Entrepreneur the Arts » Authors

The Mistake that Topples Careers and Industries

David Cutler — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:00:29 +0000

During the second half of the 19^th Century, rail transportation in the United States was a booming enterprise. Expanding to every corner of the land, this lucrative growth industry seemed unstoppable. Yet within 70 years of its heyday, rail companies tumbled. And today, their impact of is negligible (beyond Amtrak and lines of Thomas the Tank Engine toys). What on Earth happened?

Well, the world changed. The advent of automobiles, trucks, buses, and airplanes simply made trains less necessary. Less relevant. So they faded away.

But what if these companies had maintained a broader vision? What if they hadn’t been here simply to support railway systems, but rather to solve transportation needs of all sorts? Had that been the case, these businesses might still be major players in air, land, and sea travel today.

The mistake of overspecialization has plagued virtually every industry, large or small. We’ve seen this sad tale play out time and time again.

In the arts, for example, consider record labels. So massive was their influence and power just 15 short years ago that the top handful of multi-billion dollar corporations were oft referred to as the “music industry.” But make no mistake. That’s not how they approached the game. Instead, they were the “sound-reproduced-on-physical-products-industry.” Which explains why the move from records to CDs worked so seamlessly. Yet when digital reproduction and distribution became reality, the consequences were devastating. Imagine how differently history might have been written had these companies truly seen themselves as the backbone of a comprehensive and ever evolving music business.

Or how about orchestras? These organizations boast a rich and glorious tradition. But even so, American orchestras today are declaring bankruptcy at an alarming rate. What business are they in? Serving as a cultural and creative hub? Transforming communities through music? Celebrating the unique artistic identity of a region? Not even close. Instead it’s much more narrowly defined: “Large ensemble music featuring a combination of strings, winds, and percussion performing primarily Western classical music by dead Europeans.” Hmmm…During this tumultuous time of disruptive change, couldn’t these ensembles rescue themselves from extinction by thinking wider and re-imagining core purpose?

What about your own career? Do you just do that one very specific thing (i.e. play classical oboe, choreograph ballet, paint landscape murals)? Or is your mission open and flexible, ensuring that your work will remain necessary, valuable, and valued no matter how much the world evolves, in any direction?

True, you can’t be all things to all people. True, there are tremendous benefits to addressing a particular niche. Just be sure that the positioning you choose is broad enough to ensure there will always be demand for your art.

2011 Best Reads for Artists and Leaders

David Cutler — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:00:31 +0000

Successful artists, leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators have the most interesting ideas. Not just because they’re somehow magically smarter or more creative. Part of the formula is that these individuals are voracious readers, impacted dramatically by the perspectives of thought leaders. They’re also experts at synthesizing information—taking something intended to address one situation and adopting it to another. Reading the right books challenges how you think, expands your horizons, and helps you imagine new possibilities for your art.

Below are 10 of the most influential books I read in 2011. This year, my reading list focused around the topics of institutional change, education, leadership, business models, and marketing. Notice that not one of the titles on this year’s list is written specifically for artists. But all are deeply relevant to the challenges faced by this sector in our quickly changing world. I hope you’ll find some of these helpful and beneficial to your own evolution.

1) There’s a Customer Born Every Minute: P.T. Barnum’s Secrets to Business Success. By Joe Vitale. The world may be changing at a breakneck tempo, but what it takes to get noticed has not. This book examines the life and practices of the greatest arts entrepreneur of all times, circus mastermind P.T. Barnum. With engaging and powerful prose, this biographical account introduces ten “Rings of Power” that are spot on today for artists who hope to attract maximum attention. A great read!

2) The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It. By Michael Gerber. While several points addressed here probably aren’t the right approach for artists running the small business of their career (he often points to the fast food McDonalds model), I learned a ton from this book and so will you. Gerber explains how to methodically create a business model and life that works for you, rather than being overwhelmed by the frantic antics practiced by most artists and small business owners. This will alter your approach to creating a career in the arts.

3) Linchpin: Are You Indispensible? By Seth Godin. When reading this, I was delighted to learn that “Our economy now rewards artists far more than any other economy in history ever has.” Wow!!! As someone who has devoted much life energy to helping artists maximize professional and personal success, this assertion definitely caught my attention. But just because you’re involved with the arts doesn’t make you an artist. So are you indispensible? (Find more thoughts HERE.)

4) Who Moved My Cheese? By Spencer Johnson. This short 94-page book takes literally less than an hour to read. It tells the story of two mice and two littlepeople who live off cheese in a maze. When their supply runs out, the mice immediate move on in search of new riches. But the smarter and more complex littlepeople have a much harder time adapting to their new circumstances. Throughout the evolutionary process, many valuable lessons are learned. Inspirational and vital words, especially during our industry’s current metamorphosis.

5) Buy In: Saving Your Good Idea from Getting Shot Down. By John P. Kotter. Let’s face it. No matter how good your idea, there will be scores of doubters and naysayers eager to tear it to shreds. Kotter urges that advocates of change initiatives welcome all feedback, even by the fiercest critics. He then outlines the four most common categories of idea squashing (fear mongering, delay, confusion, ridicule), and suggests appropriate and potent responses to the 24 most common attacks.

6) Change the Culture, Change the Game: The Breakthrough Strategy for Energizing Your Organization and Creating Accountability for Results. By Roger Connors and Tom Smith. Though the writing style of this book is a little dry and academic, it offers specific and actionable steps for changing institutional culture. To do this, the entire results pyramid must be altered—from bottom to top—Experiences, Beliefs, Actions, Results. A must read for any leader hoping to help evolve an arts organization or institution.

7) Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization. By Yong Zhao. Claiming that America’s pre-college education system is broken is about the least controversial claim one can make. For evidence, just consider our pathetic standardized test scores when compared with other first world nations. However, Zhao points out that China, South Korea, and other high scoring societies understand that their education system is also broken. Innovation, creativity, and leadership in these nations are disturbingly low. As they increasingly try to emulate aspects of American education, such as creativity and individualism, we ironically embrace ineffective measures that will not serve us well. A fascinating perspective, and one that suggests (among other things) the true potential of arts education.

8) In Defense of Elitism. By William Henry. After hearing a provocative talk by Norman Lebrecht suggesting that classical music become more elitist (my reflections HERE), a colleague suggested I read this. Without a doubt, it is the most controversial text I’ve read in years. Henry, the late NY Times reporter, argues that America has made a clear decision to embrace egalitarianism (the notion that everyone and every idea should be equal) over elitism (celebrating excellence) across the board. In terms of art, he argues that classical music is simply superior to pop music, end of story—a position far away from the egalitarian view I tend to espouse. Addressing everything from educaction to the job market, many of his points didn’t sit right with me, but others were quite compelling. If you want to be challenged, this book won’t disappoint.

9) Start Something that Matters. By Blake Mycoskie. The founder of the for-profit company TOMS, whose business donates a pair of shoes to poverty stricken children for every pair they sell, argues that giving is good business. “If you incorporate giving into your business and life, you will see greater returns and rewards than you ever imagined. So many good things happen to you when giving is integrated into your business—and I’m not even talking about the wonderful results of the giving itself…I’m talking about the business.” Inspirational, and a great position for artists.

