Learnings from a Symphony Conductor

ACTION is the foundational key to all success - Pablo Picasso.

Last week I got an opportunity to attend a Spring Concert in London where one of my friend’s daughters performed. She was simply outstanding, delivering 45 minutes of non-stop music. I observed and learned a lot in the 2-hour performance by the wonderful Orchestra run by students, who delivered a perfect Symphony with the guidance of their talented, yet humble Conductor.

What I wondered was that the Conductor collaborated with close to 75 performers, mixing 15+ instrument categories to deliver a perfect symphony for around 500 audiences gathered in the auditorium, without the need to even speak a single word.

In my view, few Learnings from the Orchestra & the Conductor for us, in our Corporate life:

• Focus & Collaboration: Every artist was focussing on their deliverables seamlessly, without any follow-ups, yet collaborating wonderfully with everyone, ensuring they play their part effectively.?So, one need not even walk the extra mile but can simply effectively and collaboratively do the job to deliver WoW to our clients.?
• Vision, Engagement & Ownership: The Conductor may be a generalist, but what a hands & eyes coordination who not only shows the vision but continuously Engages with the 75 performers seamlessly every second till the final Delivery with the utmost attention.??
• Dedication, Detail-Oriented Approach & Deliberate Practice: Some of the performances went on for 45 minutes non-stop.?One can understand the dedication, deliberate practice, and focus that went into delivering the minutest composition between the artists.
• Listening & Staying in the present moment: Every performer in the Orchestra was waiting for their turn, not jumping in between ensuring they are not impacting others' thoughts or performance while listening attentively to perform better and more importantly not multitasking. At the same time, appreciating each other’s role, seeing it as a compliment to elevate the performance rather than seeing it as competition with a single-minded approach.?
• Accountability with Humility: The Conductor was shouldering the complete accountability of the team without any blame games and standing for 2 hours while his team was sitting & doing their job! ?

And, many more learnings!

Talk less, deliver more!