Leadership is a Process, Not a Person
We need to focus on the ecology of work not just on leaders
It is 1607 in the Italian city of Mantua. The city is situated between and slightly to the south of Milan and Venice. It’s early summer and the composer Claudio Monteverdi assembled a huge ensemble of musicians.
Up until this point in history, most composers prioritized the specific musical melodies for an ensemble not necessarily specific parts to particular instruments. Monteverdi had something else in mind. He had written parts for specific instruments. He also intended to do this with a much larger ensemble than was usually the case.
He led the ensemble through a musical experience that would set in motion much of what we recognize in modern orchestras and was one of the pioneers in the development of opera.
Modern orchestras now boast some one hundred musicians. It takes quite the coordination to find a cohesion we recognize as music.
Our workplaces are like orchestras and our culture is obsessed with maestros. Workplace culture is fixated on leaders. Magazines proclaim them as ‘Person of the Year’. Documentaires and Hollywood films obsess about the faces of well-known corporate leaders.
