Orchestra without a conductor: The art of collective leadership

Author: Harvey Severson et al. (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-05-01
Features: The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (Orpheus, a singer in Greek mythology, skilled at playing the harp, whose music could make wild beasts bow their heads and stones nod. Below, Orpheus refers to this orchestra—translator's note) is often said to be an orchestra without a conductor. Yes, regarding Orpheus, what people notice first is that there is no conductor using a baton, eye contact, or body language to indicate to the musicians how to play the music. However, Orpheus is absolutely not an orchestra without a conductor. In fact, in my over ten years of research on collective behavior, Orpheus is more organized than any institution I have ever seen. To be precise, because there is no conductor, each performer must cooperate fully and artfully interpret the piece. Everyone must ensure that the ensemble starts together, allowing the main melody to be passed from one instrumental section to another, so that the composer's understanding of the work is rendered excellently and harmoniously. Attending an Orpheus concert or listening to their recordings is like experiencing seamless musical performance. Observing Orpheus's rehearsals or recording sessions, however, reveals how gaps are seamlessly closed and how democracy is in action. After completing our research on Orpheus with my colleague Elin Lerman, we concluded that the power of democracy is once again affirmed here. But we also realized how challenging democracy can be. The musicians of Orpheus do not [unlike] some time ago, management guru Peter Drucker predicted the arrival of a new era of management: a more streamlined management layer and more agile and self-managed institutions would replace the traditional, hierarchical enterprises that originated from manufacturing companies. In fact, almost no large enterprise has fully realized Drucker's brilliant foresight, and all businesses still bear the consequences of the old leadership structure: bloated bureaucracy, inefficiency, and sluggish market responsiveness. The emergence and refinement of the professional managerial class are based on a fundamental assumption: employees do not know how to do the right thing at the right time in the right way, and they need professional "management." In reality, the creativity and leadership of employees are suppressed by the pyramid-like management structure; on the other hand, information technology has made the shortcomings of the original leadership approach even more pronounced for more knowledge workers. This book shows business professionals a unconventional approach to leadership and team building—the Orpheus Process—through the success experience of the only orchestra in the world without a conductor, also the greatest orchestra in the world—Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. This process eliminates the role of absolute leadership and clearly distributes responsibility to each member of the team, helping to build a more effective organization, flexible strategies and decision-making systems, happier, more engaged, and more creative employees, and more satisfied customers. Every principle in the book has clear implementation steps, which have already achieved tremendous success in world-renowned companies such as JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Reynolds Executive Search, and Intel. Through the success experience of the only orchestra in the world without a conductor—the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, this book shows business professionals an unconventional approach to leadership and team building—the Orpheus Process.