Post Concessionary Thoughts: Do’s And Don’ts

I quoted Sam Bergman in yesterday’s article as saying:

“Agreeing to this contract was the right thing to do, simply because many of the messes that exist in our organization are not the fault of the current upper management team, which has been on the job for only a year. It seemed only logical to allow a new group of managers an adequate period of time to reverse the years of mismanagement that preceded their arrival.”

And that’s a very wise and reasonable point of view.  But what happens if an upper management team fails in their attempts to improve the organization’s situation and, as a result, can not deliver on their part of the contract?

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More Details From The Minnesota Contract

The recently accepted contract at Minnesota has provided another concessionary end to a drawn out negotiations.  A recent article in the Star-Tribune by Michael Anthony outlines some of the contract’s results. The article reports that the players have accepted a wage freeze in the first year and a delayed final increase until the final six months of their three year contract.  They also accepted a proposal to increase their deductible and …

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You Just Can’t Beat A Personal Connection

A recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer caught my attention; it examines the use of visual imagery during orchestra concerts.  The article’s writer, David Patrick Stearns, does a good job with the piece but I think the industry is missing a fundamental fact about the best way to connect to a new audience. All of the visualizations in the world won’t bring people into concert halls in any great numbers.  At …

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Video Game Outreach

At Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, one of our guests brought an unusual party game with them.  It’s a video game for a PlayStation 2 called Taiko Drum Master (fortunately our guest also brought the PlayStation 2 console with them).  I have to say that the game was immensely entertaining to watch and could be very challenging to play. It’s a very simple concept; you have to tap a given rhythm along with a …

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Giving Thanks

I received this email yesterday and think it’s the perfect blog for today: Dear Mr. McManus, I discovered your blog four months ago and have enjoyed following many of the articles, it has been most interesting to see the progress of various stories over that time.  What is troubling is the frequency of so many symphonies making so many poor choices.  As a professional trumpet player in an ICSOM ensemble, I …

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