​ interview

Leadership in medicine and music

Osmo Vänskä

Minnesota Orchestra

What qualities are involved with leadership?

Integrity, the ability to admit your own mistakes, listening more than speaking, and the ability to get people to think about ideas and find the ones best suited to the needs and opportunities of the community you lead.

How does one create a culture consistent with the mission of an organization that provides a shared vision whereby the culture will flourish?

You need to encourage your colleagues to start thinking about what the purpose of the organization is and to consider if it is doing well at the current moment. If the answer is “yes,” then what are some goals we can work towards to help us to do things even better in the future? If the answer is “no,” then figuring out together what is wrong, why things aren’t being done well enough, and then finding a starting place to make it better. If you can create an atmosphere where people are getting motivated and enthusiastic, then good things are most likely going to happen and improve.

One of the challenges of leadership is balancing stakeholder groups and the tension around maintaining quality and financial stability. What can you tell us about this dynamic?

The mission of the Minnesota Orchestra is to provide great music as well as music education to our community, and every decision we make must be in support of that goal. My job as a music director, my personal responsibilities, fall mainly on the artistic side, which include planning the programs and choosing who the soloists and guest conductors will be in any given season. The other side of the organization (managerial responsibilities, communicating with the board on a regular basis, etc.) is handled by the CEO. We are considered equals within the hierarchy of the organization, so it means that we have to work closely together to make the Orchestra shine, both artistically and in terms of being as financially solid as possible. Speaking about repertoire, we can’t plan to play only the popular works because the audience gets bored easily, so we mix in contemporary pieces or works that are not as well known in order to keep the audience interested in coming to our concerts. We need a good artistic vision that should be constantly monitored and reevaluated to ensure that it is working well enough for our needs. All artistically minded people have differing opinions about art, but I believe that all of the experiences throughout my long career have helped me find a path that I believe in strongly.

​An integral part of leadership is listening to others and being willing to put your own opinions aside.

Change is constant in medicine, in presenting symphonic music, in everything. Part of leadership is adapting to change. What can you share about this?

Change is inevitable; it doesn’t matter what field we are in. Different times and scenarios call for different decisions, and it is ideal if the leaders are the first ones to recognize the need for a change and adapt quickly. At the same time, leaders must rely on their colleagues’ opinions and ideas since everyone comes from diverse backgrounds with different experiences. In our Orchestra, we rely very much on an artistic advisory committee made up of Orchestra musicians to suggest various composers, soloists, or partners from other artistic fields whom they have heard good things about and want to collaborate with. When you have input from various sources, it can lead to great results. In my opinion, an integral part of leadership is listening to others and being willing to put your own opinions aside when you recognize that someone else’s idea is better suited to the situation.

Please tell us about some of the people who have inspired you along your path of leadership.

In the music world, Leonard Bernstein is a great example of a true artist who was not only a wonderful conductor (he was the music director of the New York Philharmonic for many years), but also a pianist and educator, as well as a composer of both classical music and Broadway music (West Side Story, among them). He was an ideal music director because he was able to create interesting and unique programs, maintain an incredibly high quality of music-making, and rally everyone together to make the New York Philharmonic an orchestra that everyone could be proud to work for. He was able to pique the audience’s interest, so they were constantly asking themselves, “What are they going to do and offer us now?!”

More generally speaking, I would like to mention Nelson Mandela, who was an exceptional leader. He did not seek vengeance for the injustices he experienced but instead wanted to bring people together to build up their common future. The Minnesota Orchestra traveled to South Africa two years ago to celebrate Mandela’s 100th birthday, and it was such an unforgettable experience.

Leadership involves succession planning. Considering you are now dealing with these issues, what thoughts can you share about this topic?

I have announced my decision to step down as music director of the Minnesota Orchestra at the end of the 2021-2022 season. I will have been lucky enough to work here for nineteen years by that point, while most conductors stay with an organization for an average of about 10 years. Every organization needs fresh ideas and new leadership occasionally to keep it growing and expanding, and in the field of music, every conductor comes with their own set of musical priorities. I have strongly focused on ensemble playing, where everyone should be listening and interacting with each other in order to play together, not just watching the beat that I am giving, which can be interpreted in different ways by different people. The next music director will likely focus on something entirely different, but all of these various ideas make the ensemble more flexible and stronger in the end. Contractually, I have nothing to do with the succession planning, but I have full trust that the committee will find someone great who will enjoy living and working in this community as much as I have.

A lot of leadership occurs behind the scenes—when you are alone. What can you tell us about this part of leadership?

The planning aspect of my job is a process I start off doing completely alone, collecting hundreds of small ideas together into something more cohesive. I get these little ideas on a bike ride or while exercising or shopping for groceries, and I have learned to love the “notes” application on my iPhone! Once I propose my ideas to the group, then it is a much more collaborative process. The other part of my job is being a musical leader on the podium. To prepare for that, the vast majority of my time is spent listening to recordings and studying scores. I need to have thought through every measure of every piece beforehand and believe wholeheartedly in my ideas in order to convey them convincingly to the Orchestra. My time on the podium in front of the Orchestra is limited, and for large works of 90 minutes, that means spending hundreds of hours by myself in my office or in a hotel room on the road pouring over my scores. I can say without a doubt that it is all worth it when I have the chance to make music with my colleagues for our audiences!

Every team will have difficult people. How do you get the most from them?

I try to listen to everybody—difficult people included—to find out if there is a way for me to understand them or even to help them. It is not an easy task, and I know that the risk level is high to make mistakes in those situations. I have found that with certain people, it helps to include them as much as possible, whether it be on committees or just asking their opinions about things. When they feel heard and included, their mind is often put more at ease. That being said, I often have to remind myself and accept that you can’t make everybody happy!

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If you were conducting a complex, rarely played symphony and things began to stray toward the unintended, what would you do?

That can happen in any piece, not just one we have rarely played! An orchestra is a collection of groups as well as individual players and often in complex works, a conductor is needed to stabilize the situation (sometimes we are even referred to as “traffic cops”). One very important part of the conductor’s job is to be the first one to recognize when something starts to happen and to fix it before anyone in the audience has recognized it. You could compare it to Minnesota weather and an icy road during winter: an experienced driver stops a slide from happening before the passengers are aware of it. The real reason why these kinds of things can happen in the Orchestra is that while one is playing their own instrument, it is much more difficult to hear others across the stage. My position in the middle of the stage, not making any sound myself, makes it much easier for me to hear what is going on from every single player, and I can help to keep it together. It is very important that when things go wrong, I stay as calm as possible. If I show my tension and nervousness, it will make others feel the same way, which isn’t helpful.

What advice do you have for those who aspire to become leaders?

Try to collaborate with other people and “sell” your vision to them. Be sure that you have such exciting and convincing ideas that not only you, but others become excited about it as well. Leaders cannot be effective leaders if there isn’t trust and collaboration, and that goes both ways.

There are great healing powers to be found in music. What are your thoughts on this?

Music is about life and our emotions, and it is capable of both lifting you up, as well as creating very dark feelings. It can give us comfort and give some hope, like seeing a light at the end of a tunnel. Ideally, all of the players and the audience can share these emotions together. Music really is powerful, and it has been said that “when all words are used up, then it is time for music to start.”

Osmo Vänskä, the Minnesota Orchestra’s 10th music director, is renowned internationally for his compelling interpretations of the standard, contemporary, and Nordic repertoires. He recently announced that he will step down at the end of the 2021-2022 season.