In celebrating both the 500th anniversary of The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli, and the life of Claudio Abbado, legendary conductor of La Scala, we celebrate leadership.
THE ECONOMIST used “the art of listening” to draw a picture of Abbado for readers, connecting the young musician’s ability to hear and memorize music in his head with the professional orchestras he would lead and ultimately, the listening audience he invited into the music before he died. For Booz&Co, James O’Toole takes us through what he believes we must understand about Machiavelli’s legacy — the situational leadership model taught in most business schools — and he leaves us with the questions Machiavelli’s work must provoke in each of us as we work.
We can find one thing in common between these two diverse leadership cases: whether the leader is making music or making money, he or she is creating an experience.
When a leader had all the power, he got to decide what the experience was going to be. Today, however, she doesn’t have all the power — just a portion of it and maybe for not a very long time. The one thing we can make consistent in an era some are already calling “the age of experience” is the experience we provide from our end of the exchange. Besides quality and what the customer wants, how does the customer feel? Does the skilled employee want to stay and help create the experience? Do the suppliers want to be part of the experience, too? Whatever our role in a transaction, we’re in a relationship — and our ability to transmit respect, trust and even authority can keep our “customers” coming back.
It’s better than the alternative. As Claudia Hart reminds us in A Child‘s Machiavelli, A Primer on Power, her translation of The Prince, “Never be afraid to beat someone up if you have to. First, try to talk ’em into listening, but just in case, you know what to do!”
MAKE A RENAISSANCE 
