#TBT Why Do You Work In The Field?

Recently, Holly Mulcahy posted an article at Neo Classical titled Why Are You Here? that does a good job at asking stakeholders to spend a moment introspection about why they are involved in our field.

What’s particularly interesting is her take on sharing motives that fall into both positive and negative reasons. The post brought to mind some of the self-reflection oriented posts here over the years; all of which provides a great foundation for today’s #TBT article.

Cultural Empathy Requires More Than Soundbites

Musicians As A Community Resource

We Still Have More In Common Than Not

What The Other Side Gets Right

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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