Bosses take the baton to learn about teamwork
CEOs recently discovered that harmony and hitting high notes is as vital to business as it is to music
To the uninitiated, an orchestra conductor appears somewhat superfluous — a figurehead leading a group that already knows what it’s doing. But that kind of thinking is like expecting a company to perform without a CEO to guide its pace and direction. There are so many parallels between running a business and leading an orchestra that CEOs were invited to try their hand at being a conductor as part of the Johannesburg International Mozart Festival this month. It was an afternoon of entertainment with a few lessons woven through as business leaders had fun stepping out of their comfort zones. Six CEOs had each chosen a favourite composition and top conductor Richard Cock gave them some private lessons in keeping the beat. Then it was show time, in front of an orchestra of 35 musicians and an audience at the Linder Auditorium. There were plenty of jokes to hide the jitters. "Conducting an orchestra is a whole process. We all have to be in tune with each other and playing from the same ...
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