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Roger Nierenberg on leading by listening
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Roger Nierenberg
Nierenberg is a distinguished conductor of major symphony orchestras throughout the world. He is also the author of Maestro: the Surprising Story About Leading by Listening in which he suggests all manner of parallels between a CEO and a symphony conductor.
In my opinion, Maestro is the best book on the essence of leadership that I have read in recent years. Nierenberg provides the material in the form of a business narrative, a sub genre that writers handle effectively (he does) and the basic situation is quite simple: a senior-level executive is struggling without much success to be an effective leader. He overhears his daughter's violin teacher, Robert, raving about the new conductor of the local orchestra in which he plays. "He's got this rare ability of getting headstrong and independent people like us [i.e. members of the orchestra] to set aside our differences and work toward making the music come alive." Robert invites the executive to attend a rehearsal and observe the conductor at work. It would be inappropriate for me to reveal (or even summarize) what happens after that. Suffice to say that, over time, the executive gains an understanding of what effective leadership is...and isn't.
Consider this excerpt when the unnamed conductor shares his thoughts about the importance of leadership with members of an audience that has just observed him and his orchestra perform:
“All of you know that there are times when we leaders try to change things. We announce an initiative, we explain it, we take questions, we send our reminders. Then six months later nothing has changed.
“It’s very tempting to believe that leadership is a fiction: that leadership really doesn’t work. Leadership doesn’t make a small difference…it makes all the difference in the world. Though the notes were the same [when he conducted as when previously the orchestra played without him at the podium], there was a oneness, a focus, an alignment that took place, and everyone knew it.
“If you’re a leader, if you stand on the podium, if you hold in your hand a baton, then it falls on your shoulders to make the remarkable happen. You mustn’t settle for a series of satisfactory transactions. You can elevate your team to heights beyond their wildest imagination. Now that you have been in this room and seen this happen you can never quite let yourself off the hook in the same way again.”
Obviously, I think highly of Maestro. I envy anyone who has not as yet read it.
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