Benjamin Zander on music and passion

    I like classical music, but I don't think I always understand it.  I think I would be the person elbowing my sleeping companion and saying "Wake up! It's culture!" but I don't actually have a clue as to what that really means.  I think it's beautiful and inspired but I am also the kind of person who listens to it for a few minutes and then starts drifting off and thinking about summer vacation.  So I really appreciated Zander's passion and his cheerful, unwavering belief that "classical music is for everybody. Everybody."  It gives me hope that even though I could never get into Juilliard, I am still entitled to enjoy classical music and have it be a part of my life.   

     Now! On to discussing leadership and all that jazz (ha! like...music...).  I think the two most important quotes from Zander's speech were, "It's one of the characteristics of a leader that he not doubt for one moment the capacity of the people he's leading to realize whatever he's dreaming" and, "I realized my job was to awaken possibility in other people."  The first is an interesting idea that’s relatively new to me.  I don’t know if I’ve ever thought about measuring leaders by the extent of their faith in people they are leading, but it’s an excellent measuring tool.  If you, as the figurehead of a movement/company/idea don’t believe in your followers, how are they supposed to believe in themselves?  You have to “awaken possibility” in your people; you have to help show them their own potential. I loved when he talked about seeing the “sparkling eyes” of his students and his audiences, and how that was another measure of success for him.  Because, if you’re not making people love what they do, you need to stop and reconsider your course of action.