Context Is Everything…..
What a Stradivarius Teaches About Leadership
By our Executive Search Consultant, Louise Baumann.
A world-class violinist once played a $3.5 million Stradivarius in a Washington DC subway station during rush hour. Dressed in jeans and a cap, he played six classical pieces to more than 1,000 commuters. Few paused. He made $32.
Later, that same musician played the same instrument at a concert where the audiences paid hundreds of dollars to hear him. The difference was the venue. And the perception of value.
This experiment reminds us that brilliance can go unnoticed in the wrong context. The same is true for leadership. It is not always about reinventing yourself. Some of the most impactful leaders I have seen in executive search didn’t internalise failure or force a change in style. They simply picked up their violin and chose a different stage. They moved from being overlooked in one organisation to being celebrated in another. They stopped pushing in environments where they weren’t heard and instead found spaces where their vision and momentum resonated.
Sometimes you need to pick up your violin and choose a different stage
Sometimes, it isn’t the leader that needs to change. It’s the audience. Cultural and strategic alignment creates harmony. When leaders and organisations are in tune, performance is amplified. Data from Harvard Business Review supports this: leaders aligned with organisational culture consistently outperform peers with identical skills who don’t have that alignment.
Think back to the last time you were performing at your absolute best. What conditions were in place? Was it clarity? Autonomy? A board that trusted and followed you? Did you believe in what you were doing? As you replay those highlights, patterns emerge. Success leaves clues, shining a light on context, not just capability.
It takes courage to stop playing when you’re not being heard. Many executives hold on, mistaking silence for a challenge to overcome. The silence, though, isn’t failure. It’s feedback. The silence tells you something vital about what you need to thrive. What is your current environment teaching you? What do the struggles reveal about what matters most to you as a leader?
This is a pattern we see often in executive search. Someone labelled “off key” in one role suddenly shines elsewhere. The same person, the same strengths now in a place where they can perform successfully.
If this is you, all is not lost. Being in the wrong context sharpens your understanding of the right one, helping you distinguish between what you think you want and what you truly need.
Use the opportunity to reflect and ask yourself: What is this chapter teaching me? How can I use this experience to redefine what success looks like for me? Am I stretching, or am I settling?
The Stradivarius didn’t change. The violinist didn’t change. Only the context did. Leaders face a similar truth: your talent is already there. Success is finding the right stage where your leadership is recognised, and your impact is truly felt.
Go where your leadership is recognised, and your impact is truly felt