PM@CH Journal 2016 | Page 10

The Swiss Project Management Journal The Creative Project learned, with experience, that there is going to be a surprise. So a good leader knows how he will deal with the surprise, whenever it presents itself.” Adaptability is needed also because the same leadership style does not work equally well with each orchestra. “I learned a lot by studying other conductors,” Lena-Lisa said, suspecting that all young conductors are natural observers of their elder peers’ different leadership styles. (After all, anyone planning to stand in the public eye will want to see how others fare in it.) “I think practical experience is the best teacher but one can learn so much by studying another conductor’s results and identifying why something did or did not Project Management Institute SWITZERLAND Chapter work, or why the team did or did not respond to a particular style.” In orchestra conducting, the conductor needs to be ready to adapt. “With such a short time, available it will not only be the orchestra who will need to change if something is not working quite right.” Flexibility helps to respond as well to the technological changes that time throws our way. Even in the world of classical music (where some oft-heard compositions are over two hundred years old) conductors have navigated an everevolving environment. “Back in 1750, orchestras were smaller, the audience was closer, and the instruments did not need to be as powerful as today’s. They 10 were played slightly differently and sounded slightly differently too.” Lena-Lisa explained the vast concert halls we visit now were introduced in the second half of the 19th century. The fact that today’s orchestras can have over one hundred musicians is something a conductor from before 1850 would not have had to deal with. The music played in a concert today is the conductor’s interpretation of the composition written so long ago, incorporating the spirit of the times. And it is this interpretation of the music that keeps the sound interesting and appealing. Lena-Lisa says it this way, “While the composers may be dead, the compositions are not. Already the sounds 2016 Edition