Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, is guest speaker for the Johnson Graduate School of Management's Park Leadership Series, Tuesday, March 6, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in Barnes Hall auditorium. Zander's talk, titled "Music as Metaphor for Leadership," is free and open to the public.

Zander has been conductor of the Boston Philharmonic since its formation 23 years ago. A highly accomplished and inspirational public speaker, he employs music to convey ideas about transformation and change in the world of business. He has appeared as a keynote speaker for numerous Fortune 500 companies, the State of the World Forum in San Francisco, NASA and the U.S. Army. In 1999, he was presented with the Crystal Award for his contributions to global understanding and peace. He is the subject of a full-length BBC documentary and was featured on a segment of "60 Minutes" last year. Zander's insights were published in a new book titled The Art of Possibility , co-authored with his wife, psychotherapist Rosamund Zander, and published by the Harvard Business School last fall.

Born and educated in England, Zander began composing at age nine and studied with the United Kingdom's leading composer, Benjamin Britten. He has been a faculty member of the New England Conservatory of Music since 1966, where he is well known as the conductor of the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, which he has led on 11 international tours. A documentary of the group's trip to Argentina and Chile in 1995 was nominated for an Emmy Award. Zander also has appeared as guest conductor throughout the world and frequently conducts the London Philharmonic, with whom he was nominated for a Grammy.

The Park speaker's series brings several leaders to Cornell to deliver public lectures on topics of national importance. The series is part of the Johnson School's Park Leadership Fellows Program, established in 1997 through the support of the Park Foundation and the estate of the late media entrepreneur Roy H. Park. The program aims to develop leadership qualities, particularly those of good corporate citizenship, in future business executives.