Give an “A”
There has only ever been one conductor for the Boston Philharmonic.
Benjamin Zander.
We can all learn a lot from Mr. Zander, author (along with Roz Zander) of The Art of Possibility.
In this video from Teachers.tv, he shares three key insights:
1) It’s all invented
2) Standing in possibility
3) Rule #6 – Don’t take yourself so goddamn seriously (that’s the only rule)
In his TED talk below, he tells the story of two salesmen sent to Africa in the 1900’s to determine if there was any opportunity for selling shoes. Two very different telegrams came back to Manchester, England.
Salesman #1: “Situation hopeless! Stop. They don’t wear shoes.”
Salesman #2: “Glorious opportunity! They don’t have any shoes yet!”
(Which salesman would you rather hire?)
He also converts an entire room of people who thought they didn’t like classical music.
Ben Zander has changed thousands of students who pass through his class and millions of others who have seen him present, either live or through videos like these.
Ben was also very generous in contributing a story to our upcoming fear.less e-book. In his fear.less profile, Ben explains why, if you’re clear about what you’re doing, fear has no place there. He also explains how love supersedes fear and how when we conquer our fear, we can truly ‘lift off’.