I have been lucky enough to sit in the 4th row (the first one filled with people) of the seminar “Leadership and finance” which turned to be just awesome. Two hours of leadership (without finance :-)) and as the cherry on the top a video from Ben Zander. Ben Zander is the conductor of Boston Philharmonic. And the way he learned to lead people in orchestras is pretty much apliable to one´s personal life or performance of businesses. By playing according to his notes you might be more successful both personally and professionally. I would like to highlight two of his insights catched in the following video.
1) Universe of possibility
It´s all about your point of view. The same thing can be a disaster or a glorious opportunity. It´s much better to see the world of opportunities then to fell into the world of disasters. Ben Zander gives on this topic a great expamle – different approaches of two business men in Africa. Their evaluation if there´s a potential market place for a manufacturer of shoes is following:
Situation hopeless, stop, they don´t wear shoes. / Glorious opportunity, they don´t have any shoes yet.
And it´s just up to you which attitude / world to live you choose.
2) Long term vision
It´s all about having a vision. A long-term vision changes your approach to the world of possibilities. It lets involve you others. It´s about working together to reach common goals. It´s about suceeding by making others powerful.
To this I would add more remarks from his other videos.
3) Cosmic laughter
It´s all invented. The world around us invents rules and limitations and orders and statuses and … but it´s all just made up. When you realize this, you ´ll experience the cosmic laughter. You will find out that it doesn´t matter if you have 68 points out of 70 or a grade A. The hidden assumptions decide what we can observe. The invented theory limits us to see the possibilities surrounding us.
4) Giving an A grade
By expecting everybody to excell, you enhance the people´s potential. You make them feel powerful and raises their desire to contribute to others no matter how big or perfect their contribution can be.
Klara writes 