Vulnerability Is The New Black

Joe Patti published a great article yesterday that serves up a good helping of grounded wisdom in the form of reviewing the fundamental difference between promotion and marketing. “…a [promotional] message of ‘come see this show’ is different from ‘this is a place that provides an opportunity to share experiences with family and friends.’ The latter is part of a [marketing] narrative about attaining what people aspire to rather than selling …

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An Ounce Of HR Prevention Is Worth A Pound Of Cure, Part 2

In Part 1, we started examining several points from  Emma Quackenbush’s article in the 3/16/2022 edition of Van-Magainze.com about how the lack of adequate Human Resources (HR) practices has hobbled the internal culture inside professional orchestras. Today’s installment will continue where we left off as well as considering options for making things better. I was especially glad to see Quackenbush highlight how the large donor-driven revenue model impacts workplace culture and satisfaction. While I …

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An Ounce Of HR Prevention Is Worth A Pound Of Cure, Part 1

For the past two decades, I’ve written about how the lack of adequate Human Resources (HR) practices has hobbled the internal culture inside professional orchestras. As a result, workplace satisfaction, the one thing nonprofit organizations supposedly offer to offset competitive pay, is so bad it continues to be one of the few third-rail topic neither employers nor musicians’ unions want to touch. So you can imagine how gratifying it was to …

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How Do We Prevent The Great Resignation From Becoming An Extinction Event For The Arts?

Workplace culture and job satisfaction have been regular topics here at Adaptistration for nearly two decades and while change moves at a glacial pace, I am seeing more positive change over the past three years than the decade prior. Case in point, Tom O’Connor recently posted something at LinkedIn on that topic that comes across as a combination of processional statement and call to action (emphasis added). So much content about …

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Workplace Mental Health: Vulnerability And Compassion Are The New Black

Over the course of the pandemic, several orchestras have been developing programs that focus on mental health of patrons. That’s a very good thing but it never hurts to remember that we need to keep an eye on one another behind the scenes. All stakeholders are feeling an enormous amount of pressure which manifests in as many ways as there are individuals. An article by Kelly Greenwood and Julia Anas that …

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