Lessons from High-Performing Organizations On Display at Curtis

Brian MacNeice, co-author of Powerhouse: Insider Accounts Into the World’s Top High-Performance Organizations, visited Philadelphia in early April for speaking engagements at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Wharton School. Founder and managing director of Kotinos Partners, a strategy, organization, and leadership consulting firm based in Dublin, Mr. MacNeice advises international clients on driving improvements in the performance focus and culture of their businesses.

Speaking to audiences at Curtis on April 2 and at Wharton on April 3, he shared some of the fundamental principles of building a high-performance environment, gathered through immersive personal research at 12 elite organizations across the world, including the Curtis Institute of Music, the Mayo Clinic, New Zealand All Blacks Rugby Team, Toyota, Doctors Without Borders, Southwest Airlines, and the U.S. Marine Corps.

Mr. MacNeice credited numerous aspects of the culture and teaching philosophy at Curtis as reasons for the school’s success, including the ambitious mission, feedback-rich culture, and dedication to continual improvement. Pulling from these lessons and those of other organizations profiled in Powerhouse, he presented the framework by which any organization can achieve excellence.

Learn more about the elements that help to make Curtis a Powerhouse.