Bernstein was a dreadful showoff (from one who shares that propensity without any of his talent) but of all the conductors he was the least authentic.

Yes, its possible to conduct an orchestra with your eyebrows, but you have to be a serious control freak to want to do it and a major exhibitionist to do it in public.

The Lenny piece was all about Lenny, did you notice that it was almost entirely focused on him, and not on the orchestra?

It was the immature child in him that could not resist showing the whole world, "look ma, no hands"

I think the moment starts at 25.50 with "I need you as a full person, bring what you know, then we can start a dialog". It strikes me as a call to really "show up".

For example, I was able to answer a question posted on Twitter by Paul Daniels - someone I watched on the telly ever Saturday night as I was growing up. He is someone I would never otherwise have connected with, and it also meant that my first contact with him was a gift freely given, rather than a burden or request.

Hurrah for the interweb!

Cheers,
Stuart

As a fellow that has inflicted a great many "keynotes" on people over the years, I learned to stir clear of "certainties" and silver bullets.

I'd rather introduce a conversation than present an answer.

I'd rather frame up a challenge while provoking some emotion and thought.

At this point, I really don't want any more "happy face" evaluations.

As usual, you've got me stirred up. Thanks!

Keep creating...with others,
Mike

One favorite professor in grad school taught a class on creativity. It started with "attentiveness" as an essential component of meaningful innovation.

Must find my way across the pond to be part of one your events.

Keep creating...eyes that see,
Mike

things that I would spend my time pursuing have goals. that is the kind of person I am, I like accomplishing things from day to day, it makes me feel good about myself and my life. the goal doesn't have to be apparent to me at the time, but at some point I would like to look back and think that I would regret not having spent the time doing that.

To me, twitter has no purpose. it is an entire social networking site that only does what the status section of facebook does. why would i tweet something when i could just post my status on facebook? more of my friends check facebook more frequently because it has a purpose. It connects you with friends that you may not otherwise talk to all the time or be able to keep in touch with. A good analogy for twitter is the idea of carrying a watch, a cellphone, a gps unit, a blackberry, a camera, a camcorder, and a netbook with you at all times. why carry all that crap when you could do all the stuff that all those things do on a cell phone? Twitter is the useless accessory to Facebook's iphone functionality.