The Relevance of Music in Business Transformation

I have to tell you about a recent experience I had listening to the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) talk about how to engage employees during a business transformation. If you're like me, you're probably thinking, "Wait... did he just say that an orchestra conductor was talking about employee engagement?!??"

Ben Zander (www.benjaminzander.com) has been the conductor of the BPO since it formed more than 25 years ago. But in addition to being an accomplished conductor, composer, and musician Ben Zander has spoken to hundreds of business prefessionals and executives on the topic of leadership and engagement. I've listened to my share of "motivational" speakers over the years, but that's not what Ben is. He uses stories, music and musical concepts to get business professionals thinking differently about their immediate surroundings and how to become powerful leaders. Perhaps the best way to think about it is that as a conductor, Ben is the only person in the orchestra who isn't playing an instrument. In fact, he has the massive task of getting every individual member of the orchestra to perform in a way that makes the "whole group" work together to create beautiful music. Using the metaphor of the orchestra and his years of coaching and teaching experience, he demonstrates how he works with musicians to overcome barriers to corporate productivity. Listening to him talk, it's quite remarkable how his stories can be applied to the everyday business world - and helping employees overcome the barriers they face in productivity.

One of the most precious moments in the presentation was when Ben actually coached a live performance of a cellist - coaching him how to play a piece of music. The student played the piece in its entirety to start - and then Ben spent about 15 minutes working on phrasing and the mood behind the piece. He talked about what the composer was writing about when he wrote the piece of music and asked the student how he would express that knowing what the composer was thinking. At the end of the 15 minutes, the student played the piece of music again, and the transformation was remarkable. It sounded like a different piece of music altogether.

If you work for a company that is looking someone to help empower the senior members of your organization to lead and coach, words can hardly express how wonderful Ben is. Please check out his work at http://www.benjaminzander.com/.