10) The 29% Solution: 52 Networking Success Strategies. Though not particularly high-level or groundbreaking, this book provides many helpful networking strategies. It reminds us just how important word-of-mouth marketing is, and urges that hours each week be devoted to this practice. He also stresses that it’s not “net-SITting” or “net-EATing” but “net-WORKing.”

210 Social Innovation Funding Sources

Lisa Canning — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:15:37 +0000

Social Entrepreneur, Social Enterprise and Social Innovation Sources of Funding

Here is a list of 210 social entrepreneur, social enterprise and social innovation funding sources (#socent) that a group member in Impact Entrepreneur posted on Linkedin. This is the most comprehensive list anywhere as far as I know. If you see something missing, you can go to ned.com, join, and then be able to edit the page.

Venture philanthropy, seed stage investing for social entrepreneurs, early stage investing for social innovation

Crowdsourced Funding, Crowdfunding, and Peer-to-Peer Microfinance

Social Entrepreneur & Innovation Friendly Foundations

Top SE College Programs

Social Entrepreneur & Innovation Prize/Awards

Search Tools for Grant Funding

Crowdsourced Funding for Musicians & Bands

Business Model You

Lisa Canning — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:07:05 +0000

I am sitting here with coffee in hand, writing to you all from the French Quarter in beautiful New Orleans. I am at the U.S Association for. Small Business and Entrepreneurship Conference (USASBE). Today my colleague from University of Illinois, Joyce Thomas, and I present a paper on our learning model for The IAE.

One of the underpinnings of The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship’s education model is how we use the Business Model Canvas. The Business Model Canvas is an analytical tool described in Business Model Generation. It is a visual template preformatted with the nine blocks of a business model, allowing users to diagram existing business models or conceive new ones. Check out the Canvas as it is used for organizations and for individuals.

In our model we have adapted the Canvas to be a Personal Canvas specifically designed to intuitively and emotionally address all 9 segments allowing creatives to understand business development from right to left. It is slightly different than the personal canvas that is about to be released in Business Model You.

If you are curious to know more, a 79-page, 9.3 MB preview of Business Model You is now available for download.

DOWNLOAD PREVIEW

How the Unconscious Mind Boosts Creative Output

Guest Blogger — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:20:54 +0000

New research finds we’re better able to identify genuinely creative ideas when they’ve emerged from the unconscious mind.

Written By Tom Jacobs

(Hemera/iStockphoto)

Truly creative ideas are both highly prized and, for most of us, maddeningly elusive. If our best efforts produce nothing brilliant, we’re often advised to put aside the issue at hand and give our unconscious minds a chance to work.

Newly published research suggests that is indeed a good idea — but not for the reason you might think.

A study from the Netherlands finds allowing ideas to incubate in the back of the mind is, in a narrow sense, overrated. People who let their unconscious minds take a crack at a problem were no more adept at coming up with innovative solutions than those who consciously deliberated over the dilemma.

But they did perform better on the vital second step of this process: determining which of their ideas was the most creative. That realization provides essential information; without it, how do you decide which solution you should actually try to implement?

Given the value of discerning truly fresh ideas, “we can conclude that the unconscious mind plays a vital role in creative performance,” a research team led by Simone Ritter of the Radboud University Behavioral Science Institute writes in the journal Thinking Skills and Creativity.

In the first of two experiments, 112 university students were given two minutes to come up with creative ideas to an everyday problem: how to make the time spent waiting in line at a cash register more bearable. Half the participants went at it immediately, while the others first spent two minutes performing a distracting task — clicking on circles that appeared on a computer screen. This allowed time for ideas to percolate outside their conscious awareness.

After writing down as many ideas as they could think of, they were asked to choose which of their notions was the most creative. Participants were scored by the number of ideas they came up with, the creativity level of those ideas (as measured by trained raters), and whether their perception of their most innovative idea coincided with that of the raters.

The two groups scored evenly on both the number of ideas generated and the average creativity of those ideas. But those who had been distracted, and thus had ideas spring from their unconscious minds, were better at selecting their most creative concept.

The second experiment, which featured 68 students, was similarly structured. Participants were given a different assignment (“Come up with as many ideas as possible on how students can earn some extra money”); at the end, they were asked to identify both their most and least creative ideas.

The results replicated those of the first experiment. Those who had employed their unconscious minds were better at selecting both their most and least-innovative ideas.

The researchers aren’t sure how to explain their results; they suggest a “spontaneous tagging process” takes place when an idea is generated unconsciously, alerting us to its level of creativity. While admitting this theory is speculative, they note that — whatever its cause — this sort of discernment is “vitally important for everyday creativity.”

True enough. Knowing which ideas belong in the trash bin, and which deserve to be fleshed out further, is a real gift—one that, according to this research, your unconscious mind is poised to provide.

CHICAGO: Join the IAE and WBEZ @ Catalyst Ranch to Celebrate Self Employment

Lisa Canning — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 07:20:00 +0000

On Thursday January 26th The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship (IAE) will be teaming up with WBEZ’s new project Front & Center to host a resource fair for the self employed, small businesses, start-ups, and freelancers.

Mini seminars and presentations will run through out the evening at the fabulous Catalyst Ranch located at 656 W Randolph St # 3W in the Polka Room.

Mini Seminar Topics Include:

Entrepreneurship 101
Presented by Institute For Arts Entrepreneurship

Receiving small loans as an independent worker
Presented Accion Micro Lending

Doing your taxes as a freelancer, small business owner, or independent
Presented by Center for Economic Progress

Create. Innovate. Repeat: featuring 4 fabulous presenters, 7 slides and just 5 minutes each to pitch their most innovative business idea to you.
Presented by Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship.

Partial List of Participants Include:

Co-Lab Evanston providers of shared office spaces.

Northside Freelancers Network who can help you connect to the growing Chicago self-employed community. Make sure to ask them about their weekly “freelancers soup” lunch.

Accion will be on hand to discuss how to get a micro-loans to jump start your own business.

Northside Community Bank can help you find funding for your small, local project.

IndieMade is itself a small business. They create websites for independents, artist, small businesses, and start-up projects.

Rockstar CPA offers CPA services specifically geared towards the self-employed, with a specialty in creative projects.

The Law Project offer affordable legal resources for freelancers, independents, and small businesses, such as creating contracts, negotiating pay, etc.

Chicago! Come on out and celebrate self-employment with us! We hope to see you on January 26th.

Fair begins at 6pm @ Catalyst Ranch 656 W Randolph St # 3W, in the Polka Room

Artivate: A Journal of Entrepreneurship in the Arts

Lisa Canning — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:06:11 +0000

Dear Colleagues:

I am writing to let you know about an exciting new initiative and to ask that you forward this information to your professional networks. Artivate: A Journal of Entrepreneurship in the Arts (ISSN 2164-7747), the first ever peer-reviewed research journal in the field of arts entrepreneurship, will be published twice yearly beginning July 2012 in an online format.

