Harmony.
It is much easier to tune musical instruments than it is to tune a team of people. It is clear when an instrument is in the right key. Then when it comes time to use it, there is the sheet music to guide and unite the musicians. In other sectors, from private to public, it is an entirely different matter. Constantly changing situations, moods, and data call for flexibility and improvisation. The tuner-leader must achieve alignment across disparate beds of knowledge, experience, and personalities. Strategy is the sheet music of an organization, articulating a shared point of view that is expressed in compelling messages. Music to the ears of every player and every stakeholder.
Allegory of Music. Laurent de La Hyre. 1649. Oil on canvas. Charles B. Curtis Fund, 1950. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Honing leadership excellence in the public sector
McKinsey: When asked what characterized the most outstanding leaders they had worked with, the respondents suggested that character is destiny: One of the most-cited traits was being respected for character, values, and integrity. ... This set the foundation for two other essential traits—clarity of purpose and the ability to deliver results despite ambiguity and change. ... As several leaders noted, when senior leaders join government from the private sector, they are often shocked at how little linear accountability there is.
Virginia Tech-led team expands hunt for critical minerals
Matt Busse: Researchers say that sources such as coal waste, fly ash from power plants and slag dumps from iron mines contain critical minerals and rare earth elements, potentially providing a key domestic source for these vital resources. Extracting them could also provide new revenue for mining companies and help offset the cost of cleaning up legacy waste.
Lost Merlin manuscript discovered
Min Chen: Due to the fragility of the manuscript, researchers balked at unfolding the fragment. Such a move, they said, could cause irreversible damage to the artifact. The team has left the manuscript in situ as a record of 16th-century binding techniques, instead deploying non-invasive, high-tech methods to digitally unravel it, in collaboration with the library’s Cultural Heritage Imaging Laboratory (CHIL).
In performance at the White House: Frank Sinatra and Perry Como
Helen Thomas: Como and Sinatra captivated the glittering guests gathered in the East Room with old favorites like 'Prisoner of Love' and 'It's Impossible' for Como and 'I Can't Get Started' and 'I've Got You Under My Skin' for Sinatra.