The power of leadership: a view from the arts

Benjamin Zander, founder and conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, made a significant discovery when he realized that the conductor of an orchestra does not make a sound. Zander believes that a conductor’s power is his or her ability to make others powerful. He said of the experience: “Something shifted in me so profound that members of the orchestra came up to ask what had happened. The shift of emphasis was from pulling power in ‐ to giving it away.” As a speaker at the 1996 International Strategic Management Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Zander shares some of his thoughts about leadership.