The mission of Artivate is to disseminate new thinking and perspectives on arts entrepreneurship theory, practice, and pedagogy. The editors, Linda Essig, director of Arizona State University’s p.a.v.e program in arts entrepreneurship, and Gary Beckman of North Carolina State University’s program in entrepreneurial studies in the arts, are committed to publishing research-based articles and case studies of interest to scholars, artists, and students in the areas of entrepreneurship theory as applied to the arts; arts entrepreneurship education; arts management; arts and creative industries; public policy and the arts; the arts in community and economic development; nonprofit leadership; social entrepreneurship in or using the arts; evaluation and assessment; and public practice in the arts. Artivate’s diverse international editorial board includes Andrew Taylor (UW-Madison), Margaret Wyszomirski (OSU), Bill Gartner (Clemson), Lynn Book (Wake Forest), Christina Hong (Queensland University of Technology) , Ian David Moss (Fractured Atlas), Diane Ragsdale (Erasmus University), Paul van Zuilenberg (University of the Free State), Gordon Shockley (ASU) and others.

I paste below the call for submissions, due February 15. You may also visit the journal site at http://www.artivate.org Please forward this announcement to your professional networks, as appropriate.

Best wishes,

Professor Linda Essig
director, p.a.v.e program in arts entrepreneurship
Co-editor, Artivate.org
ASU School of Theatre and Film
PO Box 872002
Tempe AZ 85287
http://theatrefilm.asu.edu/initiatives/pave/

Call for Submissions

Artivate: A Journal of Entrepreneurship in the Arts is accepting submissions of articles for publication in its inaugural issue to be published July 2012. The first journal to focus on the emergent field of arts entrepreneurship, Artivate seeks works of original scholarship in the following areas: entrepreneurship theory as applied to the arts; arts entrepreneurship education; arts management; arts and creative industries; public policy and the arts; the arts in community and economic development; nonprofit leadership; social entrepreneurship in or using the arts; evaluation and assessment in and of the field; public practice in the arts. The editors are particularly interested in articles that actively link theory with practice in ways that will be of interest and impact to the broad cross-section of Artivate’s readership. Self-reflective studies from arts entrepreneurs and empirical research from scholars are equally welcome.

Artivate is a peer-reviewed online publication for an academic and practitioner audience. Editorial board members are affiliated with universities, foundations, and arts services organizations on three continents. The co-editors are Linda Essig, director of the p.a.v.e. program in arts entrepreneurship at Arizona State University, and Gary Beckman, director of entrepreneurial studies in the arts at North Carolina State University.
The editors are interested in supporting the growth of our nascent discipline and are committed to publishing at least one debut article from an emerging scholar in each issue. First-time authors are welcome to seek advice from the editors in advance of submission.

Submissions should be between 4,000 and 10,000 words in length. Articles must be submitted in a word format (doc or docx) with any figures or illustrations submitted either within the word document or as separate jpg files. Articles will be evaluated in a blind process so the articles themselves should include no identifying headers, footers, watermarks, or specific content (e.g. “at Jurassic University where I teach arts entrepreneurship”).

Submissions for consideration must be received via email no later than February 15, 2012. Email submissions simultaneously to linda.essig@asu.edu and gdbeckma@ncsu.edu

Happy 2012!

Lisa Canning — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 02:25:04 +0000

Dear Reader,

This blog has been an incredible labor of love. My labor has come from my deep desire to see the world of the arts evolve and change so that artists have a new voice and can develop and be recognized for their entrepreneurial talents by contribute their gifts in new ways.

As we begin our 7th year, I look back and realize that I have persevered relentlessly over the past 6 years because I believe so much in the power of artistry to change the world as we know it. I have invested a significant amount of my time and money into it, as a result, in hopes that the content here can develop shared language, create new meaning and be a useful resource for you to use in your entrepreneurial and creative development. I hope I am achieving my goal.

I wish you all a wonderful 2012 filled with hope, promise and prosperity.

Lisa Canning

Can creativity occupy the hearts and minds of the majority? or Lord hear my prayer.

Lisa Canning — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 23:49:36 +0000

A friend of mine recently reminded me that there is no need for creative entrepreneurial types like us to apologize for being “egocentric” in saying that creativity and innovation is scarce, while status quo “inside of the box” thinking is the great majority. It is a simple fact.

Unfortunately, “explaining” this to the “majority” is usually not possible or helpful because it requires experiential learning to truly develop ones creative abilities enough for anyone to really understand. What rules the heart can rule the mind but it does not work the other way around. A fundamental shift in the mix of who we highly value learning from, and how we learn, needs to take place for this to occur. It is no wonder societies and humans evolve so slowly despite all the knowledge and tools available to us.

And yet, I believe man was put on this earth to help God make progress on earth. Which, to honor him, requires us to be ethical bound, to morally act and requires tremendous creativity to do. And this single belief has profoundly motivated me through out my life to deepen my intellect, my empathy and my creativity so that I can use my skills to be of service, to the best of my ability, to everyone I know.

As I have grown up, I have increasingly come to recognize that this belief is often isolating and a cause for great misunderstanding. Developing my empathy, intellect and creativity has taught me how to see deeply and profoundly into others- which is not an easy thing, in this broken world, for others to accept as the gift you have to offer. And yet, as an artist, I have come to learn this is our profound gift to share with the world. It is not egocentric at all for me to say it is what artists have to offer and why God graced us all with the gift of life.

And yet, I find myself often in a space where I feel worried that my time on this earth will run out before I have realized this deep vision for the world I have- to occupy the hearts and minds of the majority with more creativity- to reach the tipping point of true change. It is an honest to goodness daily fear of mine. And it has often pushed me to feel the need to try and prove my worth with anyone I encounter in the majority in the hope that they will give me the opportunity to open up a whole new world of meaning to them- one that transcends the empty hunger for power and greed and utilize it for real progress on earth and societal good. And by doing so, for true sustainable prosperity to flow. It is hard not to want this for the world when these principals have profoundly served the development of my own life and my businesses and created so much prosperity and good.

While I have never apologized for my work, in some ways by trying to “prove” to others what deep value as an artist I hold, I think I have. While the majority entertains my beliefs about the ethical values one develops from the flow of heartfelt creativity, like a muse in the moment, it is short lived and not invested into to deepen its impact and to create true sustainable values. Is this really the only role my work can have?

Two years ago I was offered the opportunity of being mentored by a quickly rising entrepreneurial star in Chicago. He had built an amazing company from nothing, was featured on INC’s fastest growing list of companies for several years and glowed in power and money. He also “appeared” to be “a creative”, like me, too.

As my relationship with this individual developed, what I found underneath the veil was far from what the exterior portrayed. He was in an “open marriage”; his life was spiraling out of control. He was also hiring broken-down-trodden individuals to do the heavy lifting inside his business because he could pay them less and work them to death. And in all he did in life, he placed appearances far higher on his list than true happiness and meaning despite all of his soul searching trips to meet spiritual gurus.

While he thought he was mentoring me, it was I who was mentoring him.

