OWP 2022: Leading For the Future

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KEYNOTE

CONDUCTING LEADERSHIP

To lead an organization successfully, you cannot just rely on data – you need an emotional connection with your teamand with what you are doing, says world-renowned conductor Jason Lai.

Keynote highlights

During his keynote address on “Leading self and others as an orchestra conductor” at IMD’s Orchestrating Winning Performance program in Singapore, Lai gave participants the experience of leading from another angle. He did this by allowing them the opportunity to conduct a 16-piece orchestra on stage. His objective was to give them the sense of what it takes to get the orchestra to work with you to achieve a common goal. He used this experience to highlight to participants the importance of moving beyond their cognitive center when leading a team or organization. Instead, he encouraged them to concentrate on other aspects of themselves, their emotions, and their body language to get the best out of their team and, in doing so, drive performance and results.

Lai, who is the Principal Conductor at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, has conducted orchestras globally, including the BBC Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, and New Japan Philharmonic. As a conductor, Lai admits to having had a steep learning curve, “having had fantastic performances and feeling like leaping off the stage in the end to at other times feeling that performances could have gone much better, which made me feel very down.” This led him to think long and hard about what separated the success from the failure and to his work as an executive coach where he applies the learnings from 25 years in conducting to help executives become better leaders. This coaching involves making them aware of all parts of themselves to get the best out of the people around them.

JASON LAI Principal Conductor at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory

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