Leadership in Business, Innovation and Art: Lessons Learnt from an Orchestra Conductor

Abstract

Among the key challenges facing today’s business organizations is that of ongoing innovation for survival. To meet this challenge, new skills for effective leadership are required: knowledge workers need to be creative and entrepreneurial. Leading them, however, can be like ‘herding cats’. The classic metaphor of the organization as a machine does not offer an effective approach to leading complex human organizations. New thinking is needed, such as complexity theory, which considers the organization as a living organism and so provides a basis for innovative approaches to organizational structure and management. In this context, performing arts organizations can be a fruitful source of leadership inspiration. Performing arts organizations have never adopted the concept of the organization as machine and have therefore managed to keep alive the passion of their people. Thus these organizations constitute a valuable example for managers in the Knowledge Age, who must replace traditional leadership approaches to attract, keep and grow talent. Here, a case study is presented in which the authors, including the conductor Maestro Roni Porat, decode the key success factors in conducting an orchestra and consider their transferability to talent management in business organizations. While setting the tone, the conductor gives each of the players a chance to shine and co-evolve with the rest, thus creating a winning harmonic orchestra.

Citation

Pasher, E., Porat, R., Turjeman-Levi, Y., Harir, M. and Caspi, Y. (2020), "Leadership in Business, Innovation and Art: Lessons Learnt from an Orchestra Conductor", Formica, P. and Edmondson, J. (Ed.) Innovation and the Arts: The Value of Humanities Studies for Business, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 207-216. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78973-885-820201008