The Video That Changed my Life... and Turned Me into an Extreme Outsourcer Forever

If you are over the age of 30, you can remember when “Ted Talks” were a big deal. Circa 2013, TED hadn’t yet turned into TEDX - a name whose shattered vestige now only makes me think of corporate braggadocio on Linkedin .

Back in 2013, TED was hitting its stride - the speakers were great, the video quality was great, and the topics were fascinating.

I randomly clicked on a link to a talk called “Lead like the Great Conductors.”

The presenter was a classical music composer named Itay Talgam.

Over 20 minutes, in slightly accented English, Talgram weaved an engrossing 20-minute lecture drawing parallels between classical music composing & leadership.

I can’t recommend more strongly that you watch the below!

The rest of this newsletter isn’t going to make sense if you don’t watch the above.

*** If you don’t have 20 minutes to watch something this good, I feel bad for you.

Here are a few of my favorite ideas from the video:

1. There are different types of control as a leader - find one that works for you.

2. A leader’s happiness doesn’t shouldn’t come from his joy alone, it comes from enabling other peoples’ stories to be heard at the same time.

3. Being overclear is disempowering to your team! You must leave space for development and interpretation.

4. If you (as a leader) break a sweat, you are doing something wrong.

5. The forces of the process itself - keeps you in place.

6. When it’s needed, the authority is there. But authority isn’t enough to create an ensemble.

7. Being there 100% for your team, but not commanding - is the ultimate form of control.

8. The highest form of leadership is doing without doing

I hope you learned as much from this talk I did. I revisit it every few months, and find something new to love every time.

Happy Outsourcing!

Jon