I. Predicting the Unpredictable The former NEA Chair Rocco Landesman says he doesn’t see anything “apocalyptic” for the arts in a Trump presidency. Robert Lynch, the President of Americans for the Arts and a top advocate for the nonprofit arts sector, is more cautious and says Trump’s election “brings some uncertainty in terms of federal support for the arts.” Van Jones, the CNN pundit is blunt: Trump, he says, “is going to start a war.” If nothing else the recent election cycle has taught us to be very skeptical of those who say they can … [Read more...]
Welcome
Think of a time that you didn’t feel welcome. As a woman who is the soon-to-be-wife of a woman who prefers buttons and a collar over scoop necks and pencil skirts, the inevitable wedding suit shopping experience loomed in my future. We went together. For moral support. We knew nothing about suits. A gorges? What’s that. No one dared approach us. They stared, wondering why we were in this foreign land. We asked a gentleman to help us find a grey suit. He asked us what size the gentleman for which we were shopping was. Upon learning the … [Read more...]
The Importance of Play
Failure and success tend to go hand in hand. One can't experience one without the other. Failure is how we learn, how we grow, how we change, and ultimately, how we succeed. And allowing ourselves the space for failure in our lives, is the greatest measure of one's success. There is a confidence in that. And boy, have I failed spectacularly in my life. Embracing failure is something I've worked very hard on in my life. When I first started doing theatre, I was introduced to the world of improvisational comedy. The first rule I learned from … [Read more...]
The Weight of Failure
Gravity is greater on Planet Freelance than on Planet Employee, and failure is heavier for a freelancer than for a company employee. During 20 years of employment in organizations and companies, I rarely experienced failure to a degree with consequences. Working in an organization, one is supported by strong leaders, mentors, and colleagues when taking risks. If the results don't meet the target, then the team together shoulders the responsibility. In an organization, typically, successes far outnumber failures. The overall accomplishments of … [Read more...]
Failure is an Option?
When conducting recent audience research with colleagues last year, we were stricken to hear from local teens that failure isn’t an option for them. With such a concentrated focus on achievement, teens feel that they have no time or space to fail. One of them told us adamantly, “I never fail. I will never fail.” It saddened all of us deeply and helped to engage us in a productive conversation about how we might create an atmosphere more conducive to failing productively and creatively in our own organization. We all instinctively know that … [Read more...]
Who is Allowed to Fail?
A few weeks ago I helped one of our community chefs fill out a $5,000 loan application to kickstart his own business. I emphasized to him that his proposal would be scrutinized by a board of directors of the funding organization. He needed to thoroughly think through his application, if he could do that between his double night shifts, because any questions about his application meant he might not receive the loan. This is because the funding organization had decided the first three ventures they funded could not fail. At various points in … [Read more...]
Scarcity, Abundance and Finding Your Own Way to Fail
“Let’s run an experiment and see what happens.” I say these words at least twice a week with complete freedom. Not just the freedom to take the risk, but the freedom from being attached in any way to the outcomes. Sure, I have my hunch. I’ve been doing this awhile, after all. But in this scenario, my expertise counts for very little; I am not the audience, and the audience is the expert in finding new and creative ways to confound me. The secret is that this is what actually makes it exciting. An organization where you are free to run as … [Read more...]
In a Risk-Averse Society, Failure is Our Way Forward
Classically trained artists and performers are typically possessed of levels of discipline, rigor and tenacity that are object lessons in the pursuit and achievement of excellence. Their training implies a somewhat linear refining of skills through iterative and gradual improvement, which is a route we commonly associate with success. No doubt, many of us who are managers and leaders in the nonprofit sector will do well to push ourselves and our organizations to new heights by channeling this relentless drive for virtuosity in our work. But … [Read more...]
Lessons from Failure
Failure is one of our key opportunities to learn from experience. In many respects, we learn more from our failures, those efforts that did not work, than we do from our successes. But it requires paying close attention. The virtuous cycle of plan, implement, evaluate, works well personally as well as professionally. Oftentimes, our failure is related to poor planning, but more often to poor execution of strategy. Leaders are often better at planning than they are at implementing, because the latter requires causing people to truly follow you, … [Read more...]
Worstward Ho! Is That How You Spell F-A-I-L-U-R-E?
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.” —Samuel Beckett (Worstward Ho) The above quote from Beckett’s penultimate novella has become a popular battle cry of enlightened arts leaders. Many of us have developed and embraced a new way of going about things. Rather than let popular programs keep working not quite as well as they used to, we now practice arts leadership within a variety of effective innovation frameworks. We test, we prototype, we experiment, we ask, “what might it mean to do the opposite?”—and we … [Read more...]
Art Spaces as Places for Community Engagement
This week, we're sharing reflections on the Summit at Sundance process and on the ideas leaders in the Chief Executive Program: Community and Culture worked on during this Summit last month. We encourage you to add your voice, questions and experiences to the conversation, and to use the information and conversations to inform action! In this post, Daniel Gorman (Shubbak Festival), Cristy Johnston Límon (Destiny Arts Center) and Carol Varney (Bay Area Video Coalition) share their ideas on how they might use their spaces to heighten community … [Read more...]
Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose
“Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose”. I first heard this on the former hit television show Friday Night Lights. It was the guiding principal for the show’s fictional Texas football team striving for athletic victory. While this quote is referenced in an athletic context, I believe it speaks to the attitude and perspective one should have in all aspects of their life to be truly successful. As a young leader, just starting out in the field, I find my career plan is constantly changing. When I graduated college I had one plan and three years … [Read more...]
The Career Path of a Nonprofit Generalist
About a year ago, I was accepted into the Chief Executive Program at National Arts Strategies. This particular cohort is focused on leaders using cultural organizations to change/alter/improve community. Unlike the prior cohorts, this third cohort is heavily populated with founders – creatives that saw an unmet need in their communities and started a new organization to address the gaps. They are artists and activists following their passions. I was three months into my new position as CEO of a mid-size arts/youth development organization … [Read more...]
Sit Back & Enjoy the Ride: The Roller Coaster Career Plan
When I was younger, I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up: Theatre Director. But after a few years in that world, I didn’t feel like it was a good fit anymore. So I dabbled. I transferred colleges. I changed my major four times. And I finally settled with art history. This led to working in a museum for a few years following graduation. I felt a bit more confident about my career plan at this point. I wanted to work in the administrative side of museums, leading a team towards a shared vision. I also understood that I … [Read more...]
Picture this:
You’re interviewing for your dream job at a great company and you know you’d be perfect. You’ve practiced in the mirror, are wearing your lucky blazer, you have your nerves under control and are ready to showcase the 5 things any employer must know about you. But the interviewer never asks the questions you prepped for. What do you do? Blurt out the 5 things in the last three minutes Politely ask if you may provide additional information even though the interview seems to have wrapped up Use your follow-up thank you email to include … [Read more...]