We are visual beings. We believe what we see. When we see fancy press and reviews, we think we know a person's worth. I wrestle with the idea of reviews, testimonials, customers. I suggest three ways we can balance outside and internal reviews.

I once heard Robert Spano say that a conductor is just a glorified chamber music coach. What does a coach do? One of the things that they don't do is to provide answers all the time. I take a cue from Michael Bungay Stanier's book The Coaching Habit where he says, "Tell less and ask more. Your advice is not as good as you think it is."

As musicians, we assume that our innate love for our work means that our lives are great and we should feel nothing but happiness in doing the work. The truth is that we are not immune to feeling lost or unfulfilled like in any other profession. It is possible to forget why we love it.

Surgeon Atul Gawande spoke about how when we focus on avoiding failure, we by association also avoid considering plans for rescue. This is because we don't want to believe that we are capable of failure nor have the need for rescue. The reality is that things go wrong all the time, and there are 3 ways in which we fail to rescue.

Artistic organizations often strive to improve by focusing on their audiences--a customer-centric approach. I consider how I might take two actions for an employee-centric approach.

Positive reinforcement is important and we can use praise balanced with constructive feedback, but it doesn't always have the effectiveness that we intend. What we don't ever talk about the tension that exists in praise, particularly in the hierarchical work setting. And showing appreciation doesn't need to happen only when extraordinary things happen.

When asked to rank a variety of jams (the kind you put on your toast), how do jam experts compare with random college students? I share the ramifications of this psychological study on hiring committees in our industry and what we can do about it.

As a conductor and leader, I'm tired of two things: 1) I'm tired of having to be right all the time, 2) I'm tired of the pressure of having to know everything. I realized that as a leader, I must not hoard the expertise. I must share the expertise - the responsibility of employing our collective expertise - with the musicians.

Krulak's law states that the future of an organization is in the hands of the privates in the field, not the generals back home. In other words, the closer you are to the front lines, the more power you have over the brand and customer experience. Musicians are the frontline workers that serve the customers.

There is currently no way for us to measure growth momentum in our hiring processes. When we hire musicians based on a snapshot, what do we give up? What does it tell us about our values? I share Simon Sinek's take on why we should place more attention on growth momentum.

After 25 Conductor as CEO blog posts, I'll take this opportunity to revisit why I started and why it means so much to me. The generous people in the altMBA helped me craft this message. I hope you'll take a few minutes to read or listen!

Who gets to decide we're a leader? Other people. Leaders exist all around us. Why do we follow them? Why do we volunteer to join? Why do we enroll in their cause and stick with it? I share Rich Diviney's 5 leadership attributes.

So you love your job? Of course, we all love the concerts. Would you say that you love the rehearsals just as much? I pose many questions in this post. I hope maybe just one of those would inspire you to think differently.

Do you know what WD-40 stands for? The company highlights risk taking and iteration as core values by way of its name. I talk about how we use fear as a motivator to inspire great work, but it motivates covering up too. We don't only cover up mistakes, but also ideas, solutions, and the freedom to iterate and try again.

When the people are motivated to be better themselves and have a clear purpose to be better, they show up - again and again. They don't need anyone else to convince them it's a good idea.

Why are we scared of taking risks in large ensembles? Because we might fail. Harvard psychologist Amy Edmondson places causes for failures into two categories - praiseworthy and blameworthy. What can the difference reveal for us?

Empathy is the key to trust and a feeling of safety, whether it's in a relationship between two people or a culture within an entire organization. We know we need empathy to be excellent leaders, friends, or colleagues. But we also need to understand what empathy is not.

Not knowing answers kills my confidence. It leads me to believe that wrong solutions make me a bad leader. There is perhaps another way to unpack my battle with confidence. I take a look at what Adam Grant calls "confident humility.”

As leaders, we often want our performers to be advocates in bringing in audiences. But we often don't start with asking: why would they want to talk about it in the first place?

When you make decisions or take actions, are they determined by whether they would be deemed acceptable by the leader, teacher, or other authority figure? I examine author Jim Collins' thoughts on the liabilities of charisma.