The Greatest Conductors

"The great leaders are like the best conductors - they reach beyond the notes to reach the magic in the players." - Blaine Lee

Good morning all,

The list of great conductors is long, and likely controversial – but names like Leonard Bernstein, Claudio Abbado, Simon Rattle and Arturo Toscanini would certainly be considered in that realm of great. Whether lovers of music or not, we all have engrained in our heads a vision of a conductor, bringing together the various sections of an orchestra to create amazing music. As we seek to live our lives, and lead others, our most important task is to “conduct” our actions.

In this discussion, we won’t focus on leading others, but instead will focus on leading ourselves – conducting ourselves – finding the right balance, order, rhythm and harmony to bring out the magic that lies within each of us. The image of a conductor is quite helpful for me, as I see the physical movements, the actions, the body language they use to accomplish their task, it helps remind me that conducting our lives is quite different than merely living our lives. All too often, we get stuck “just living”, going from action to action, task to task, day to day – without consistent thought about what we are doing and how we are doing it.

To bring out our magic, as we discussed yesterday, we need to train ourselves to think often about our “how” – the balance, order, rhythm and harmony we apply to our emotions, energy, thoughts and time to shape our actions. Yes, planning our actions helps us prepare to bring the right balance to specific situations, but the most important thing we can do is appreciate and learn that there are different blends for different moments. Next week, we will start focusing on the “spectrum” for each one of the Four Forces, but for right now, let’s just focus on the reality that there is a spectrum for each of the forces and that different combinations will yield different experiences and outcomes.

If we can accept that reality, than we can accept the reality that we must actively “conduct” the forces in our lives, and that will help open up our minds to understanding and appreciating those forces. Will live currently in a world of great turmoil, but also a world with tremendous opportunity, and so much hope that we can find that better tomorrow. But to bring that hope to life, each of us must bring to life the magic within us – just as great conductors bring to life the amazing notes from their orchestras. It’s not about living, it’s about making magic.