Leadership comes in many forms. The ancient shepherd kept peace with his flock using the help of a few dogs and a staff. Cowboys handle a cattle drive with horses, and in a similar manner. And conductors? With the help of a concertmaster, all players end up on the same page, playing the music in unison. Shepherds, cowboys and conductors—all of them do the job in their own way, but few are truly maestros.

In business, are you a maestro?  The definition of “maestro” is “a great or distinguished figure in any sphere.” You have choices about how to bring your team into unison. You can manage through intimidation, fear, example, policy, or politics. A maestro, however, leads in the best sense of the word.  The role of a maestro is stepping into leadership that brings out the highest and best for the whole and the individuals.

In herding a flock, all sheep respond best to the gentle guidance of a leader. Brute force or lack of direction will send the flock into chaos. In a cattle drive, cowboys have an amazing ability to keep peace within the herd of cattle, but can also coax them across a river or break them into a stampede if they need to escape a storm. Cowboys can also halt the stampede and bring order and a business-as-usual atmosphere quickly and efficiently when needed. As for the conductor? Getting more than one-hundred highly talented musicians to play a multitude of scores from adagio to vivache, piano to fortissimo, and tear-jerking to triumphant requires leadership for a conductor to be called “maestro.”

How do you manage your team? Are you a manager? Leader? Or maestro? Whether yours is a small company, a non-profit organization, or a Fortune 100 company, keep in mind that although you may be overseeing the results from this body of individuals, you may not be their maestro.  You can claim title and authority as leader, but you can’t truly claim power. Power is earned. Power only happens when the team you manage has bought into your vision and is working symbiotically and synergistically on the same goals. In essence, only when people connect to a greater vision through you will they be willing to be led and call you their leader.

More to follow on how to aspire to leadership, and to achieve the epitome: maestro.

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Tips on How to Avoid Becoming a Victim:

It is imperative to maintain the highest level of security awareness at all times and follow special security precautions while visiting us. These include:

• While in public, refrain from wearing expensive jewelry or expensive looking watches, anything that contains gold, silver, precious stones, or diamonds. Gangs specifically target people who wear high end (Rolex, Cartier etc.) watches. Wearing any more jewelry than a simple gold wedding band will raise your profile. However, people have also been robbed of their gold wedding bands.
• Verify with the front desk who is at your hotel room door before you open the door.
• Never accept a ride from someone you have just casually met, even if they seem helpful and friendly.
• Keep a minimal amount of cash with you, and limit the number of credit cards you carry.
• Stay with a group of people as much as possible, and limit the times you venture out alone. Avoid isolated areas on the beach or in the rainforest. Always let someone know where you are going. Never swim in the ocean alone.
• Avoid walking the streets at night – take a taxi to your desired location and return in a taxi. Public buses should be used with extreme caution at night.
• Do not openly display any electronic device especially expensive cameras, video cameras, laptops, or iPads while in a public setting or walking on a public street. These are high theft items and will attract unwanted attention.
• If you make purchases, return to the hotel and secure the items in your hotel room. Do not walk on the street with the items you just bought.
• Stay near people/populated areas as much as possible. If you feel uncomfortable for any reason, immediately seek safe haven in a building with people.
• If confronted by an individual who has a weapon, stay calm and hand over your valuables. Do not resist. Death may result from resistance. Many muggers have weapons and may be under the influence of crack cocaine. They will not hesitate to harm you if you resist.

Give up? The site of the 2016 Summer Olympics:  Rio de Janeiro.  Let the games begin…

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My wife, Melissa, had a consulting gig with Twitter in San Francisco from September 5-7. Now if anyone has stayed at Fisherman’s Wharf, you will understand why I was more than happy to carry her bags on this trip. As I run a recruiting business, on occasion, I can get by with a laptop and a cell phone. With a two hour difference in time zones, most of my work was done by 2:00pm PST. So what else could I do with my time, but write a book.

For those of you who know me, I had spent nearly three years writing Gig a historical fiction novel about a kid and his garage band growing up in the turbulent sixties. I had just finished my book, and was now waiting for answers to my agent queries. So I sat in our hotel room, thinking about the next project. Back in the early 2000’s, I had finished a musical called RIO. The story is basically Oliver meets West Side Story—a naïve American who vacations in Rio de Janeiro, falls in love, but his life crosses paths with a street kid who works for the local drug lord. I thought, with the Olympics scheduled there in 2016, I’ll write an updated novel!

I began doing my research. Back in the day of my musical, there was a true “bad guy” whose name I won’t reveal, but was whom I based my antagonist on. It turns out that right after I had finished my musical, this “bad guy” had been locked up for many years. The person he locked up wrote a book about it, and had become a celebrity cop! In further research, I found that “the bad guy” had escaped federal prison and that the celebrity cop was resigning his high profile post to work in an obscure, safe haven. WOW! This could be a great story.

Melissa had just returned to our hotel room, and I was busy corroborating my sources like any good reporter. Suddenly, my cell phone rang. It was from a reporter who advised me, “Be careful what you write about…”

Melissa, who supports me in everything I do, smiled sweetly and said, “It took me too long to find you. I don’t want to lose you over something like this story!”

“Then what should I be writing about?” I asked.

“You’re always such a romantic with me. Why don’t you write about something like dating for life?”

And as Paul Harvey used to say, “And that, folks, is the rest of the story!”

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