In the high-stakes world of modern business, the image of a CEO as a soloist commanding the spotlight, calling all the shots feels increasingly outdated. Today, leadership demands a different metaphor: that of the conductor. A great CEO, like a great maestro, doesn’t need to play every instrument. Instead, she must bring the orchestra together, align various voices and create harmony out of complexity.
My journey to building and leading companies wasn’t common or expected. My earliest leadership role was surviving a revolution. From escaping Iran as a teenager—alone and with little money—to working as a cashier behind bullet-proof glass at a gas station in Los Angeles, to eventually leading one of the largest franchise platforms in the U.S., my path has been anything but traditional. But every step taught me something essential about orchestrating strategy, people and capital. And doing it in a way that creates not just substantial performance, but meaning.
Let’s explore what it means to lead like a conductor.
The CEO’s Baton: Setting the Tone
A conductor walks on stage before the first note is played and raises her baton. In that moment, every musician looks up and prepares to align. For a CEO, the baton is your clarity of vision and the tone you set.
For years, I was a member of a team that grew a company as entrepreneurs. We had experienced trials and turbulations as most entrepreneurs do. And we had found success. After we decided to bring in private equity, I set out to find just the right partners. What I hadn’t planned on was having almost all the rest of the C-Suite bought out while I was to run a fairly large company and perform to our lofty expectations. In 2015, I found myself not only as CEO but also as CIO, CFO, CMO and COO!
So, although we stayed focused on performance, I knew I had a challenging road ahead. And I was well-aware that in order to bring the promise of our company to its fruition that I had to do things differently. We had to understand who we were and what our vision was—not just financially, but culturally. What did we stand for? Who did we serve? What did success really look like?
Just like an orchestra playing without direction leads to noise, companies without a shared vision unravel into chaos. The first job of a CEO is not to have all the answers; it’s to set the tempo and ensure everyone is in the right seat suited to their talent and have the right playbook. That means understanding people and what they do well. It also means having the right plans and expectations for each. And above all, it means aligning and harmonizing all.
Score the Strategy: Designing the Music
In music, the score is the blueprint. It tells every player when to come in, when to rest, how loudly to play. Strategy works the same way. It isn’t enough to know where you’re going but also structure, clarity and timing.
For us, scoring the strategy meant rethinking everything: from brand identity to how we supported our franchisees. We moved from being a fragmented operation to a unified platform that focused on value creation for both consumers and business owners. We invested in data, reimagined marketing and upgraded our digital infrastructure. But more than that, we communicated the “why” behind every move.
A good conductor doesn’t shout instructions during the performance. She prepares relentlessly in rehearsal. Strategy is your rehearsal. It’s where you build alignment, so that execution becomes second nature.
Harmonize Talent and Capital: Playing to Strengths
No conductor expects the violins to play the tuba part. Similarly, no CEO should expect talent and capital to operate interchangeably. Each serves a unique role, and harmony comes when they are aligned and honored.
One of the greatest misconceptions in business is that money drives results. But money misaligned with the right people, culture and goals is just noise. I spent years cultivating the right team—people who not only brought talent, but shared values of integrity, transparency and grit. At the same time, I worked closely with our investors to ensure we weren’t just chasing short-term wins, but building long-term value.
When we aligned people and capital, we unlocked enormous growth. Not because we micromanaged, but because everyone knew the role they played and how their work contributed to the bigger picture.
Master Dynamic Pacing: Leading Through Change
Conductors are responsible for tempo. Go too fast, and you lose precision. Go too slow, and you lose energy. CEOs face the same challenge.
During the Great Recession, we were hit hard. Franchises closed, customers pulled back and uncertainty loomed. That’s when I learned the power of pacing. In crisis, leaders must know when to push and when to pause.
Sometimes you accelerate to capture opportunity. Sometimes you slow down to preserve cash, reflect or restructure. But either way, you must stay in rhythm. Just like a conductor guides her orchestra through a crescendo or a decrescendo, a CEO must guide her company through volatility without losing the beat.
I often told my team: We don’t control the economy, but we control how we respond to it. That’s pacing. That’s leadership.
Empower the Soloists: Elevate, Don’t Overshadow
Every great performance includes a solo. And great conductors know when to step back and let individual talent shine.
For me, leadership wasn’t about being the loudest voice in the room. It was about creating a space where others could rise. Whether it was a franchise owner reinventing their business model or a team leader piloting a new initiative, my job was to spotlight them, support them, challenge them and get out of their way.
I often say that the CEO doesn’t have to play every note. You just have to know who does and make sure they have the confidence, resources, and room to play it well.
Empowerment is not abdication. It’s conscious elevation. You don’t lead by control. You lead by trust.
Keep the Audience Engaged: Obsess Over Experience
A performance isn’t complete without an audience. In business, our audience includes customers, employees, stakeholders and investors. If they’re not engaged, the music falls flat.
Too many leaders focus only on internal metrics such as margins, headcount, EBITDA. But if you’re not obsessing over your stakeholders’ experience, you’re out of tune.
One of my guiding principles was empathy. Empathy in this context means meeting people where they are. It is a powerful tool to understanding others so that you can build with them in mind, inspire them, negotiate with them and lead them. That meant listening—really listening—to executives, customers, team members, partners and stakeholders. It meant investing in tools and support systems that made them succeed. It meant showing up.
When I think back to the exponential growth we achieved, I know it wasn’t because we were louder or flashier than the competition. It was because we connected with our audience.
Leading Without Playing Every Note: The Power of Orchestration
As CEO, I had to shed the idea that leadership meant doing everything myself. In the beginning, especially coming from an immigrant background and a mindset of survival, I often felt like I had to be everything to everyone.
But over time, I learned the beauty of orchestration.
You don’t have to play every instrument. You just have to listen for the gaps, adjust the balance and trust the musicians. When someone misses a note, you don’t shame them. You reset the tempo, reinforce the vision and bring them back in. And of course, if they’re not in the right seat, find them a new one.
That’s the art of leadership. Not perfection, but harmony.
When we sold Home Franchise Concepts in a successful exit, it wasn’t just a financial win. It was a testament to what can happen when strategy, people and capital are in sync. When a CEO leads like a conductor, not a soloist, the result is more than performance. It’s music.
Every leader has a choice. You can try to be the star soloist. Or you can pick up the baton and guide your orchestra to something greater than the sum of its parts.
To lead in perfect harmony takes humility, courage, vision and trust. It means honoring every player, knowing when to speed up or slow down, and always, always listening.
In business as in music, the silence between the notes matters as much as the notes themselves. And sometimes, the most powerful thing a CEO can do is put down the instrument and conduct.
