Failing Big

The article on failing big posits that doubling down on failing strategies amidst market shifts, can be a major failure in planning. Then why are so many non-profit arts organizations, notably orchestras, maintaining the same strategies of audience experience, programming selection, and staff hiring processes, that may have worked in the 20th century, but no longer are working today? The continuance of orchestras closing their doors due to financial burdens is enlightening.

Tackling the first issue, we can address orchestras who have not fully invested into the strategy of audience/customer experience. For example, the traditional experience involves buying your ticket, showing up a half hour before the concert starts, having a cocktail, then sitting in a hall that is dimmed and quiet, while performers take the stage and force the audience to revere what they are doing. Should the concert be about the audience? The performers? The music? The reality is all parties are important to the mission of the non-profit, however since they need money to stay afloat and achieve that mission, the audience experience is paramount. Today's audiences demand, whether they realize it or not, more engaging experiences. Part of adjusting the strategy falls to improving hiring of administrations.

Orchestras are still hiring musicians to run themselves. If you run through the list of staff at the majority of orchestras in the United States, you will no doubt find that few if any have business training. They are mostly relying on the board to help guide business decisions, and relying on their passion for the performance as the driver for strategy. I have had several arguments about planning, programming, and marketing with my fellow musicians who still believe that 19th century European music is what sells. A well trained manager would not trust just their instinct, but the data which shows a great disconnect between intuition and reality in how audiences receive their artistic experiences.

Orchestras, theatres, and museums have to innovate just as fortune 500 corporations do. If they are unwilling to recognize failing strategies, and worse, stick to them amidst shifts in demand, they are bound to fail and often they fail big.