Lead like the Great Conductors

In my first blog post, I will respond to Itay Talgam's TEDtalk "Lead like the Great Conductors."

I thought Mr. Talgam's TEDtalk to be rather interesting and fun to watch, especially from a musician's point of view. But it's easy to lose sight that this talk is more about leadership, and less about music. Music, and more specifically conducting, is the form of delivery here to demonstrate types of leadership.

Mr. Talgam's talk is engaging, humorous and makes great points. It took me a while to catch on where he was going with everything, but as it approached the end I had my "ah-ha" moment with it. I loved how we were shown many different extremes to leadership, especially with Muti. Then we discover that perhaps the merriment of a combined effort that was open, yet strict, and graceful, yet firm was the best way to promote a sense of teamwork between the leader and "followers." I think that's a great point to make, and framing it in the musical context was helpful. As a teacher and leader through my cadet experiences, I have always considered reaching goals with a group to be a combined effort. The leader needs to make some decisions and keep people in line, but the actual work is enabling others to do what they need to do.

I love TEDtalks and the great speakers they always have. Hope to have the chance to respond to another.