, for his orchestra and for his audience.

          It occurred to me that quality leadership in strong leaders resembles conducting an orchestra.  For some conductors, who use distracting histrionics, it is all about them.  Just like egoistic leaders, who generally fail. 

           Because – strong leadership is about getting your followers to excel – to do amazing things way beyond what they think they can, what they are generally capable of, what they believe.  Great conductors make their orchestra members want to play beautifully, at the top of their games.  That was what we saw on Monday evening. An orchestra in top form, because they were motivated to be so by the conductor Paul Goodsin.  Even though it was the fifth time they were playing this concert (concerts in Israel are often played six times, in different cities, in order to pay for the guest soloists and conductors).   They played it, with excellence, and freshness, as if it was the first time.

          Great leaders are like conductors.  At the end, with rapt applause, the conductor made sure to focus on the orchestra members, asking groups to stand (concert master, violins, percussion, woodwinds, bass violins….) for applause.  It is pretty easy to tell which conductors have the love and respect of their musicians, who play their hearts out for them, and which have their players going through the motions, for this egomaniac jumping around on stage to gain all the attention.

          How many world leaders are there, who resemble great orchestra conductors?  And, is it my imagination, or are the egomaniac leaders mainly men, and the ‘it’s about you not me’ leaders are mainly women?  Not to mention names, but,   Trump, Trudeau, Putin, Xi Jin Ping, Kim Jong Un, Viktor Mihály Orbán….Netanyahu….