Catching Up On Some Work

For all of those stopping by for the follow-up article answering questions about the IGSOBM series of articles, I apologize for not having it up today. I had a sudden influx of work yesterday which prevented my finishing up the article. Nevertheless, it will be up tomorrow and the delay will allow me to include an answer to one additional question.

In the meantime, my blogging neighbor Andrew Taylor linked to a fascinating site this week about visualizing data called GapMinder. If you missed it, it’s well worth your time to check it out. I’ve always believed there was much more to be learned about this business if we did a better job at not only recording data but put some serious effort into converting it into visualizing it.

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

Related Posts

Leave a Comment