Leadership Notes

My grandfather used to work as a carpenter for La Scala theatre in Milan and he was constantly taking home the opera’s libretti. No wonder my mother grew up incredibly passionate about classical music. I am not a connoisseur or an enthusiast, but orchestra conductors have always fascinated me.

They lead in silence, sometimes with imperceptible movements, a large team of professionals. They have a clear vision for each piece of music. The musical score they have provides the detailed, line-by-line road map of what each musician should be doing at any given moment in the performance. Additionally, the conductor has his personal vision of how the performance should sound plus their emotional interpretation of the music. They are musicians, but they never step in and actually play an instrument, they stick to their part as their colleague musicians do.

I’ve always looked at orchestra conductors as great examples of leadership and it was a true pleasure to share the stage with Daniele Agiman a few days ago during an event organised by ‘Fior di risorse’. Daniele is professor of the Giuseppe Verdi Milan Conservatory and chief conductor of the Gioachino Rossini Symphony Orchestra in Pesaro. He made his debut during the conference quoting Hans Swaroswky, once professor of conducting at the Vienna Music Academy, his students including Claudio Abbado and Zubin Mehta. The Austrian professor used to state during his first lesson: “70% of the conductors lowers the quality level of the orchestra, 20% maintains the existing level and only 10% is able to take it to another level.”

I find what Mr Swaroswky used to point out particularly true when I think about our everyday conductors: the managerial class.

Everybody wants to manages these days, but very few for the right reasons and a true vocation. Managerial roles are well paid, their power and status look quite appealing to most candidates. We also tend to promote people to these type of positions not because they can successfully lead a team, but because they are very good at what they do. So the best engineer becomes the leader of the engineers, the best salesman becomes the head of sales, the best designer becomes a creative director. This system proves to be quite popular in many companies, but it’s very weak too.

If you are the best at what you are doing infact you will try to keep doing it, constantly interfering in the work of the team you are supposed to lead. There will be very little room for mistakes and growth, the secrets of the trade will remain secrets and nobody will benefit from the talents, the experience and the knowledge acquired across a long career.

Leadership is not a destination, it's a journey. It's a set of skills, attitudes and behaviours that need to be practiced, honed and mastered with your people in mind. In collaborative organisations more and more people-oriented managers are needed. Leaders should be the “connective tissue” of the organisation with their ability to identify, enhance and develop talent and skills that otherwise would sit at the margins of the company. As good conductors, they should take their orchestra to another level, not lower it.