Maestro: A Surprising Story About Leading by Listening

I chose this book because it was recommended on a social media site for band directors. While I don’t think it gave me a lot for teaching middle school band it really made me think about leadership, and the role of a conductor but also about leadership outside of the music world. I come from a family with quite a few business owners and I’m not sure they ever thought or even think of business in this way. Principals, business leaders, musicians and conductors can all find value in this book. At least some thought provocation anyway.

The facilitator at my company's Management Training course recommended this book in passing, as we a DiSC/Meyers-Briggs sort of course. Quite fitting. But getting performance out of a company larger than a few dozen, that rivals The Maestro conducting an orchestral performance, will never happen. It doesn't have to happen to make a very good company. You only have to stay in tempo, in tune and play the right notes to be the best in business. Any orchestral performance that sounded like even the best company you can find today would still be aurally discordant. That's just the nature of business. But it doesn't mean that each manager can't conduct their own staff with virtuosity. A bit of a Catch 22, in that each smaller business unit can make beautiful music, but that the sum of the business units cannot blend.The goal of leading by listening from the podium, to let each chair feel your vision, is the take-away lesson.

Comparing organizations to orchestras and managers to conductors is one of the oldest of management cliches. Nierenberg takes this old saw and turns into a wonderfully new, original, effective, and even moving primer on visionary leadership. An executive newly promoted to a top management position finds that his old directive management techniques, skills, and expertise are inadequate for the serious new challenges his business is facing and for the high-powered and talented executives he is being asked to motivate and lead. Through extensive discussions with, and observation of, a great orchestra conductor, he comes to understand and develop new and much more effective ways of leading and motivating his organization and getting the people in it to perform at their best. As a former senior executive myself, I would have benefitted enormously had I had this book available to me. I think it is a must for any manager's library, and will almost certainly improve any manager's operating style - and his or her employees' motivation, effectiveness, and morale.

I just completed my third reading of this book and each time I read it I walk away inspired to be a better leader by considering and applying the ideas and principles contained with the book. As a musician...I know exactly what the Maestro spoke of related to the teamwork and efforts to work together to make great music. As an employee of a very large communications company, in a leadership role, I fully see and agree with the tenets of this book and how a non-musical organization can and must apply the same principles in order to be fully successful. I will now put the book away...and try to "make beautiful and creative music" in my daily job....

This is a short, very readable book, which presents very clear messages using a metaphor resonating also with people who have no music background. The book describes the experience of the author's Music Paradigm session and sadly the powerful dimension of the music itself can only be read about in the book and imagined, not experienced. Still, as a middle manager in a large multinational, the management principles the book promotes were valuable, and I found that the Orchestra metaphor added significant value and (hopefully) helped me internalize the importance. Without the setting, as the fictional manager in the book says, some of these messages might sound "like a worn-out platitude. But on the lips of a musician in this unfamiliar context, the value [...] was meaningful to all the leaders in the room."

In a fable style leadership book, this one hits the spot for so many reasons. The book, in the vein of "five dysfunctions of a team" tells a great story of a need for leadership change. I really enjoyed the perspective of a Maestro considering I've never really understood his/her role. It's a short book that can teach some very good lessons about purpose, vision, and professional collaboration.

Original, inspiring, convicting, gratifying, confidence building, exposing, revealing, enlightening, masterful presentation of many concepts in efficient manner. Most trying to write this book would require over 500 pages, but this work of literary art is only 118 pages. Keen, intelligent timing on content progression shows at writing talent that presents more between the lines than on the pages. I will gift this book to many and enjoy my new confidence with better understanding of my own leadership. This may join the ranks of Viktor Frankl's - Man's Search for Meaning. It is that profound and original. Onward!

One of those books that you know what is going to happen next, but still want to keep reading. The book conveys a message that many people know, but need a reminder in order for the lesson to be implemented. Overall a great quick read.