Thursday, May 21, 2026
You’ll come to a point where you will trust your own taste. People think standards are found in textbooks, laws, and policy, but ask a judge about how “absolute” the law is.
As a choral director, when asked about some specific thing by a chorister, it was always about my taste. Question my taste? I was constantly reminding people, “No, that’s not how we do things.” How do we do things? According to my tastes. Any questions? Where do we find this written down? It’s not written. It’s mere shilly-shally.
Following a longstanding person in a job is hard. You have to get people on board with your tastes. When I started my last music job in a church some years ago, the choir had no taste. Which meant, I hadn’t gotten in there to show them “how we do things.” I had to constantly remind them “We don’t look down at our music.” They would wonder, “Why is that again?” And I would say, in so many words, “Because it’s tacky. That’s not how we do things. Mind your manners.”
Choirs look down at their music all the time. There is no standard. You set the standard. When you’re the leader, you get to trust your own taste. I have little patience for leaders who don’t trust their own pallet. But the leader gets to choose the standard in all manner of operational “procedures.” This was Steve Jobs’ philosophy.
That’s called quality control. And even though it might be in an operations manual, ultimately, how do you express your taste? How do you put it in writing when you’re always feeling that in your gut, on the fly? Tastes seem to change. The leader keeps everyone guessing.
How do you want your life to be? Quality is measured by taste.
Do you have good taste? Then Taste and See.