A number of years ago I had the privilege of hearing Leonard Bernstein conduct the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. I remember watching this great conductor step confidently in front of his orchestra, and with a wave of his baton, blend dozens of talented professional musicians into a finely tuned instrument that produced exquisitely beautiful music.

The really wonderful part, though, was the way Bernstein was able to captivate the audience, and include us as part of the total experience. This kind of talent is something I have always admired. I even admit to being a little jealous of it.

My guess is that most of you have had an experience like that. It's a moment when a painting or a photograph or a song captures your imagination and speaks to you in a special way. You may even have said to yourself, I wish I could paint like that, or I wish I could perform or write music like that.

But it isn't just great works of art as most people think of them that profoundly affect me or get me excited. I get the same feeling when I experience a well-run business or institution. They can be large, medium-sized or smaller. Size is not the relevant factor. Instead, it is how harmony occurs through the mission statement and the company culture.

In my way of thinking, it takes every bit as much creativity and genius to manage a successful business or institution as it does to create a work of art. In fact, I would argue that creating and maintaining a successful business is indeed a work of art.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul talks about spiritual gifts and how important each one of those gifts is to the entire body. Paul says the body must have all its parts to function properly.

It is important for us to have people with the gift of creating things of great aesthetic beauty like art and music. But it is just as important to have people among us with the gift of creating healthy businesses that in turn create employment and resources for many people. Without all these gifts working together, our body, our community, is incomplete and does not function properly.

In my 20 years as a CEO I have seen times when organizations have been in tune, and times when there was little harmony evident. I've seen times when many of the musical instruments were in place, the sheet music was on the stands, and the professionals were highly talented. But somehow when the conductor rapped his baton, he couldn't get everyone on the same line, let alone on the same note.

Here are several traits that I have found to be helpful for leaders who want to create an artistic masterpiece.

• Leaders manage the dream. A dream is a wonderful thing, but until the conductor can make it understood by the entire orchestra, it will remain an unfulfilled dream. When the dream is fully understood, it becomes a living experience.
  
  
• Leaders embrace error. As John Wooden put it, "Failure is not a crime. Low aim is."
  
  
• Leaders encourage reflective feedback. Informed critique is important in creating a masterpiece. Embrace it. Encourage it.
  
  
• Leaders encourage dissent. Leaders need people around them who have contrary views—"variance sensors" who can tell you the difference between expectation and reality. Surround yourself with people who have strengths you do not have. Do not fill your organization with clones.
  
  
• Leaders need to be optimists. Optimism and hope provide choices. The opposite of hope is despair. When we despair it is because we feel there are no clear choices. An old Chinese proverb says, "The birds of worry and care fly above your head. This you cannot change. But that they build nests in your hair, this you can prevent."
  
  
• Leaders set high but achievable expectations. The motto should probably be, "Stretch, don't strain." Pretend you are training for the Olympics, where easy does it. If you pull a muscle today, you are out of contention tomorrow.
  
  
• Leaders have the Gretzky factor. Wayne Gretzky, the best hockey player of his generation, says, "It's not as important to know where the puck is now as where it will be." Leaders have a sense of where the culture is going to be, and where the organization must be if it is to grow.
  
  
• Leaders see the long view. They practice patience. We must learn how to walk before we run. Being a master at walking makes running that much easier.
  
  
• Leaders understand stakeholder symmetry. They know they must balance the competing claims of all groups with a stake in the organization. The reality of the world, the complexity of the immediate environment, and the need for stakeholder symmetry must not be lost to the colorful glories of kaleidoscope vision.
  
  
• Leaders create strategic alliances and partnerships. The astute leaders of the future are going to recognize the significance of creative alliances with other organizations are correlated with their own.
  
  

Checking Pitch and Harmony
Putting all these ideas into practice is an important step, but you can't afford to stop there. You must also ask yourself, "How do I know when my organization is in tune?"

The Bible says, "by their fruits you shall know them" (Matt. 7:16). Of course, that has to mean paying attention to the bottom line, but there is a lot more to it. I suggest you check yourself in three ways:

First, test yourself with your customers and your employees. If you are a large company, hire someone to conduct the surveys for you. If you are large or small, adopt the model of MBWA—management by walking around. Ask people what they think, and really listen to what they tell you. Most people will give you honest answers. And the more you ask, the more willing they will be to talk to you. There is no more basic barometer than simply talking to your customers and your employees.

Second, test yourself against your mission statement. A clearly-stated mission provides more than common sense. It can also provide an ethic for the firm or a way of seeking what is right and avoiding what is wrong. Your firm needs a moral reference point, a compass heading that provides guidance for the way things are done.

Do you have a mission statement? If not, write one. If you have one, test yourself against it at least weekly, if not daily. Every time you are about to make a decision, ask yourself if it furthers your mission. If it doesn't, you should either change what you are about to do or change your mission statement.

Third, test yourself against the Scriptures. Never forget your Creator. Daily devotion and prayer should provide the framework that surrounds your every activity. Some people would have you believe that keeping your business life and your spiritual life in tune is extremely difficult; that somewhere along the line you have to make so many compromises that neither your spiritual nor your business life works right.

My view is that life is usually a lot tougher when these elements are not in tune. In music, a composer sometimes intentionally introduces dissonance to create interest, but the piece usually becomes satisfying only when the discord is resolved. And so it is with our business and spiritual lives. We must strive to resolve the dissonance, and the best way to find the discord is to test ourselves against the Scriptures. In the end, when the artist meets the True Creator, this is the only test that matters.

I have often heard artists talk about a compulsion to create. They speak of being driven by a force outside themselves to create a great sculpture or compose a great work of music. My experience is much the same, and I suspect it is true for you as well. When you know things are going well, when everything is in tune, it gives you a feeling like nothing else in the world. And even when things are not going well, when the pieces of the sculpture just won't fit together, you are driven by that same force to keep at it until the work is complete.

Like any artist, it takes years of practice and experience with the tools of your art before you can create a masterpiece. And there may be some ruined canvases along the way. But commitment and dedication to your art will keep you working at it until you have created a masterpiece of your own.

Excerpted from Howard Brenneman's keynote address to the 1996 MEDA Convention. Copyright 1996. Used by permission.

Brenneman has spent two decades as a CEO, formerly with Hesston Corporation and now with Mennonite Mutual Aid (MMA), Goshen, Indiana. As a stewardship solutions organization, MMA helps Anabaptists practice holistic stewardship through its expertise in insurance, financial services, charitable-giving programs, and fraternal benefits.