Question 1

What is the single biggest suggestion you would give to someone wanting to get into this career?

Steve Collins · Accepted Answer

“Be a realistic optimist. Make the most of the opportunities you find and encourage the same attitude in others. There’s only one way things get better and that’s to have the right attitude.”

Question 2

What’s the #1 mistake people make when trying to get into this career?

Steve Collins · Accepted Answer

“Too narrowly defining their path. It’s back to getting experience in being a leader in other fields and other areas. You’re always learning something different by being in a different kind of situation. Another mistake is to de-emphasize the importance of good communication skills and helping people find compromise, whether that’s getting training in negotiation skills or conflict resolution skills.
“I think there’s a lack of awareness that you’re going to spend a lot of time and energy trying to get people on the same page, so it’s important to build those skills.”

Question 3

What is the question people should ask about this career but rarely do?

Steve Collins · Accepted Answer

“Maybe something along the lines of how to handle disappointment. How do you deal with things when they aren’t going as you envisioned — you’re not getting the earned revenue, you’re not making it work financially, or you’re not reaching the right audience? When things aren’t going well, what do you do?
“It’s kind of hard to answer that question. It depends on what your situation is, but it’s important to have a process in mind and be prepared when things go askew.
“The first thing I like to do is check my underlying assumptions, (the designs you make are based on assumptions), try to understand what might have gone wrong, then reassess the implementation you engineered and what specifically worked or didn’t to understand the problem better. Then adjust the movement better. When you don’t know what to do, when in doubt, perform controlled experiments.
“You can’t be complacent. If you have a leadership position in an arts organization, there will be times when things are not going as expected.”

Question 4

What is one thing I should have asked which I didn’t?

Steve Collins · Accepted Answer

“It’s important for people to understand how their work and private life will balance and be realistic about what their expectations and goals are because of what I said before — it’s not exactly a standard nine-to-five job and that might create problems for some people, depending on how they were raised or what their expectations are. It’s definitely not for everyone, so be aware of that and think that through.”

Question 5

If you could describe in one word what makes you successful, what would it be?

Steve Collins · Accepted Answer

“Persistent.”

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