If you have 20 Minutes, you should watch this talk by Benjamin Zander:
I love this talk. Benjamin Zander, as he talks about Classical Music and teaches an audience of 1600 to love and understand Classical Music as well as gives us insight into leadership in 20 minutes. In some ways he does this by taking the big and the complicated and plays it with one buttock. What he does in his talk, is the same thing that he does when he’s playing. He doesn’t have an “impulse” on every possible point, or theoretical aspect of the piece, but instead gives us what it means, and shows us the line, not the individual notes.
I think that sometimes when we are dealing with ministry, activism or any other endeavor to lead others, we tend to be like the seven year old piano player. We put an impulse on every technical aspect of the vision that we are casting and the life that we are calling people to, and in doing so we kill it. Here’s a tip for you. If someone is trying to convince you to change your lifestyle, the best way to kill their argument is to nitpick it. Sometimes, we save our audience the trouble.
I think that part of ministry is to take the big, the complicated, the technical, and make it small, simple and evocative, and then to always keep that evocative, small, and simple truth in mind so that whenever we are tempted to make it about the individual notes, or aspects of the vision, we dont.
via Presentation Zen