Through my mentorship, this individual came to to emotionally understand that true love and intimacy was more important to him than sex with multiple women. He also came to experience that a creative career and business was far more valuable to him than a past-its-sell-date sweat shop that gushed cash. However, I was never given any credit for my work. The profound changes that I witnessed in him, during our professional relationship, were not rewarded with generosity for his newly found flow of heart centered creativity; which my mentorship reinvigorated the hunger within him to have. It certainly also did not make him donate funds to The IAE, or even thank me. Instead he took it freely from me as if it had no intrinsic value or significant economic worth.

And if I had told him upfront the price tag to help him was a donation of $100,000 to my school, he would have laughed and walked away. Why would he pay when all of us artists continue to give our gifts away for free to those who don’t have the skills, but have the resources to pay for what we have to deliver?

Today this individual is happily, for the first time, married to one woman. And he sold his company too and is now working on something truly meaningful to him and which is helping him to build his creative capacity.

Artists can truly help restore the inner lives of the majority not to mention by doing so stop the Penn State’s, Bernie Madoff’s and Enron’s from ever happening. But it is going to require finding the minority of the majority- those financially able and brave enough to invest and act- to step up and give those of us with these gifts a chance to fully integrate our pure heart centered creativity into their world.

Please Lord hear my prayer. I am sure this is the work you put all of us artists on this earth to do. And, finally, I believe our time has come to do your work on your beloved earth. The world is awakening to the real need for promised words and actions to match. Intellectual understanding is not from where we are compelled to act. This is why I dutifully created The IAE- to help artists help others make progress on earth for you.

Please send me the minority who is willing to invest and act. Lord hear my prayer.

Born Like an Artist, Evolve Like an Artist, Bloom Like an Artist

Lisa Canning — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 02:39:06 +0000

While it is easy to look at this cartoon strip created by Norwegian artist, Ida Eva Margrethe Neverdahl, and see it for its “face” value, I would encourage you to look deeper. Ida shares a great visual story, in my opinion, about how we discover our “emotional” elephant and learn to ride it. ( For more explicate training instructions read How to train your elephant to increase whole brain thinking.)

You see, we all have an elephant inside of us. And none of us has an easy time, at first, getting on its back- as this cartoon strip illustrates. But when you learn how to, your life will magically begin to flow. And you too will be able to “ride your artwave and show off its fun“ quite easily, successfully and profitably.

Growing Starbucks: Extending Brand Uniqueness or Diluting It?

Lisa Canning — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:07:18 +0000

At what point, if any, does extending brand uniqueness create a tipping point that then threatens the very foundation of the brand itself? Lately I have been asking myself this very question about the Starbucks brand.

Starbucks 1st store location in Seattle's Pike Place Market, 1971

As we all know, back in the 90′s Howard Schultz transformed the second most consumed drink after water, and the second most traded commodity after crude oil, coffee, into a unique retail destination for us all between work and home.

Putting people before products, Schultz used intuition more than “brand strategy” in those early days to develop Starbucks into the social place outside of work or home most of us did not even realize how much we needed. Schultz’s vision and intuition allowed Starbucks to leverage a low cost commodity, coffee, and transform it into a “$4.00-human-interactive-experiencial-brand.”

And now with Howard Schultz’s recent return to Starbucks as CEO, after a series of setbacks and financial downturns after his departure, the question is can he add more value to the bottom line while retaining the “human soul”- the uniqueness- he built into the Starbucks brand? Or is he reaching for the tipping point leading to the erosion of it?

According to Merriam-Webster something that is unique is defined as:

1. Being the only one.
2. Being without a like or equal.
3. Distinctively characteristic: peculiar.
4. Unusual.

There is no doubt Starbucks has managed to create a unique retail store environment with their friendly customer oriented staff, great music, comfy chairs and heartfelt emotional connective messaging.

And they have quite successfully been able to extend the feeling you get from their brand outside their stores too spending far less on advertising than other large retailers and consumer products companies to achieve tremendous brand loyalty.

Check out these 2006 comparative stats of what other companies spent on advertising for their brand.

Microsoft – more than 20 percent of their annual revenue or $11.5 billion
Coca-Cola – more than $2.5 billion
Yahoo – more than 20 percent of their annual revenue or $1.3 billion
eBay – 14 percent to 15 percent of its revenue – which was $871 million, much of that to advertise on Google
Google – In the millions rather than billions of dollars – with $188 million
Starbucks – $95 million

In 2006, Starbucks spent just $95 million on advertising with 7.8 billion in sales demonstrating their amazing strength as an “experiential brand”.

But is it possible to continue to expand the human experience of this brand while Starbucks’ transition into what Schultz hopes will be the first company to excel as both a retailer and a purveyor—in supermarkets and other mass-market channels—of consumer packaged goods?

According to Schultz, “This is a unique inflection point for Starbucks; I think we’ve identified a very big opportunity to do something that really has not been done before. And that is the following: there are many, many companies, domestically and around the world, that have built a domestic national footprint around retail stores, just like Starbucks—the Gap, Costco, Wal-Mart, Coach, Zara. And there are many consumer-packaged-goods companies—Pepsi, Coke, Kellogg’s, Campbell’s. There hasn’t been one company I can identify that has been able to build complementary channels of distribution by integrating the retail footprint and the ubiquitous channels of distribution—in our case, grocery stores and drug stores.

So the model is, Starbucks can seed and introduce new products and new brands inside our stores. We introduced VIA instant coffee in our stores. Instant coffee is a $24 billion global category that has not had any innovation in over 50 years. And no growth. If we took VIA and we put it into grocery stores and it sat on a shelf, it would have died. But we can integrate VIA into the emotional connection we have with our customers in our stores. We did that for six to eight months and succeeded well beyond expectations in our stores. And as a result of that, we had a very easy time convincing the trade, because they wanted it so badly.”

And while it’s true Starbucks has tallied up five years of positive earnings and five years of positive free cash flow, again, in part, under Schultz’s leadership, Starbucks stock has only just recently seen a rise above mid 2006 values.

However, food stocks should be on the rise. It makes sense that with unemployment up, the housing market down, and the world economy on shaky ground that food-makers would deliver stable sales.

So the question is can Starbucks continue to introduce produces like VIA into their stores and translate the uniqueness of their brand through them into distribution channels? Will their customers buy into all the products they introduce in their retail environment, bond with them, and then readily buy them from their local grocery store or drug store?

I don’t know about you, but I for one was completely turned off by VIA’s introduction at Starbucks. My sense of embracing the serenity of my “home away from work or home” felt threatened by the through I was being encouraged to take a little packet of dried coffee home as a substitute for the experience of being in their retail environment. I have always bought into Starbucks being an ” escape,” a destination, a home away from home. To add insult to injury, I was told if I liked their dried coffee, which I also perceived as cheapening the brand, I did not even have to come back into the store- I could buy it elsewhere. It almost felt like an invitation to never come back- I felt like I was losing a friend.

Howard Schultz in his 2011 book Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul specifically talks about his mission in a way that’s very different from most CEOs. “Everything we’ve tried to do,” he writes, “is steeped in humanity.” I certainly find Schultz’s new goal as being very problematic for the brand.

