Editorial Cartoon: Bully For Them!

It seems that last week’s article about whether or not the Philadelphia Orchestra Association (POA) is still competitive with attracting and retaining top talent among its peer group caught the attention of Dixon, Adaptistration’s Editorial Cartoonist. Like any good cartoonist, the article’s bar chart illustrating the POAs change in rank was what he focused on and it inspired him to put together today’s editorial cartoon; A Poignant Power Point Presentation In Philly.

A Poignant Power Point Presentation In Philly

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check out the rest of Dixon’s work at Who’s Minding The Score?

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.

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0 thoughts on “Editorial Cartoon: Bully For Them!”

    • they’ve been doing a terrific job, especially in light of the financial obligations the current leadership inherited. In an interesting juxtaposition, it isn’t much different than the claims from Detroit where their leadership claimed that the precarious financial conditions were the result of a course of action set in stone by previous leaders. But the difference for Chicago is they have been able to not only manage that debt but prevent it from inhibiting the organization’s growth and peer standing.

  1. The Philadelphia Orchestra could take lesson from Oliver Lyttelton, “In business, a reputation for keeping absolutely to the letter and spirit of an agreement, even when it is unfavorable, is the most precious of assets, although it is not entered in the balance sheet.”

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