Useful Metaphor

Here’s a useful metaphor (courtesy of Seth Godin)…

Orchestra conductors are often judged for an hour or two on stage. They wear expensive clothes, make dramatic gestures and receive ovations. They also get paid a lot to carry a very little stick, and they’re the only one on stage who doesn’t make noise.

But it turns out that none of these things are what makes a great conductor.

What we’re not seeing:

• Conductors set the agenda.
• They have done the reading and understand what has come before.
• They work to establish the culture of the organization.
• They amplify the hard work and esprit de corps of some, while working to damp down the skeptics within the organization.
• They figure out which voices to focus on, when.
• They have less power than it appears, and use their position to lead, not manage.
• They show up to rehearsal with an agenda and a path forward.
• They raise money.
• They transform a lot of ‘me’s’ into one ‘us’.
• They develop a point of view. And they balance it with what the listener, the patron and the musicians all need.
• They stick with it for decades.

Leadership is largely about the hard work that happens in private to produce the few moments that are seen on stage.

Whether you are creating a new organization, or renovating an under-performing one, or redesigning one that is doing OK now but is poorly positioned for the future, it’s all about doing the heavy work of actually leading, for a change.

Doing work that matters for people who care.