Purveyors use distribution channels and have retailers who connect with end users for a reason- because retails act differently than purveyors. I have witnessed this first hand within the music industry. The clarinet company I represent, Buffet Crampon, increasingly in the 90′s adopted some of my best practices working with customers. Increasingly they acted more like a retailer than a distributor, or the purveyor they are, by increasing the attention they paid towards potential end users. They threw private parties and gave potential customers the opportunity, before retailers, to see and experience new products.

In the end, it pissed off retailers who felt side stepped and while left uninformed were expected to close the sale with the majority of the customers anyways. I am not sure how much it really did to help them grow their brand then but they have abandoned most of those practices now. While I realize, Starbucks first and foremost is recognized as an extremely well established retailer- a significant difference from being a purveyor dabbling in retail, placing people over products simultaneously in both distribution channels and retail environments will be challenging. Distributors exist to move product and retailers exist to sell those products to people. The motivation of each is different and as a result using the same messaging for both won’t be easy to effectively manage.

While I think Schultz’s idea is very interesting to try and be the first company to excel at both, how will Starbucks lead me or anyone else to rediscovering why we’re best friends with this as their end game strategy in their retail environment?

I don’t know about you, but I spend time with a best friend. I get to know them. I also frequently see them in the same places and I don’t just spend money on them. While distributors and Schultz alike may hope Starbucks can convincingly sell us many products at the local grocery from an experience or two in their retail environment, it is yet to be seen how well they can translate the uniqueness of their brand into repetitive buying decisions in locations outside their own doors.

Inside Arts Based Interventions

Guest Blogger — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:15:06 +0000

Written by Michael Gold

For any individual or culture to change it has to want to change.

Arts based interventions that have the potential to affect real change are engaged when someone inside the corporate culture sees the need and the potential. It is essential that such interventions be very carefully designed.

There must be a thorough and agreed upon understanding of the client’s “pain” and how an art based intervention can be applied to catalyze that pain into specific productive results. A good starting place for practitioners is Giovanni Schuima’s book The Value of Arts for Business.

The only thing that will convince corporate interests that its management needs the resource of the artistic perspective is word of mouth based on experiential results. One cannot blame Chief Learning Officers and CEOs for being skeptical.

In my role as designer and facilitator of arts based initiatives, I have to work with musicians who can articulate their ideas across disciplines, otherwise they bring no value to the interaction with people in business.

There has to be viable product in the marketplace for corporations to be convinced of the value of arts based learning. If academic institutions from arts departments to MBA programs were to start training artists of all types in cross-disciplinary facilitation then a new and competitive field of management development — one that truly deserves the moniker of Human Resource Development — would enter the market. It would be relatively easy to create curricula designed give artists these skills.|

It is unfortunate that the world of the arts is not as prepared as it could be for this unique opportunity to recalibrate the one-sided relationship of the artist as dependent upon patrons.

In the movie Field of Dreams, while walking in his cornfield, novice farmer Ray Kinsella hears a voice that whispers, “If you build it, he will come,” and sees a baseball diamond. If we, as educators and educational institutions, build a theoretical base of expertise around this emerging field…they will come. They are already here…asking.

About Michael Gold

Email: michael@jazz-impact.com Web Site: http://www.jazz-impact.com

Michael Gold is the founder and president of Jazz Impact, where he develops and conducts interactive seminars that bring together the two worlds of jazz and business. Gold’s expertise is in creating customized training sessions that reinforce team-building, problem solving and other management skills by drawing upon the lessons of jazz. Gold’s extensive background in music, academia and business was essential in developing Jazz Impact. He held senior management positions in the real estate and financial services industries, holds a Ph.D. in jazz performance and created and ran Vassar College’s first jazz program. He has spent nearly two decades as a jazz bassist in New York having performed with such greats as Lee Konitz, Al Cohn, Tal Farlow, Sheila Jordan, and Warne Marsh. Gold is an ongoing lecturer for The Executive MBA and Leadership Development Programs at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, The MBA Program at Loyola University in New Orleans and The University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

20 Rules for Starting Your Art Licensing Business

Guest Blogger — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:12:40 +0000

Written by Art Licensing Coach J’net Smith

Rule #3 Know your skills.

Art talent isn’t enough to make it in the Art Licensing industry. Even more interesting is the fact that you may do very well in Art Licensing for any number of other reasons. For example, your art skills may be good; they may even be awesome! But you could be incredibly successful in Art Licensing because you can market yourself better than other artists. Perhaps you have the innate ability to capture the attention of various media outlets, or you have a large following of active and demanding fans (which would be is very appealing to manufacturers).

I’ve seen artists make lots of money because they appeal to a certain niche audience (not a small niche, but one that’s large enough to warrant mass market attention) that is peaking and has a current need for art. Maybe an artist loves creating holiday themed art, for which there is always a need. Art Licensing is a commercial industry, so artists who have a distinctive style, enjoy creating a certain theme, and who also appeal to huge audiences have more potential for income than others.

Other skills that affect your Art Licensing business potential are:

Technical Skills

You definitely need computer and technical skills, or access to them. If you don’t have them, you need to get them or find a partner that does, because people will no longer put up with artists not having internet access, high resolution scans, layered files, etc.

Product Design Capabilities

If you can envision your art on products, then show your art to manufacturers on product mock-ups to help them. This is a really important skill set today and is going to help put you in the league of serious art licensors.

Trend Watching

Not everybody is going to be a trendsetter, because that takes a lot of forward thinking.You may have that, or you may just love to watch trends, and can keep up with them. Either way, don’t avoid learning about trends and seeing how your art can interpret them.

Entrepreneurial Abilities

Artists need entrepreneurial skills more than ever! And we’ll talk more about this later…

About J’net Smith

Jeanette Smith is the consummate art licensing coach—she is passionate about helping you achieve a level of success beyond imagining and definitely knows how to do it! In just six short years, J’net turned Dilbert™ from a relatively unknown syndication-based comic strip into a 200 million dollar a year global brand. Then in 2000, J’net translated and expanded on her extensive experience to train, advise and license all types of creators. She has helped hundreds of artists, graphic designers, painters, photographers, authors, illustrators, design firms, fine artists, creative companies, non-profits and agents to maximize the power of their brands and talents.

J’net is best described by her combination of specialties—she is one of those very rare people who possess a balanced combination of creative sensibility and extraordinary business acumen. It is this combination that has served J’net over the span of a very impressive career,and has garnered her equally impressive press and testimonials!

From her early days in New York building new divisions for such corporate giants as Official Airline Guides, MacMillan Publishing, Paramount Communications, and VIACOM International, to her six years of work at United Media spearheading the astronomical growth of Dilbert, Jeanette has compiled a long list of satisfied clients and has gained an enormous amount of respect and experience in marketing, licensing, advertising, PR, agenting, negotiating, and much more.

Ode to Dr Suess: Ding-Dong, Ring-Ring

Lisa Canning — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 13:00:51 +0000

Well, its that time again…….

