Interesting new research from Christopher Marquis and Matthew Lee at Harvard Business School on key structural drivers of corporate philanthropy: gender of senior managers, CEO tenure and board structure all have an impact on a firm's generosity...and you may find some of them counter-intuitive. Corporate philanthropy is highest in corporations with new CEOs, and decreases with the length of CEO tenure. The greater the proportion of female senior managers in a company, the greater the corporate philanthropic contributions will … [Read more...]
Public Service, Advocacy and Institutional Transformation
A provocative post by Nina Simon on Musuem 2.0 discussing the role of museums (or any nonprofits, cultural or otherwise) in their community. True public service, she suggests, requires more than mere expansion of outreach services. I want our museum to be the host for dialogue--not just through panel discussions, but through exhibitions and events and commissions and community experiences that both invite and challenge people to engage with each other around the issues that matter most. And I think that requires us to be an advocacy … [Read more...]
A Logo Is Not a Brand
A great post by Dan Pallotta on the HBR blog site. He talks about brands as a whole range of things -- tangible and intangible -- that contribute to your customers' perceptions. I found the article a good reminder that as organizations that deliver experiences, we must keep our brand in the forefront of our minds. We should put ourselves into our customers' shoes, thinking about all of the details that affect their perceptions. What's your organization's brand? A Logo Is Not a Brand - Dan Pallotta - Harvard Business Review. … [Read more...]
Orchestras at the Cross Roads
Jesse Rosen, President and CEO of the League of American Orchestras, provides a clear-eyed view of the challenges facing orchestras in his plenary remarks from the League conference this month. The fundamental issues he highlights in community relevance, governance, stakeholder cooperation, and financial "clarity" are important considerations for cultural leaders in all disciplines. … [Read more...]
IBM’s Centenary: The Test of Time
This article (IBM's centenary: The test of time | The Economist) is a great reminder (or introduction) to the way in which organizations can limit their opportunities by thinking about their purpose too narrowly. "IBM’s secret is that it is built around an idea that transcends any particular product or technology... Building a company around an idea, rather than a specific technology, makes it easier to adapt when industry 'platform shifts' occur." In the arts the "mission" is the broader "idea" to which arts organizations are committed, and … [Read more...]
When Business Meets Culture: Ideas and Experiences for Mutual Profit
In this book, eight academics look at the strategic, cultural, and marketing parallels between for profit companies and cultural institutions. Rich with case studies, the essays make an extremely useful contribution to the current conversation about new business models. When Business Meets Culture: Ideas and Experiences for Mutual Profit … [Read more...]
A Counter-Intuitive Approach to Making Complex Decisions
Giving our minds time to process information when not consciously focused on the decision facing us can result in better outcomes, especially for more complex decisions. A Counter-Intuitive Approach to Making Complex Decisions - Harvard Business Review … [Read more...]
YouTube – Eli Pariser: Beware online “filter bubbles”
Eli Pariser, the former Executive Director of MoveOn.org and their current Board Chair, highlights the hidden and growing impact of online filters on Google, Facebook, and throughout the internet in this TED video. These filters give greater and greater weight to the information a person tends to look at online first. Over time the algorithms filter out less frequent interests, to the point that publications, people, and ideas are no longer presented at all. What might this mean for the arts? The most passionate arts supporters should hear … [Read more...]
HBS Elevator Pitch Builder
You probably know how challenging it can be to concisely and persuasively articulate who you are, what you do and why (either personally or organizationally) in under a minute. There's a handy (and fun) tool available online from Harvard Business School to make elevator pitch writing easier by focusing on the questions that matter most. Check out the HBS Elevator Pitch Builder. Hat Tip to Drew McManus at Adaptistration … [Read more...]
Sparking creativity in teams: An executive’s guide
Creativity is not a trait reserved for the lucky few. By immersing your people in unexpected environments, confronting ingrained orthodoxies, using analogies, and challenging your organization to overcome difficult constraints, you can dramatically boost their creative output—and your own. Of greatest interest are 'create constraints' paragraph ending article (natch) and sidebar on technology with Ray Kurzweil. Imposing artificial constraints (not unrelated to scenario planning) can be an especially powerful tool given the nature of change … [Read more...]
Give Smart: Philanthropy that Gets Results
We often talk about strategy, competitive advantage, and differentiation from a traditional business perspective in our work. We consider these concepts essential for arts leaders given the range of competitors cultural organizations face today for money, attention, and time. We also consider this understanding essential for effective collaboration across arts organizations: each player in the community needs to know exactly what they do best and what unique benefit they contribute to the cultural "ecosystem," so together they can assemble … [Read more...]
OpenIDEO – Home
IDEO, as you may know (including those of you who have studied the organization in one of our seminars) is one of the world's top product design firms. OpenIDEO is their open innovation site where they use crowdsourcing to develop ideas for addressing social issues. The site is interesting in its own right, but I wanted to highlight it because it is such an interesting example of an organization finding a way to embody in technology the thing that is unique about them, and use technology to extend that experience to a much larger audience. … [Read more...]
A New Type of Hybrid
In an article in the Spring 2011 Stanford Social Innovation Review, the author (an attorney) explores the shortcomings for the social entrepreneur of traditional commercial and non-profit models. He is quick to point that hybrids are nothing new and examines relevant facets of many existing models: B corporation, benefit corporation and low-profit limited liability company (L3C). Of note is that the models are all accorded different levels of recognition by Federal and state authorities and one (B corporation) isn't a legal status at all, but … [Read more...]
“That’s the Way We (Used to) Do Things Around Here”
In an interesting article in Strategy + Business, the authors explore the cognitive barriers at the individual level to change and suggest a more effective way to work with the brain's wiring rather than against it. And have no fear: mind control is really not on the menu, it's mostly benevolent. With a little knowledge of neuroscience, reframing behavior can be the essence of organizational change...New behaviors can be put in place, but only by reframing attitudes that are so entrenched that they are almost literally embedded in the … [Read more...]
Rethinking Capitalism
In this video interview on Rethinking Capitalism, Michael Porter (of Porter's Five Forces fame, among other things) shares an interesting take on the new nature of relevance for organizations in society. Porter argues that the old standby "what's good for business is good for society" that has defined the relationship between U.S. business and society is giving way. He turns this on its head, arguing "what is good for society is good for business." For most people in our sector, the traditional capitalist argument probably never held sway. … [Read more...]