The ignorant maestro : how great leaders inspire unpredictable brilliance

The conductor faces the ultimate leadership challenge: command a complex organization in real time, before an audience, not once stopping midway or starting again from the beginning. For the great conductor, leadership is an art; and he gives direction without saying a word. But the leadership techniques of a maestro do not apply only to the symphony. Anyone interested in improving their leadership skills can look to conductors for help. Far from being specifically geared toward classical aficionados, The Ignorant Maestro is for anyone who has ever been frustrated by leadership and communication tasks. Itay Talgam appeals to the universal need to find harmony, a need that is felt in all organizations, even families. His mission is to help everyday people develop the conductor's sense of leadership, and to do so by borrowing and adapting from the repertoires of the masters. Itay Talgam observes the leadership styles of six great conductors--Muti, Toscanini, Strauss, Karajan, Kleiber, and Bernstein. He then presents readers with six faces of leadership based on those conductors' styles: Commander, Father Figure, Bureaucrat, Guru, Dancer, and Meaning Maker. Talgam shows readers how these approaches work but also points out their limitations. Filled with engaging stories from Talgam's career as conductor, consultant, speaker and teacher, The Ignorant Maestro ultimately challenges readers to answer the question: What kind of leader are you, and (more importantly) what kind of leader do you want to be?