Listening to endless possibilities with Rob Kapilow

What would you think if I were to tell you that the secrets of life can be understood through music? Well… I could never imagine such a thing before I met Rob Kapilow, the genius.

Rob Kapilow, not only a conductor
On April 18, I had the chance to attend CEOX1Day Turkey yearly closing ceremony. I heard that Rob Kapilow, an American conductor, was going to perform with the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra as a part of a ceremony. I curiously searched his name on Google. The first comment I saw was: “If you think you don’t like classical music, you haven’t met Rob Kapilow.” Now, I can’t wait to meet him!

“Every team is an orchestra”
It is almost impossible to be not impressed by how smartly Kapilow relates life with music. Business life was the focus of his performance that night. Business life is a puzzle and surely there isn’t only a single formula to have a successful business. As Kapilow suggests, an orchestra constitutes a great metaphor for understanding the dynamics of a business cooperation. Surely a conductor plays a significant role in the performance of an orchestra. However, it’s impossible to generate a good performance unless each of its members performs well.

Two pillars of a team: harmony and empathy
A good performance doesn’t only require to play your part well, but it also requires to listen to others. Harmony and empathy are the key components when it comes to the teamwork. Even if each member is extremely talented, the only way to achieve success as a team is to listen and to be willing to understand each other.

A team without a leader?
A leader is often considered as the most important team member. But is it only the leader who lifts the performance? Kapilow shows the audience that if the rest of the team perform well both personally and jointly, having a bad leader won’t entirely harm the performance. Today, consequently, we see the change in the structure of modern teams and the generation of the “leaderless team” concept.

A life-changing lesson from Mozart
How does ‘being different’ contributes to success? Kapilow, in order to answer this question, invites the audience to a journey into the music of Mozart, one of the greatest artists of all times. Mozart represents a unique style of classical music, the way he plays with the notes from his piano proves how a single note can transform an entire piece from good to perfect.

Creating the change… Do you dare?
If we allow our intuition to guide us it’s possible to realize that success in business life, just as in any area life, requires being different rather than strictly following the footsteps of the ones who once succeeded. In a world where everything changes so quickly, we must refuse to stay the same and become a part of the change, even create the change. Mr. Kapilow says the young minds can create the change only by listening to endless possibilities.

Future is bright only for the ones who are ready for it!
Kapilow quotes from Joseph Campbell, “We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned so as to have the life that’s waiting for us”. I believe this view fits perfectly with the values of the MAD Talk platform. That is, we always need to look further into what future will bring us, not be stuck in what today offers us; this is the only way we can MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

Also…
I’m Sena, a university student from Turkey who has recently gone MAD. In my next blog, I’ll talk about why and how I’ve gone MAD. I want to give Special thanks to Tariq Qureishy who gave me this opportunity to attend such a special event and inspires me every day with the work he does.

CEOX1Day program gives promising university students opportunity to spend a day with top executives. The aim is to create a bridge between today’s leaders and leaders of tomorrow. The yearly closing ceremony of CEOX1Day Turkey hosted Rob Kapilow in İstanbul. The participant students and the CEOs shared their experience as they answered questions of both Kapilow and Qureishy.