{"id":59148,"date":"2025-08-06T16:38:56","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T16:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"\/ajrj1b5\/leadership-lessons-from-conductor-charles-hazlewood\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T14:42:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T14:42:27","slug":"leadership-lessons-from-conductor-charles-hazlewood","status":"publish","type":"product-content","link":"https:\/\/www.mindtools.com\/ajrj1b5\/leadership-lessons-from-conductor-charles-hazlewood\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership Lessons From&#8230; a Conductor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The conductor-orchestra relationship is the most evolved form of teamwork. Discover ways to improve your leadership from a top symphony conductor.<\/p><div class=\"ew-video\" data-videosource=\"embed\" data-videotranscriptkey=\"transcript-632172ad-af12-427f-8b4a-c9342df0f0d8.txt\"><div class=\"ew-video-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"360\" scrolling=\"auto\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.jwplayer.com\/players\/rU7Roft0-5WSyalpf.html\" title=\"Leadership Lessons From a Conductor\" width=\"640\"><\/iframe><\/div><a class=\"ew-video-transcript\" href=\"https:\/\/nova-live-content.s3.undefined.amazonaws.com\/undefined\/transcript-632172ad-af12-427f-8b4a-c9342df0f0d8.txt\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Download transcript<\/a><\/div>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key Takeaways: leadership lessons from an orchestra conductor<\/h2>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>A great leader is a great listener<\/strong>. Being loud is a sign of insecurity. Listen to understand and empower.<\/li><li><strong>Inclusion isn&#8217;t a tick-box exercise<\/strong>. Diversity is a true strength; it&#8217;s not just about &#8220;doing the right thing.&#8221; <\/li><li><strong>Flexibility is essential<\/strong>. A rigid approach won&#8217;t get the best from your people and can undermine results.<\/li><li><strong>Leaders are &#8220;conduits.&#8221;<\/strong> A conductor is a conduit for musicians to give their best performance for an audience. A leader&#8217;s job is the same for their team.<\/li><\/ul><div class=\"ew-note\" data-type=\"default\"><div class=\"ew-note-body\">\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">About Charles Hazlewood<\/h2>\n\n<p><a class=\"ew-link\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.charleshazlewood.com\/\" href=\"https:\/\/www.charleshazlewood.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Charles Hazlewood<\/a> is a world-renowned conductor and the founder of Paraorchestra, the U.K.&#8217;s first orchestra consisting of both disabled and non-disabled musicians, which performed at the London 2012 Paralympics.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Let&#8217;s Act: lead like a conductor<\/h2>\n\n<p>Charles said, &#8220;The listening is more powerful than the participating.&#8221; <strong>When you truly listen, you can lead with more authenticity<\/strong> and engender trust and motivation.<\/p><p>So make this commitment today:<\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>&#8220;I will listen more.&#8221;<\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p>Perhaps you could let someone else lead the team meeting. Maybe commit to speaking second or third in meetings. Or you could increase the frequency of your one-on-ones to get a better sense of what your people are thinking and feeling.<\/p><p>Explore these<strong> Mindtools resources on listening<\/strong> to get you started:<\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Quiz<\/strong>: <a class=\"ew-link\" data-url=\"ai4ff5e\/how-good-are-your-listening-skills\" href=\"\/ai4ff5e\/how-good-are-your-listening-skills\" target=\"_blank\">How Good Are Your Listening Skills?<\/a><\/li><li><strong>Article<\/strong>: <a class=\"ew-link\" data-url=\"az4wxv7\/active-listening\" href=\"\/az4wxv7\/active-listening\" target=\"_blank\">Active Listening<\/a><\/li><li><strong>Infographic<\/strong>: <a class=\"ew-link\" data-url=\"a85f8yd\/listening-skills-infographic\" href=\"\/a85f8yd\/listening-skills-infographic\" target=\"_blank\">Listening Skills<\/a><\/li><li><strong>Skill Bite<\/strong>: <a class=\"ew-link\" data-url=\"https:\/\/emerald-works.mindtools.com\/skill-bites\/hxx5ospa\" href=\"https:\/\/emerald-works.mindtools.com\/skill-bites\/hxx5ospa\" target=\"_blank\">Active-Empathic Listening<\/a><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"ew-note\" data-type=\"success\"><div class=\"ew-note-body\">\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">More Expert Videos in This Series<\/h4>\n\n<ul><li><a class=\"ew-link\" data-url=\"https:\/\/emerald-works.mindtools.com\/abtbaao\/leadership-lessons-from-doctor-ayo-olatoye\" href=\"https:\/\/emerald-works.mindtools.com\/abtbaao\/leadership-lessons-from-doctor-ayo-olatoye\" target=\"_blank\">Leadership Lessons From&#8230; a Doctor<\/a><\/li><li><a class=\"ew-link\" data-url=\"https:\/\/emerald-works.mindtools.com\/adtpoo8\/leadership-lessons-sports-executive-paul-bickerton\" href=\"https:\/\/emerald-works.mindtools.com\/adtpoo8\/leadership-lessons-sports-executive-paul-bickerton\" target=\"_blank\">Leadership Lessons From&#8230; a Sports Executive<\/a><\/li><li><a class=\"ew-link\" data-url=\"almhl72\/leadership-lessons-archaeologist-chloe-duckworth\" href=\"\/almhl72\/leadership-lessons-archaeologist-chloe-duckworth\" target=\"_blank\">Leadership Lessons From&#8230; an Archaeologist<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this video, the artistic director of Paraorchestra, Charles Hazlewood, shares what all leaders can learn from the orchestra-conductor relationship, including motivating your team, adaptability, and remaining authentic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"product-content-category":[7135],"product-content-type":[2592],"reading-time":[5136],"class_list":["post-59148","product-content","type-product-content","status-publish","hentry","product-content-category-becoming-a-leader","product-content-type-video","reading-time-9-minutes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Leadership Lessons From... a Conductor - Mindtools<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In this video, the artistic director of Paraorchestra, Charles Hazlewood, shares what all leaders can learn from the orchestra-conductor relationship, including motivating your team, adaptability, and remaining authentic.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mindtools.com\/ajrj1b5\/leadership-lessons-from-conductor-charles-hazlewood\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leadership Lessons From... a Conductor - Mindtools\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In this video, the artistic director of Paraorchestra, Charles Hazlewood, shares what all leaders can learn from the orchestra-conductor relationship, including motivating your team, adaptability, and remaining authentic.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mindtools.com\/ajrj1b5\/leadership-lessons-from-conductor-charles-hazlewood\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mindtools\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-13T14:42:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mindtools.com\/ajrj1b5\/leadership-lessons-from-conductor-charles-hazlewood\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.mindtools.com\/ajrj1b5\/leadership-lessons-from-conductor-charles-hazlewood\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Leadership Lessons From&#8230; 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