Meeting Old Friends For The First Time

There’s nothing quite as pleasant as connecting with someone you’ve been friends with for 15 years and enjoying a long dinner of talking shop. An even bigger thrill is when it’s the first time you’ve met face to face.

Adaptistration People 022That was exactly the case last night when I finally enjoyed meeting Lisa Hirsch in person. Regular readers will recognize her name as it pops up here on a regular basis thanks to her inimitable blog, Iron Tongue of Midnight, where she routinely tackles tough topics and isn’t afraid to rock the boat of conventional wisdom.

As such, today’s post celebrates Lisa’s 15 years (and counting) of culture blogging and keeping the greater San Francisco area’s opera and classical music scene on their collective toes. If her blog isn’t already in your bookmark list, what are you waiting for?

Visit The Iron Tongue of Midnight

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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