Benjamin Zander Quotes

I have a definition of success. For me it’s very simple. It’s not about wealth and fame and power. It’s about how many shining eyes I have around me.

Look at their eyes. If their eyes are shining, you know you’re doing it.

My job is to awaken possibility in other people.

Life is revealed as a place to contribute and we as contributors. Not because we have done a measurable amount of good, but because that is the story we tell.

It’s one of the characteristics of a leader that he not doubt for one moment the capacity of the people he’s leading to realize whatever he’s dreaming. Imagine if Martin Luther King had said, ‘I have a dream. Of course, I’m not sure they’ll be up to it.

Imagine Martin Luther King saying, ‘I have a dream … But I don’t know if the others will buy it.’

Live the rest of your life in possibility

How often do we stand convinced of the truth of our early memories, forgetting that they are assessments made by a child? We can replace the narratives that hold us back by inventing wiser stories, free from childish fears, and, in doing so, disperse long-held psychological stumbling blocks.

The job of the leader is to speak to the possibility.

Everybody loves classical music they just don’t know about it yet.

I’m so sorry for you; your lives have been so easy. You can’t play great music unless your heart’s been broken.

As leaders, we’re giving out grades in every encounter we have with people. We can choose to give out grades as an expectation to live up to, and then we can reassess them according to performance. Or we can offer grades as a possibility to live into. The second approach is much more powerful.