Following contains material from the book, EntreLeadership (Dave Ramsey).
Many musicians are unaware of the many benefits to studying the subject of leadership. However, there are many aspects of becoming a successful influencer in society as an artist that requires entrepreneurship and initiation of new creative ideas. We encourage students in our music school in Odessa Texas to explore the multifaceted benefits to becoming an entrepreneur.
This is a book written, by the author’s own admission, from his experience in the marketplace. He purposely tries to stay away from ‘high-minded’ platitudes and theories, focusing on what has been proven in his own business.
“As a Christian I made the decision to run every area of my life as consistently with the Bible as I could…I resist the standard employee mentality so much that I have quit using the word ‘employees.’ I call them team members, and I mean it…We want givers in our organization, not takers. Takers leave our group really fast because they don’t fit in.”
“Growing leaders was too refined and calm for me, but growing entrepreneurs was too wild and chaotic for me. So I decided we needed to grow a combination of the two…and thus the EntreLeader was born. I want EntreLeaders who can be:
- Passionately serving
- Mavericks who have integrity
- Disciplined risk takers
- Courageous while humble
- Motivated visionaries
- Driven while loyal
- Influential learners
“We wanted the personal power of the entrepreneur polished and grown by a desire to be a quality leader. We wanted big leaders who have the passion and push of the entrepreneur.”
“I will tell you that leading by fear and anger is not leading- it is bad parenting for two-year-olds. And if you ‘lead’ like this, your company will perform like scared two-year-olds.”
“EntreLeaders understand that ultimately the only power they can use to grow a quality team is the power of persuasion. Persuasion is pulling the rope and positional leadership is pushing the rope. And we all know you can’t push a rope. If you want employees, then boss them around; if you want team members, explain why you do what you do. If they won’t do what you ask, explain it again and again. Then, if they are simply contrary, they have to work somewhere else. But don’t lead with threats and fear.”
We teach students in our music school in Odessa Texas the value of learning to ‘sell’ the audience the music they are performing through conviction, passion, and a commitment to serve.
“The weird thing is that while persuasional leadership takes longer and takes more restraint at the time, it is much more efficient over the long haul. When you teach team members or teens the why, they are more equipped to make the same decision next time without you. You don’t have to watch their every move, you don’t have to put in a time clock, and you don’t have to implant a GPS chip in their hide when they learn how to think for themselves. Positional leadership doesn’t take as long in the exchange, but you have to do it over and over and over and over. You never get to enjoy your team or your kids because they become a source of frustration rather than a source of pride.”
“Benjamin Zander has been the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra since 1979. At age forty-five, something changed within him. He explains, ‘I’d been conducting for twenty years, and I suddenly had a realization. The conductor of an orchestra doesn’t make a sound. [His power depends] on his ability to make other people powerful. And that changed everything for me. I realized my job was to awaken possibility in other people.’ He continues, ‘If their eyes are shining, you know you’re doing it. If the eyes are not shining, you get to ask a question: who am I being that my players’ eyes are not shining?’”
The greatest joy of teachers in our music school in Odessa Texas is to unlock the potential in our students in such a way that their eyes are sparkling with excitement.
“Once I understand that I am serving my team by leading them, just like I am serving my children by parenting them, I relaxed.”
“So how do you begin to foster and live out this spirit of serving your team with strength? Avoid executive perks and ivory towers. Eat lunch with your team in the company lunchroom every day. Get your own coffee sometimes. No reserved parking spots. Look for the little actions you can take that say to your team that while you are in charge, and while you lead form strength, you are all in this together.”
“You cannot lead without passion…Passion is not yelling or being wild; it is simply caring deeply.”
“Visions are dreams with more clarity.”
“It sounds good to put your goal in writing, but almost no one does. And the correlation is clear: almost no one wins. Winners are so strange that we admire them deeply. With very few exceptions winners have written goals. It is almost impossible to accomplish something big without a written blueprint.”
One of the lost arts of music creativity today is understanding the value of putting ideas down in notation, like a blueprint. We value teaching students in our music school in Odessa Texas how to both read and write music notation proficiently.
“Companies all over America are failing because they have allowed a culture of leaders and teams who don’t care about the goal, but just about themselves. When the team cares only about themselves, they are by definition no longer a team, they are just employees.
“Strange as it may seem, when you work a daily plan in pursuit of your written goals that flow from your mission statement born of your vision for living your dreams, you are energized after a tough long day.”
“If you spend fifteen minutes planning your day on paper every morning, you will add 20 percent to your productivity.”
One of the strategies we teach students in our music school in Odessa Texas is to plan their practice time each day, in order to see incremental progress on a daily basis.
“Big decisions should take big time and little decisions should be done instantly. The more money involved the more you should slow down. The more time involved as a result of the decision, the more you should slow down. The more people are involved the more you should slow down.”
“One reason people make bad decisions is they don’t have a good decision as one of their options…Ninety percent of making the right decision is the gathering of information. The bigger the decision, the more time you take, the more options you gather, and the more informed you should become…Sometimes people think that the more information you have to wade through the harder the decision is. The opposite is true; the more information you have, the more obvious the correct decision is, and therefore it is an easier decision to make. Information removes fear. Titus said, ‘We fear things in proportion to our ignorance of them.’”
The value of studying under a mentor or teacher is to gain objectivity and insight into things that at one time were overwhelming to think about. We hope to give good instruction to students in our music school in Odessa Texas, so they can proceed with confidence.