Sunday, October 27, 2013

Choosing Your World - Benjamin Zander at European Zeitgeist 2011



Check out this video from arguably one of the most contagiously positive people of our time – Ben Zander.  Since 1979, Ben has been the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic and is known around the world as both a guest conductor and a speaker on leadership.

In this clip Ben describes two worlds you can live in: the world of the downward spiral or the world of possibility.  What does this mean, you may ask?  Ben describes these worlds with rich color and fun stories, for example: the story of two sales men that were sent to Africa in the 1900s to explore the market for shoes – each wrote a telegram back:

  • Salesman 1 wrote back: “Situation hopeless, they don’t wear shoes”
  • Salesman 2 wrote back: “Glorious opportunity here – they don’t have any shoes yet”


Ben reminds us that we get to choose, at every moment of every day, which world we want to live in – what world do you want to live in?

Why Women Aren’t C.E.O.s, According to Women Who Almost Were

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