The Conductor as the Servant Leader

At the heart of the orchestra stands the conductor, who takes center stage at every performance. The conductor shapes the music, making critical musical decisions on dynamic, tempo, and balance. Not only do they need to be great leaders, but the best conductors are also able to interpret the same musical work performed countless times in new and enlightening ways.

The role of the conductor is integral to music; however, a 2020 survey found that in a list of the 100 top conductors in the world, only eight were women. So why is a female presence on the conductor’s podium still rare, even in the 21st century?

“I think there are a lot of different reasons for that,” Dr. Beverly Everett said. Everett is the music director for the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra and a professor of organ at the University of Mary. “I think that it’s partly that the history of classical music comes so heavily out of the European traditions, and I think it has to do with how we view leadership roles and what makes a leader.”

“If you think of a famous conductor, like Toscanini, these people were notorious for being a dictator on a podium and screaming at people, being a tyrant,” Everett said. She shared how she’s been told throughout her career to be more assertive, loud, and aggressive, traits that are generally considered to be more masculine, whereas women are naturally more nurturing and empathetic. The result? “Females still make up only about 15% of music directors in the United States,” Everett said.

Everett imagines a different kind of leadership from the conductor than one of forcefulness and aggression – that of servant leadership, a concept she took to heart through her relationship with Sister Thomas Welder. As a musician and conductor herself, Sister Thomas was a fan of the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra, which is where Everett met Sister Thomas when she first moved to Bismarck in 2008. That same year, Everett played organ for the annual Christmas at Mary concert, and Sister Thomas invited her to dinner. When Everett started teaching organ at the university, she’d stop by Sister Thomas’s office to say hi on her way to the chapel.

When Everett was invited to present at the International Symposium for Women Conductors in September 2020, the first person she thought of was Sister Thomas.

“Losing her was pretty recent, and that grief was still fresh,” Everett said. “I also thought about how she pioneered as a female college president and all of the things she accomplished at the university. I wanted to share this idea of being a servant leader and how we can do that as conductors. Servant leadership changed me as a musician and helped me recognize strengths as a conductor that I didn’t think of as strengths before.”

Everett presented on a panel of women conductors from all over the United States during the virtual symposium on September 20, 2020, which had over 2,000 viewers.

Servant leadership helped me recognize strengths as a conductor that I didn’t think of as strengths before.

“In her own words, Sister Thomas defined servant leadership in this way: ‘the ultimate service of the servant leader is to build community, to honor and serve the other, to reach across boundaries and differences, and to see in our differences the strengths needed to restore peace and hope in a fragmented world.’ How do we do this as conductors?” Everett said in her presentation.

“Building community requires us to listen and be fully present, listen carefully to our musicians, our communities, and our audiences. I believe that one of the chief ways we achieve mutual respect in our leadership is by maintaining high expectations. It is about believing in others so much, sometimes more than they believe in themselves. We reach across boundaries through our programming, specifically through adventurous, brave, risk-taking programming that takes us beyond the traditional orchestra models to reach the underserved, to promote diversity, to educate, and to make what we do relevant.”

Everett hopes that her presentation resonated with her audience and that they apply the lessons of servant leadership to their own lives. She also hopes the message of servant leadership inspires other women to be authentic and not conform to the traditional expectations of a conductor.

Everett finished her presentation by saying, “I believe that with a servant’s heart combined with a fierce passion and vision, we can help restore peace and hope in our world through each note, each person, and each performance.”