Just in time for Halloween, the Harvard Business Review blog offers tips for combating the four contagions that create a zombie workplace — “where creative people and good ideas disturbingly molder.”
These survey results show that influence (particularly online) has less to do with the size of your audience and more to do with the value of the content you are providing
Professor Ranjay Gulati of Harvard Business School discusses how organizations can become more customer (or audience)-centric and why this is a critical time for them to do so.
This is an interesting piece from FastCompany about the challenges of content providers, which I think has important implications for arts organizations.
An interesting thought on what you’re selling (and therefore emphasizing) to your organization. Are you trumpeting the right things?
A fresh look at empirically driven outcome measures; from the “moneyball” guys. What do you think of the lessons they take away from the example?
With many folks talking about the need for new business models to make arts organizations more sustainable, The Artful Manager’s Andrew Taylor takes the discussion a bit further.
A workbook designed to help organizations assess and strengthen their governance practices.
Steven Johnson is an amazing thinker and this book raises intriguing questions for how cultural programming might be designed in the future.
With the ever-increasing temptation to focus on what’s new, it’s important to remember that most of our challenges (and their solutions) are not so new.
This post introduces an interesting, knowledge-game approach to understanding and developing an organization’s strategic direction. It includes a mapping tool and suggestions for how to create a team session which can be focused in any number of ways.
A post on the choice facing so many arts and cultural organizations today- whether to change to continue to be relevant.
As an arts leader, how do you balance financial and creative risks?
This transcript is of Diane Ragsdale’s keynote “Surviving the Cultural Change (Version 4.0)” at the Arts Alliance Illinois Members’ Meeting on June 21, 2010. In this speech she challenges arts organizations to adapt to the cultural changes that have been taking place.
Nina Simon discusses difficult decision making with visitor experiences on her blog Museum 2.0.
A global discussion to define and track the things that make a society capable of social innovation.
A brief but interesting note regarding justifying the expense – and evaluating the effectiveness of – leadership development programs.
The piece reminds one that the construct of “the arts” marginalizes artistic and creative activity. It makes the end product the focus of attention, rather than the role artistic activity is playing in society, the process of creating and participating in art, and the affect on people engaged through the work.
Another brief read (I wouldn’t ask you to concentrate at length) on the false economy of multitasking – including the price paid even when offline…and interpersonally.
In this article Clara Miller, President and CEO of the Nonprofit Finance Fund, identifies nonprofit best practices and assumptions which have amplified the impact of the economic downturn on many organizatio
This article describes how to leverage the collective knowledge and networks of your board of directors so they are able to provide your organization with the strategic direction and support it needs.
An interesting look at how a few smart organizations have integrated social media into their work.
A recent study from Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies on constraints on innovation in the NP sector (incl. arts specifically).
This brief highlights trends in the number and finances of 501(c)(3) public charities, as well as key findings on private charitable contributions and volunteering, two vital resources to the nonprofit sector.
A friend in the banking world recently gave me this book, and as we consider why the arts are so essential to healthy societies it makes for interesting reading.
A great resource for board members and staff members to test knowledge and learn more about operating (sometimes called cash) reserves.
Assessing its impact as well as its volume will help organizations take better advantage of ‘buzz.’
For those convinced they are adept multi-taskers, a slim line of defense against the prevailing wisdom that it can’t be done.
This podcast features Nina K. Simon, author of The Participatory Museum, and Rob Stein, Chief Information Officer at the Indianapolis Museum of Art discussing how cultural organizations can use social media and social-media-type interactions (such as building a community of interest) to build more robust experiences and relationships.
Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman and psychologist Gary Klein debate the power and perils of intuition. An interesting analysis of the role of intuition in decision-making.
An interesting article challenging the oft-received wisdom that millenials/gen y need to learn in a fundamentally different manner than their predecessors: “…there may be ‘as much variation within the digital native generation as between the generations.’ ”
This is a quick video outlining the relationship between customer satisfaction and product design.
A great column that talks about the common organizational bias toward answers rather than questions… even though asking the right questions will ultimately lead to the best answers.
A really interesting interactive feature from McKinsey Quarterly on the cognitive biases that most impact decision-making in organizations
I recently heard Simon speak at a Dance NYC conference, and his book is as good a review of the importance of mission (although that’s not what it is about) as any I have ever read. You can watch him on TEDx and get a taste of his thinking.
A paper on the role of education in defining the purpose of the arts in society.
An article on the use of design thinking for tackling systemic social problems.
What is the “right” way for not-for-profit professionals to balance their commitment to achieving a vision and their need to care for themselves, their employees, and their families?
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