I’m dusting off ornaments,

untangling a ball full of metal fishhook hangers from each other

and uncurling ribbons on those (damn) wreath bows.

I think it might be time to go shopping.

Ode to Dr Suess: Ding-Dong, Ring-Ring

Ding- dong, Ring- ring

all the bells are RING-ING!!

People shuffling,

Cash registers opening,

Boy! all those entrepreneurs are “hoping”…

All those folks out there, being ”customers”,

AND BUYING stuff up!

and UP!

AND UP!!

They shop and don’t stop

SAY WHAT?

JUST WHAT??

just what could THEY POSSIBLY BE THINKING???

Inside every customer

is a mind that is

Thinking ….

and THINKING!

AND THINKING!!!

THINKING To fill IT’S own voids,

and center it’s Being.

~~~

Customers buy to be happy, and satisfy

their worth.

AND customers especially treasure artists, for their gifts,

BLESSED at birth.

we love, we laugh, we cry,

WE UNWIND……!!!

We harden, we age, we narrow,

WE WHY????

Ding-Dong, Ring-Ring, Customers nearing!

Take niche to find thrive, hurry up, there’s still time!

GO AHEAD, follow the signs to give your customer a ride–

On the ARTWAVE you know, well.

YOU KNOW? The one YOU CAN RIDE!!

You ride to find niche for your customers, who will buy!!!

And BUY!!

AND BUY!!!!

What they pay for is YOU, to teach them to GLIDE.

To glide on the ride that, YOU KNOW how to ride.

Perfectly.

The one that produces Your OWN version of THRIVE.

We RIDE. We thrive. THEY Ride. They Glide

We all simply enjoy

as we all simply ride.

But do you remember the day, YOUR art called your name????????

It TICKLED your funny bone, calling to YOU, Outloud AND BY NAME!!

Go Dancer and Painter

Go CartoonIST and VisionIST.

Go off in your sleigh with A Plan,

BECOME AN Artistic missionist!!

Your future, it awaits you, its only begun.

Your art wave will take you, anywhere,

quite far and far flung!!

..as long as you ride it, AND SHOW OFF ITS FUN!

To Yonder and Listen and Dreamer and Great VisionISTS;

your patrons, are waiting for you..remember to visit us!

Ding-dong, Ring-ring, my poem is nearly done.

Take the arts into the future, and find life Ohhhh SOOOOoooooo MUCH richer,

Merry Christmas, Dr. Seuss; you’re a missionIST and my hero

from a patron, gliding,

and sent with love.

Wishing all of you patrons and bloggers a

wonderful holiday season!

Lisa Canning

Re-Imagining the Orchestra

David Cutler — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:00:21 +0000

You may be aware that the New World Symphony is America’s leading training orchestra, boasting top rate talent. And you may have heard about their breathtaking new hall in Miami Beach. But did you know that members of this group are daring to re-imagine the business model of orchestras from the bottom up?

The fact that many American orchestras struggle to survive is no secret. In the past few years, top-tier ensembles in Philadelphia, Syracuse, Honolulu, Detroit, Louisville, Dallas, and New Mexico have cancelled concerts, issued pay cuts, declared bankruptcy, or closed their doors. Reversing this trend will likely require more than savvier social media use, fundraising efforts, or other one-dimensional potions.

I recently completed a two-day residency with the NWS focused around this very problem. Below is a summary of our journey.

PROCESS

As a starting point, we used the following scenario. The year is 2020, and almost every major full-time American symphony orchestra has since declared bankruptcy and closed its doors. (Obviously nobody desires this outcome, but imposing these “conditions” forced fellows to think creatively and challenge status quo.)

Confronted by that hypothetical, a group of NWS alum decides to found a new ensemble, Orchestra Future. For this organization, two priorities are non-negotiable:

We must produce outstanding art (an area where Orchestras Past excelled)
We must create a sustainable business model (an area where Orchestras Past were not ultimately able to succeed in the 21^st Century)

Beyond these two points, anything and everything was on the table. How might this new, alternate Orchestra Future look?

Magical solutions did not instantly appear. As with any meaningful strategic planning, the process benefited from thoughtful discussion and collective wisdom. Participants began by dissecting Orchestras Past (in other words, the 2011 paradigm), honing in specifically on three large-scale areas they deemed essential: 1) Event Design, 2) Institutional Culture, and 3) Relevance.

After considering both positive and negative aspects of Orchestras Past, attention turned to specific, actionable solutions for Orchestra Future. And even though our meeting time was limited, some fascinating conclusions were drawn.

MISSION

Our thought leaders turned first to mission. They decided that the purpose of Orchestra Future will be to:

Serve and celebrate local community
Function as an arts and innovation “fountain”

These essential priorities would impact every major decision, from programming and musician responsibilities to activities pursued and marketing tactics.

HIRING PRACTICES

With Orchestras Past, outstanding performance was the sole or primary criteria when auditioning new members.

Applicants will only be considered by Orchestra Future when they clearly bring a valuable secondary asset with them. That might mean being an extraordinary educator, great public speaker, good schmoozer, effective fundraiser, dynamic marketing visionary, freakish master of multiple artistic talents, etc. In other words, every employee must clearly demonstrate his/her value towards achieving both non-negotiable priorities (great art and sustainable business model).

CORE PERFORMANCE ACTIVITIES

Orchestras Past engaged in two primary types of performance activities. The ratio of time devoted and perceived importance between these areas was estimated at around 85/15.

Formal concerts-85%. “Masterworks,” “Pops,” or some other program variation. This area was the meat and potatoes for every full-time musician of Orchestras Past.
Engagement-15%. Educational and community outreach events. For members of Orchestras Past, involvement here was often optional.

Both of these activity categories continue to play a role in Orchestra Future. But their relative importance is reallocated to 50/50. And though all musicians will be required to participate on both sides of the equation, not all divide their time equally. Some are more focused on one side or the other, falling somewhere on the spectrum between 85/15 and 15/85.

EVENT DESIGN

In addition to outstanding performance (always important), concerts by Orchestras Past were characterized by several features. A partial list of conventions includes:

Programming. Overture-concerto-symphony model. Multi-movement works always played in their entirety. Music by dead, white, European composers comprised 95+% of programs.
Instrumentation. Only three kinds of instrumentations were permitted: full orchestra, orchestra with soloist(s), solo encore.
Visual stimulation. Typically minimal.
Verbal communication with audience. Nothing, or offered solely by the conductor.

While Orchestras Past delivered incredible art through these formats, Orchestra Future will vastly expand the palate of experiences offered. The NWS group imagined a number of initiatives that, at times, challenged each of these conventions. In particular, they considered ways that event design could directly reflect their mission priorities of local community and arts/innovation fountain.

MUSICIAN RESPONSIBILITY

In Orchestras Past, musicians had the following responsibilities:

Performance. First and foremost, show up on time for rehearsals/performances, be prepared, and follow strictly regulated etiquette guidelines (85-100% of job).
Engagement. At a distant second, participate in educational and engagement events. Not always required (0-15%).
Service. Some musicians had roles on various committees (0-5%).

In Orchestra Future, not only will the proportion of energy dedicated to each of these categories change, but musicians have additional responsibilities including:

Secondary skill. Every performer is involved with a secondary area where they have aptitude, interest, and ability to help the organization succeed.
Marketing. All stakeholders play an active role in marketing and advocacy.

INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE

Sadly, Orchestras Past had a reputation for being resistant to change and sometimes unhappy organizations. Whether true or not, an infamous study by Harvard researcher Richard Hackman found that orchestral musicians ranked among the lowest in terms of overall job satisfaction compared to other professions, just under federal prison guards.

