The Ignorant Maestro: How Great Leaders Inspire Unpredictable Brilliance

Orchestra conductor and motivational speaker Talgam's book is one of a long line of niche management titles (e.g., H.W. Crocker III's Robert E. Lee on Leadership). This one uses orchestral music as the main parable for handling people and situations. While a conductor may know the "tools of the trade," past mastery can never dictate the unknown future. Hence, management is always working with ignorance and should embrace the unknowable "gaps" that constitute the "space between the notes." Keynote listening is important—listening to others with the goal of creating dialog. Talgam illustrates his ideas with six orchestral conductors)—for example, Riccardo Muti relies on "command and control," an attitude fundamentally at odds with "filling the gaps" and dialog with others; Herbert von Karajan's unclear "guru-like" conducting puts undue pressure on his musicians (an example of not enough direction); and Leonard Bernstein is seen as the consummate master of embracing "ignorance" to create a new and productive performance.