Odgers Berndtson Event Looks at Corporate Leadership Through Musical Lens

On the evening of Tuesday 3 December 2024, executive search firm Odgers Berndtson held an exclusive event at MUDAM, the Grand Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art, in Luxembourg-Kirchberg.

This Christmas event focused on looking at leadership through a musical lens, exploring the parallels between conducting an orchestra and leading a large organisation or team. The guest speaker was Dominic Alldis, a London-based orchestral conductor, jazz pianist, business speaker and founder of Music & Management.

Olga Jeczmyk, Senior Marketing Communications Manager at Odgers Berndtson Luxembourg, kicked off the evening with a short introduction. She described this unique event as "a celebration where leadership meets art".

Agnieszka Zajac, Managing Partner at Odgers Berndtson Luxembourg, then presented Odgers Berndtson, a board advisory and executive search firm with 67 offices in 35 countries; the Luxembourg office opened its doors in 2018. She noted its targets, purpose (namely to "hire and inspire leaders of tomorrow"), vision and ambition, also touching on the evolving market. "Leadership is a part of our DNA," she commented.

Dominic Alldis then took the stage for his engaging and interactive (and indeed musical) presentation. He used interesting comparisons to show how leading an orchestra - or even a jazz band - is not so different from leading a large corporate organisation. He thus adopted a musical lens to explore "how we interact, collaborate and engage around our common purpose to develop exceptional performances to our clients, colleagues and audience".

Key points (from the speaker and attendees) included: collaborating rather than competing; embracing diversity - different roles with different perspectives; there are no secondary roles, all are crucial to the overall performance; listening to others is essential; importance of a trusting environment; creating a culture in which everyone is "dedicated to excellence and precision through preparation and practice". 

Dominic Alldis described the primary role of a conductor as providing and/or defining the pulse and coordinating roles for clarity and purpose. The secondary role is to convey information and instil energy into the performance.

The guest speaker also looked at how jazz can be translated to a corporate setting. With jazz, there is more room for improvisation (perhaps adapting to change) and freedom to make mistakes or take risks, while still following structure. The problem with improvisation, however, is one may never know when to stop.

By looking at the examples of both a classical orchestra and a jazz band, and his own experiences in these fields, Dominic Alldis thus demonstrated how certain skills and attitudes can translate into better corporate leadership and team management.

There was a lot of audience engagement and brainstorming, as the speaker guided attendees through his words but also gestures, complemented by sound and video clips.

The evening continued with networking over a standing dinner reception.