TAG: Yale School of Music

Conducting and Leadership: Lessons for Today’s Arts Entrepreneurs

What lessons can today’s arts leaders glean from conducting and leadership? Conducting is a terrific metaphor for leadership since you have a large number of highly-trained and gifted people (the musicians) who must come together to produce a great product (music) which they can only do with skilled leadership Conducting and leadership provided the backdrop for a call that I …

Cultivating Optimism for Music Entrepreneurs: 5 Questions to Help You Manage Uncertainty

My coaching groups at Yale are off to a great start this semester!  Students meet with me on a bi-weekly basis to share their successes and challenges in creating successful careers as musicians and artists.  Through honest, trusting and confidential sharing, they open up about their vulnerabilities and we explore how to manage the many challenges associated with a music …

Ideas into Action: How Music Entrepreneurs Create and Innovate

One of my favorite aspects of teaching my Innovation and Collaboration class at Yale is the project whereby the students take on a critical problem in the classical music field and work in collaborative groups to create and implement new solutions to these problems.  It was fascinating to see how we were able to take the spark of an idea …

Using Creativity in Your Career: 5 Steps to Recharge Your Career Satisfaction

Welcome to the new year!  How is your career going? That’s a big question and one that I love to help people sort out since a lot of your time is devoted to your career and life is a lot more satisfying when you feel good about what you do.  What helps is to apply creativity in your career. Let’s …

New Digital Media: Opportunities and Pitfalls of the New Digital World: Part II

Last time, we discussed Sean Hickey’s advice to students at the Yale School of Music on how today’s musicians can leverage new digital media and  work with a label to promote your recording.   Now, let’s hear Sean’s insights on how today’s artists can proactively shape their careers, generate new revenue streams and gain greater exposure using the new tools of …

New Digital Media: Opportunities and Pitfalls of the New Digital World: Part I

Recently, we were delighted to welcome to Yale Sean Hickey, an award-winning composer and the VP Sales and Business Development of Naxos of America in charge of all physical sales for in North America and digital sales throughout the world.  With these impressive credentials, Sean spoke to our students about new digital media and how today’s musicians can navigate the digital world. …

Flow Passion and Purpose: The Keys to Inspired Leadership

Last spring, I was honored to have been selected by the students of the Yale School of Music to speak at Inspiring Yale, a one-day campus-wide event showcasing the work of thought leaders from the 13 graduate and professional schools at Yale. While my work at Yale centers on launching the brilliant and talented musicians and arts leaders at the …

Creativity for Music Entrepreneurs: Leave Time for Incubation

Have you ever found yourself grappling with a challenging problem and then leaving your desk in disgust and frustration, only to find the answer when you wake up the next morning or when you are out for a nice walk? Welcome to incubation, one of the magical elements of the creativity process, where you work hard on a problem, give …

Taming the Fixed Mindset: 4 Steps to Lasting Growth and Change

Over my years at the Yale School of Music, I have introduced my students to the growth mindset, the belief that you can develop your talents and intelligence through hard work, smart strategies and input from others. This concept has become very popular ever since Dr. Carol Dweck, the brilliant psychologist who developed and researched the concept, published her findings …