There’s a price you pay for not thinking of the people you interact with as individuals.
It’s all to easy, when we’re moving fast or aiming high, to think of our students, our employees, our ensemble members, as just pieces of the whole.
You aren’t an individual, you’re one of the third-row students in my class.
You aren’t an individual, you’re an infinitely replaceable cog in our business.
You aren’t an individual, you are a second violin. You aren’t an individual, you’re a second-stringer.
The more we think like this, though, the more dehumanized the people we lead become and the more dehumanized we become. That’s no way to inspire the best from those people, and it’s no way to live.
No matter what, think of them as individuals. Get to know them as individuals, respect them as individuals, make decisions holding in mind that they are individuals.