Though the NWS fellows did not have enough time to outline a comprehensive new cultural positioning statement, they did offer some reflections. Orchestra Future must be a place where creativity, innovation, and experimentation are celebrated at every level. Players should be actively involved with operations, vision, and major decisions of the ensemble. Ideas will be evaluated on the merit of the proposal rather than the rank of its originator. A respectful and supportive environment is key, with a prohibition placed on unconstructive complaining and negative attitudes. If orchestras are truly to serve communities, they must begin with a healthy, vibrant internal culture.

—-

Of course, we’re not yet in the year 2020, and thankfully all of the major American orchestras have not closed their doors. There is a lot these organizations can do now to avoid the heart-breaking scenario that NWS discussed. While specific solutions may vary, one thing is certain: Major innovation is surely a requisite ingredient (true for any sector in our complicated and quickly evolving world). If different results are desired, the model must change.

Thank you to the New World Symphony for being brave enough to tackle this crucial topic. It’s only a starting point—talk won’t save the industry, only action. But this conversation marked an important step, and will hopefully serve as inspiration and a catalyst for meaningful change.

Long live the orchestra! Here’s to sustainable models that allow this culturally rich institution to produce outstanding art for many, many years to come!

Related articles:

: NWS video projections during concert

Music Education + Business = Win Win

Guest Blogger — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:37:28 +0000

Written by Eugene Cantera from The Dallas School of Music Posted on their blog, DiscoverLearnandPlay, on November 15, 2011

Last week we were fortunate enough to be contacted by Marty Albertson the former CEO and current non-executive Chairman of Guitar Center. We decided to do a little research on him before our call and learned that his is a very cool story.

He started as a clerk and rose through the ranks all the way to CEO. He weathered through sales of the company, buy-outs of partners, and even led the company from public to private status (and back again?). He champions a ‘slow-growth’ strategy that he believes will benefit Guitar Center over the long run. This is all good stuff.

Marty’s initial e-mail to us ended with a very interesting sentence that caught me just a tad off-guard. He said “I have spent a great deal of time over the past several years investing in the music ed world we depend on. I would look forward to seeing your program”. I’m not sure why I was surprised as it makes so much sense. Head of a company that sells instruments and gear is interested in music education success… so they can sell more instruments and gear! It’s crystal clear and seems to be sound business logic as well (no pun intended). We were humbled that Marty contacted us and were pleasantly surprised to learn that he wanted to talk about music education with us ‘outsiders’. But you see, as a businessman and passionate music fan, he understands the importance of music education on many levels.

For example, we are all familiar with the benefits of music education; how students of the arts continually outperform non-art peers on the SAT, how cognitive reasoning is elevated, and and how playing music can instill in students “the good habits of mind that can last a lifetime” among others. These are noble and just reasons for the existence of foundations like VH1-s Save the Music and The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation (of which Marty is a board member) but they are not the only reasons.

The basic premise that ‘more music makers = more music SALES’ is… in my humble opinion, no less of a reason to ‘save the music’ and for music educators to become more business savvy. This can and should be a win-win situation. I know that each time a shop makes an instrument sale, there is a potential lesson for a teacher (whether it’s here at DSM or online at DLP) and perhaps another potential member for a local band or orchestra program. And I know too that if the teacher does his job well, he will make a lifelong ambassador and purchaser of music and its related products or services. That’s a Win-Win.

I suppose it was the word ‘depend’ in Marty’s initial e-mail that struck me the most. I wondered to myself if music educators understood this?…Then I chuckled at how silly that sounded. Of course they don’t. Music educators are trained to sight sing, read scores, transpose, and fix the occasionally bent octave key. These are wonderful attributes in the band room, not so useful in the real world. We are trained to do one thing, and do it well. But in most cases, a music ed. major’s ‘business hat’ is most often only worn when dealing with local shops that provide (hopefully) quality rental instruments to their band and orchestra programs.

This leads to a dis-connect between school music programs and the outside world, including the business world (and in many cases, the music world – but that’s another story for another time). In short, this disconnect is a real and palpable one. If you don’t believe me, read the account of our trip to the MENC (now called NAfME) National Conference or see for yourself by attending a NAMM show and making a note of who the majority of music merchandisers are courting. You might also try listening in on any of the national round-table discussions on music education and see how often they address ‘the other 80%’.

So I believe it’s time for a change.

Let’s try to…

…encourage future music educators to be more entrepreneurial minded by making business training part of their basic required curriculum.
…work with businesses to leverage the current interest in adult music education and start reaching that portion of ‘the other 80%’.
…use technology to make music educators more accessible and to reach more people of all ages and all levels of ability interested in learning music.

And finally, let’s not be afraid to become more entrepreneurial in spirit and to work with businesses of all kinds for a ‘slow-growth’ approach to creating more music makers. It can be good for everyone’s business – a true win-win.

About Eugene Cantera

Eugene grew up in the northeast and received a BME from the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford, CT. He has been in Dallas for the past 20 years where he is a Partner at The Dallas School of Music and one of the founders of discoverlearnandplay.com. As Head of Social Media he publishes the Discover, Learn, Play blog and maintain the schools’ twitter and facebook pages. He has had the pleasure of working with a wide array of students, from novice learners to professional musicians, and perform locally when asked nicely.

20 Rules for Starting Your Art Licensing Business

Guest Blogger — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:03:12 +0000

Written by Art Licensing Coach J’net Smith

Rule #1 Learn all you can about art licensing before committing your time and efforts.

Licensing is big business. According to the 2011 annual Licensing Industry Survey released in June by the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association (LIMA), global licensed product royalty revenues reached $5.065 billion in 2010. Character licensing, from all types of entertainment venues, represents the lion’s share at 47%, while art licensing equals about 2.5%. Art licensing is by itself a $128 million dollar industry.

Licensing is the simple concept of taking your copyrighted art, and contractually arranging and agreeing to lease the rights to one or more images to manufacturers who develop product with the artwork and then sell product to retailers to market to consumers.

So, licensing is really both a business and distribution model. It’s simply one way of getting your art onto product, and out to the consumers. The licensing model is especially appealing to artists, since it doesn’t require you to invest your money up front in production, or to learn the complex in’s and out’s of manufacturing and retail distribution.

The basic players in an art licensing agreement are these: the artist is Licensor—the owner of the copyright. The licensor may market their art through self-representationor utilize the services of an agent. The Licensee is the entity (company or individual) who licenses the rights from you. Most often it is a manufacturer, but it could also be a retailer, or an advertising sponsor. The contract—the legal agreement between the two of you—is the Licensing Agreement.

Like any business venture you might be considering, I recommend you study the industry to see if it is right for you and learn all you can about what it will take to succeed in art licensing. So Rule #1 is that you must learn all you can about art licensing before you commit significant time and efforts. I can’t guarantee it will be easy, but if it’s right for you and you are willing to put in the effort, it can be rewarding and lucrative. Reading this blog series is a great place to start and here are some additional resources that also may be helpful.

About J’net Smith

What does it mean to be a servant leader?

