Composing Clarity in Chaos

In a time when pressure runs high and polarization runs deep, successful communicators are doing more than informing; they are leading through inspiration. 

In this episode, we revisit a standout Spring Seminar keynote from conductor Benjamin Zander, whose message about radiating possibility struck a powerful chord. What does it mean to lead with intentional optimism? To set the tone, not just take the temperature? Drawing on Zander’s insights, we explore how CCOs can compose calm and lead through the less appreciated tools of presence, mindset and belief.

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Transcription

Eliot Mizrachi: [00:00:00] Welcome to the new CCO Brief, where we bring you the ideas, conversations, and themes that might have been missed otherwise. I'm Eliot Mizrachi

at this year's Page, spring seminar held under the theme New World Disorder, thriving Amid chaos. We explored how communicators can lead in an era of disruption. But one of the most memorable sessions was a keynote that made us laugh,made us learn, and even tear up a little

Benjamin Zander didn't come with a slide deck. He came with a piano and a message for everyone in the room. That message radiating [00:01:00] possibility

today, we wanted to quickly explore what that phrase means and how communicators can put it into practice, leading with optimism to inspire action, even in the most fractured landscape and across radically polarized stakeholders.

Zander Has a special ability to get us to see the truth right in front of our eyes. one of the first things he called us out on was this.

Benjamin Zander: I did notice something quite interesting in the last session, and it's been re repeated now, which is that. There is nobody in the front row here. And that was true before. And I thought quite a bit about this because then I noticed that the first row to fill out was the back row. And that's kind of interesting because why do we sit in the back row?

What is it about the back row that is so irresistible? Has anybody thought about that? Closer to [00:02:00] closer, right? It's close to the door so you can escape. That's the first thing. And there are a number of people who aren't even in the back row, but they're behind the back row, so they're even closer to the door.

And is there anything else about the back row that is irresistibly attractive? Watch the room. You can watch the whole room. So if people in the back row are often sitting with their arms crossed saying, Hmm, they're having a little trouble up there in the front.

It's the place for the judges and the critics. Great. Is there anything else about the back row? . The professor won't call on you if you're exactly right, nobody will call on you from the back row. That's very profound because nobody, and nobody gets asked if the the back row.

Right. And then there's one other wonderful thing of that back row you can. [00:03:00] Sleep. Exactly and I want you to come to the front row and I invite you to come to the front row in the same spirit in which the government invites you to pay your taxes.

Okay? Would you please?

Wonderful. Wonderful. Great. More, more, more. We need more people, more people

okay, that's great. Now that makes all the difference to me. You understand? Having the front row full That makes all the difference to me. And as for you, for the rest of your life, every time you walk into a room for the rest of your life, you will ever be able to decide, shall I sit in the back and hide and judge and criticize and what was the other thing?

Sleep and or will I [00:04:00] sit in the front? I call this the front row of your life. So what's happened here? If I had said, please push people up to the front, you would either have ignored it or resented it, and it's the kind of thing that happens in school. People say, move up to the front and you don't want to.

And so you are more likely to end up being in the back in future. I didn't do that. I created a distinction. And the distinction is sitting in the front row of your life, and you all know what that means. Being attentive and aware and open and not minding, being spat on and all, all of that. And that's a way of being.

It's not a place to sit, it's a way of being represented by being in the front. You got it? The people in the back now have to say, do I have to be bored, disengaged. Judging, criticizing, and God forbid, [00:05:00] sleeping. No, of course not. Because once you have the distinction, the way of being represented by this statement of being in the front, it doesn't matter where you sit, you can lead the orchestra from the back if you have that mindset.

So what I have just done is I've created a distinction and a powerful distinction. And the thing that's beautiful about it, unlike instructions and motivation, it sticks. Motivation is great, it's very valuable. People come and they energize and they push people and they, you feel great for about two hours

And that's what motivation is. Transformation, on the other hand sticks forever. And so now you have this distinction and it'll be there for the rest of your life. And so being in the front row is now something very understandable. The thing that's not [00:06:00] so easy to do is to sit somewhere other than the front row and still be in the front row of your life.

