I think that defining your values is far more important than defining your career path. Careers change, values do not. Know the impact that you want to have in the world and set goals towards making it happen. When you let your values be your guide, the career path reveals itself! It may take years or decades, but you'll get there eventually. … [Read more...]
The Career Knapsack
As a recent MA graduate in Arts Management, I thought I had lots of career plan steps under control. That was not the case. Though I’d had a semester-long career prep seminar, a team of cheerleader colleagues behind me and a very clear idea of where I wanted to be, I could not answer the seemingly easiest question, “Where am I now?” I found myself caught in career purgatory like a little gypsy with a collection of read-between-the-resume-lines experiences in my nomad’s knapsack. I’d packed a couple years of field experience, a slew of … [Read more...]
Civic Health. Civic Equity. Civic Capacity.
Michael Rohd, Founding Artistic Director of Sojourn Theatre and Founder & Director of The Center for Performance and Civic Practice shares the values that guide both organizations: Civic Health. Civic Equity. Civic Capacity. Rohd conveys how these values are integrated into every decision made by both organizations and the approach taken to support equity conceptually through their work and literally in the community. … [Read more...]
On Values & Building Community
Inclusivity. Creativity & Innovation. Integrity. These are the values that Irfana Jetha Noorani thrives on through her work with the 11th Street Bridge Park. Each day is about bringing communities together around a civic space and it is these values that serve as the thread stringing all the aspects of her work together. … [Read more...]
Scott Kratz: Values
The intentionality of our actions, the generosity of our time and the creation of an authentic space. These are some of the ways that Scott Kratz, Director of the 11th Street Bridge Park, brings his values into his work. … [Read more...]
The Commons
Growing up, the public library was a place that allowed Polly Carl, Director & Editor of HowlRound: A Center for the Theater Commons, to find belonging and access imagination. This introduction to a commons model is something that s/he's continued to carry and that influences all that s/he brings as a leader to the organization. The commons model is all about inclusivity. Carl honors and encourages this through her/his work at HowlRound. Inclusivity is so engrained in the organization, Carl says that the staff must have buy-in to this … [Read more...]
The Ethics of Process
I think a lot about how outcomes can be deceiving. What I mean by this is that a beautiful work of art is sometimes not so beautiful in the making. How many times have we heard about a director sexually abusing his cast in the process of making a great movie, or intern/assistant labor being exploited in the process of creating a million dollar artwork? Too many. I think about the types of values that we promote when we celebrate an outcome but fail to examine what goes into achieving that outcome. I think about this especially in the context … [Read more...]
The Willingness to Unlearn
You've heard from Jeff McCarter, Founder & Executive Director of Free Spirit Media, now Andrea Hart, Civic Media Program Coordinator shares how her values appear in her work. I’ve created hyperlocal digital news programs that contextualize learning and build on students’ cultural capital within schools or community spaces in Chicago since 2011. I currently serve as Free Spirit Media’s Civic Media Program Coordinator, and various roles in other entrepreneurial journalism projects. At FSM, I have the privilege of working to create … [Read more...]
It’s a work in progress, but it’s crucial work
"It's about them." "We're all alive." "We're all going through this crazy path of life." Jeff McCarter, Founder & Executive Director of Free Spirit Media shares how the values of the organization surround human dignity and the people their programs serve. McCarter challenges organizations to really own their values, but believes that it is always a work in progress. … [Read more...]
Clyde Valentin: Values
Clyde Valentin, Director of the SMU Meadows Arts + Urbanism Initiative shares how values appear in his work through acknowledging equity and inequity, acknowledging people everyday and recognizing that mistakes happen. … [Read more...]
Jess Solomon: Values
I created a graphic about how my values, work and every-day decision making coalesce. As I was doodling, I was thinking about Toni Cade Bambara’s prolific words: “As a cultural worker who belongs to an oppressed people my job is to make revolution irresistible…But I think for any artist your job is determined by the community you’re identifying with.” She doesn’t explicitly mention values here but we typically share them with the communities we are a part of. At the macro and micro level, these relationships are constant feedback loops. My … [Read more...]
Ari Weinzweig: Congruency & Values
We promised a video this week featuring Ari Weinzweig, co-founder of Zingerman's and here it is! Weinzweig shares the difference between values and beliefs and the importantance of having congruency between the two, in any business environment. Share your reactions with us in the comments section or at #ValuesNAS. … [Read more...]
Taking Down the Hedges
Respect. Access. Inclusion. Transparency. Authenticity. These are the values held deeply by Hope McMath, Executive Director of the Cummer Museum of Art + Gardens. McMath shares how these values are part of the decisions she makes both internally at the museum, through hiring and organizational culture, as well as externally in the community. She tells the story of literally taking down the hedges that surround the museum and what physical and symbolic meaning a row of bushes can have. … [Read more...]
The Definition Game
As leaders of organizations, it is essential that we not only uphold the values of our organizations, but also believe in them. Sandra Cha, an assistant professor at McGill University, and Amy Edmondson, of Harvard Business School conducted and in-depth survey of organizational values at an up and coming advertising agency. The result: employees felt the CEO was acting hypocritically through his actions even though he talked the talk of organizational core values. This view essentially resulted in the employee’s variance of interpretation on … [Read more...]
A peek into Zappos
Wait. There's more on Zappos. We told you it was a favorite. In January, Tim Cynova, Deputy Director of Fractured Atlas, shared his investigation into how Zappos created a culture where core values are at the center of each and every decision. Cynova, a self-proclaimed Zappophile found himself continually asking what would Zappos do? He went to visit the headquarters to find out exactly that. … [Read more...]