Listening to international musicians improvize at the Cully Jazz Festival I thought about the “beautiful music” made through the interactions of 28 senior executives from 19 countries representing 15 industries during the IMD program Advanced Strategic Management. Each ASM participant entered the program determined to design the best solution to a concrete business challenge they faced. They left not only as individuals each with his or her own finely honed action plan, but also as a team of executives who indeed made beautiful music together through helping each other. And, as I led my session first at ASM and then for the full IMD community on the importance of Highly Relational Engagement of Stakeholders – internal and external – for creating long-term value, I also experienced how through our engaged dialogue we too created unique and beautiful music since it is different each time I facilitate this dialogue with different groups. From the two videos below enjoy the music of “Summertime” and share your feedback on the music of engaging stakeholders.