Lisa Canning — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:29:25 +0000

In a world where interruption, abruptness and “me first” rules, is it really any wonder we are economically struggling? How can we deepen trust and increase listening to build cohesive teams in this kind of disconnected environment?

2nd shift at work in my father's foundry, Alpha-Cast.

Long ago I watched my father purchase a bankrupt diesel engine foundry business and transform it into a roaring success through his practice of servant leadership.

My father, Theodore Argiris, a Harvard graduate, and before entering the foundry business a prominent criminal attorney in Chicago, pictured here with his hard hat on in the lunchroom with some of his employees. Many days after school, when I would stop by the foundry, I would find him in the lunchroom. We would have something to drink together and I would participate in conversations with him and his employees. I was able to observe how my dad involved them in key decision making and built shared understanding, empathy and as a result, trusted peer relationships with them.

Servant leadership is a philosophy and practice of leadership, coined and defined by Robert K. Greenleaf. Servant-leaders are often seen as humble stewards of their organization’s resources: human, financial and physical.

As a young woman, I learned a great deal watching how my father built relationships with his employees through developing shared language and asking for their input with key decision making.

Larry C. Spears, who has served as President and CEO of the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership since 1990, has extracted a set of 10 characteristics that are central to the development of a servant leader:

Listening: Traditionally, and also in servant leadership, managers are required to have communication skills as well as the competence to make decisions. A servant leader has the motivation to listen actively to subordinates and support them in decision identification. The servant leader particularly needs to pay attention to what remains unspoken in the management setting. This means relying on his inner voice in order to find out what the body, mind and spirit are communicating.

Empathy: A servant leader attempts to understand and empathize with others. Workers may be considered not only as employees, but also as people who need respect and appreciation for their personal development. As a result, leadership is seen as a special type of human work, which ultimately generates a competitive advantage.

Healing: A great strength of a Servant Leader is the ability for healing one’s self and others. A servant leader tries to help people solve their problems and conflicts in relationships, because he wants to encourage and support the personal development of each individual.This leads to the formation of a business culture, in which the working environment is dynamic, fun and free of the fear of failure.

Awareness: A servant leader needs to gain general awareness and especially self-awareness. He has the ability to view situations from a more integrated, holistic position. As a result, he gets a better understanding about ethics and values.

Persuasion: A Servant Leader does not take advantage of her power and status by coercing compliance; she rather tries to convince those she manages. This element distinguishes servant leadership most clearly from traditional, authoritarian models and can be traced back to the religious views of Robert Greenleaf.

Conceptualization: A servant leader thinks beyond day-to-day realities. That means he has the ability to see beyond the limits of the operating business and also focuses on long term operating goals. A Leader constructs a personal vision that only he can develop by reflecting on the meaning of life. As a result, he derives specific goals and implementation strategies.

Foresight: Foresight is the ability to foresee the likely outcome of a situation. It enables the servant leader to learn about the past and to achieve a better understanding about the current reality. It also enables the servant leader to identify consequences about the future. This characteristic is closely related to conceptualization.

Stewardship: CEOs, staffs and trustees have the task to hold their institution in trust for the greater good of society. In conclusion, servant leadership is seen as an obligation to help and serve others. Openness and persuasion are more important than control.

Commitment to the growth of people: A servant leader is convinced that people have an intrinsic value beyond their contributions as workers. Therefore, she should nurture the personal, professional and spiritual growth of employees. For example, she spends money for the personal and professional development of the people who make up her organization. The servant leader will also encourage the ideas of everyone and involve workers in decision making.

Building community: A servant leader identifies means to build a strong community within his organization and wants to develop a true community among businesses and institutions.
At the foundry, employee's had a great "can do" attitude because they felt like a cohesive community that each individually was understood. Communication flowed, problems were solved and progress was made.

Global Entrepreneurship Week November 14-20, 2011

Lisa Canning — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 13:11:23 +0000

Unleash your ideas with us this week for Global Entrepreneurship Week! Come on Thur Nov 17th to our idea pitch event called Create. Innovate. Repeat. here in Chicago. There is still room for 2 more presenters if you want to sign up!

Learn more about Global Entrepreneurship 2011.

Richard Branson talks about Global Entrepreneurship Week and why he thinks entrepreneurs really can change the world.

U.S. Small Business and Entrepreneurship Conference, January 12-15 New Orleans, LA

Lisa Canning — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 20:09:57 +0000

In 2012 The United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) will be held from January 12-15th in New Orleans, LA. My colleague from University of Illinois, Joyce Thomas and myself will be attending to present material from a paper we wrote, with another Univ of IL colleague, Deana McDonough, about The IAE and our learning cloud model. I am excited to be presenting my first paper about The IAE at this conference. This will be the 3rd time I have attended USASBE. I think it’s a valuable resource and a great networking opportunity. I hope you will consider attending. You can register here.

About USASBE

USASBE is the largest independent, professional, academic organization in the world dedicated to advancing the discipline of entrepreneurship. With over 1000 members from universities and colleges, for-profit businesses, nonprofit organizations, and the public sector, USASBE is a diverse mix of professionals that share a common commitment to fostering entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviors.

USASBE is built around four pillars that guide the ongoing development of our organization. The pillars include:

entrepreneurship education
entrepreneurship research
entrepreneurship outreach and
public policy

By fostering advances in each of these areas, we support the development of entrepreneurship educators who in turn will create next generation of entrepreneurs.

The roots of USASBE go back over fifty years to the founding of the International Council for Small Business (ICSB) in 1957. The ICSB was founded in the United States as a comprehensive organization of outstanding researchers, scholars, teachers, administrators, and public policy makers interested in entrepreneurship and small business. As the organization grew, members decided to form national affiliates, and the U. S. Affiliate of the ICSB was established in 1981. In 1985, the name was changed to the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE). Today, USASBE is an independent academic organization with its own unique mission, while also retaining its affiliation with ICSB.

USASBE is a community of scholars, entrepreneurship program and center directors, government officials, directors of entrepreneurship support organizations and others. It is a community that works to enhance our understanding of the phenomenon of entrepreneurship and to identify best practices in how to teach entrepreneurial principles and facilitate the creation and growth of new for-profit and social ventures. Ours is a culture of exploring, experimenting, innovating, sharing, challenging and giving.

As leaders in the emerging discipline of entrepreneurship, our members are making an impact on how we think about, conduct research on, design public policy around, and interact with entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial ventures. They are extending the field of knowledge and shaping the discipline to reflect the opportunities and demands of the 21st Century.