Influx

At this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, the conversation seems to be firmly centered around doom and gloom.

The “toast” of the event appears to be Nouriel Roubini, the economist who predicted the current financial crisis. People apparently were desperate to hear from Roubini just to learn bad things are going to get, which apparently is a lot worse.

While negativity was the order of the day, amidst the gloom, there was a ray of light that came in the form of Benjamin Zander, who challenged his audience to find positivity.

Zander is the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic and a well known speaker at events like TED and PopTech. Zander’s message was clear, real leaders are the ones that bring fresh thinking in challenging times. His specialty is getting people to bring the best out of themselves.

Here are a couple of films that show Zander in action.

At TED…

At the World Economic Forum in 2008

Zander clearly is making a great point, in these challenging times we need people to give their best, to come up with new ideas and solutions, the very things that can move us forward. Organizations have a tough challenge ahead; they have to motivate and inspire, while their employees are living in fear of their futures and afraid to take risks.

Posted by Ed Cotton