Eliot Mizrachi: It's a simple idea, but a powerful one because in times like these, it's easy for communicators to be too busy putting out fires. Too busy trying to stay afloat or worse being burnt out, sitting in the back row monitoring their phones. Who among us hasn't been that guy,

but communicators have a unique position in the organization. We help shape how people feel, how they interpret events. We can guide our stakeholders to publish content that focuses on possibility instead of pessimism. Xandr contrasted two mindsets.. One, the downward spiral and the other, the world of possibility, and he reminded us that success and failure aren't opposites. They're intrinsically linked.

Benjamin Zander: There are really two worlds that I want to distinguish, and again, I use that word.

This is a world that we're all extremely familiar [00:07:00] with. It's the world I call the downward spiral. And it does exactly what you would expect a downward spiral to do, which is it goes down, it's the world of failure. But at the same time, it's also the world of success because success and failure go together like the front of the hand and the back of the hand.

You can't separate them. So even when you are being successful, say the stock market is going up, you are worried that it might come down. And so we call it the downward spiral. It is a world of success and failure, winning and losing comparisons and above all measurement. So this world is a world that we all live in and it's per permeates our life. And in the world of communication, it is. Always present, always present. This world looking for bad things, looking for [00:08:00] for negatives, looking for stories that sell. And so this is very familiar and doesn't need further discussion.

The other world is a world that we call radiating possibility. And you notice it has a completely different shape. It doesn't have any up and down, no success and failure. It has only radiating arrows suggesting possibility, and the arrows go out in all directions.

And here's a beautiful thought, one which you might pass on to your even very young children. 'cause I passed this once on to an 8-year-old who got it completely, which is that every time you open your mouth, every time you open your mouth, you can choose whether to speak in the downward spiral or in radiating possibility.

And that is a very, very profound realization. And when you get it, and I remember the look on [00:09:00] the face of this 8-year-old and I said it, he said. Wow. And I dunno what he meant, but I could guess, which he suddenly felt very powerful 'cause he suddenly realized he could actually change the world by opening his mouth and speaking.

Now I'm speaking to a group of people with immense power, more power than any other group, more power than any army, because we can't use armies now, but we can use communication.

Eliot Mizrachi: This insight applied to us all as communicators. Because possibility requires courage. And these days, optimism takes a deliberate, intentional decision.

Zander didn't talk about communications in the traditional sense. He talked about presence, mindset, energy, the idea that leaders have a choice to focus on what's broken or to radiate what's possible.

And this idea resonated so [00:10:00] deeply with Page members, this new world disorder in which we're all operating, volatile, fragmented, and frankly exhausting.

It's no surprise then that the most cited Page principle at the conference was the seventh. Remain calm, patient and good. humored. and if that's not a reflection of the world we live in, I don't know what is,

this brings us to something. Fred Kempe CEO of the Atlantic Council said during our geopolitical panel.

one of the things is provide light and not heat and don't respond, uh, to every event, every day.

Eliot Mizrachi: That's what great communicators do.

We don't ignore the pressure, but we choose the energy we bring into a room, a message or a moment, and that choice often shapes how others respond.

I. There's a leadership metaphor that fits here. Be the [00:11:00] thermostat, not the thermometer. A thermometer, reflects the temperature around it.

. A thermostat lets you set the tone, and that's what we are called to do. Set the tone, not with spin, not with toxic positivity, but with intentional optimism, anchored in truth, grounded in values, and expressed with humility.

We heard it again and again at the seminar. Burnout is real. Communicators are being asked to deliver clarity in chaos, to move faster with less, and to manage expectations that are larger and sometimes in conflict. And in that context, radiating possibility isn't just a leadership style, it's a strategy.

Thinking about the effect Sander had in the room, how music connected us, how laughter broke the tension, how engagement lifted the energy, that's the power of intentional presence. And the same applies inside our organizations. When we communicate with belief, with hope, [00:12:00] and with purpose, we create momentum.

We remind people of what's still possible, because in these chaotic times when people feel lost or overwhelmed, our presence matters. Our voice matters.

In a fragmented world, radiating possibility may be the most strategic move a communicator can make. So as you step into your next team meeting, executive briefing, or employee all hands, ask yourself, what energy am I bringing into this space?

Am I reacting or am I setting the tone? It's easy to feel that there's a lot of heat being brought from the world into our organizations, but when that happens, we provide the light lead with clarity. Radiate possibility.

Thanks for listening to The New CCO Brief. I'm Eliot Mizrachi and we'll see you next time.

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