Today’s business people can learn a lot about good leadership from orchestra conductors, says the Harvard Business Review. The first thing a good conductor does is put together a first-rate group of musicians. Toscanini, for example, could not have gotten great music out of a high school band. The next thing the conductor does is make sure that his musicians share his satisfaction with the quality of the music. If they don’t all feel an equal sense of accomplishment the conductor’s leadership has failed and he will not make great music.

Management Digest, Sept., 1989