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Taking the Big Lever Out of the Toolbox
On Friday, March 3rd, thanks to the good work of the Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, a select group of marketing executives working in the city’s cultural sector will be spending the day exploring how they might cooperatively take hold of their organizational destinies and shape them for the better.
I’ll be joined for the day by my brilliant client and colleague, Catrina Boisson, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s Vice President for Marketing. Together, we will be sharing some findings, insights, and strategies that were produced over the last 8 months in a strategic review process of the Center.
Philadelphia has grown some revered and redoubtable institutions for its citizens. Its orchestra, ballet, museums, performing arts centers, and centers of learning are all world class. What’s really impressive about this community is that these folks understand that being “world class� isn’t enough. If quality were any kind of guarantee of success or sustainability, Studebaker cars would still populate American highways.
These days, when competitive incursion seems to come from every direction, it’s tougher than ever to build and keep audiences. By convening an expert group who share a mutuality of purpose – to strengthen and invigorate Philadelphia’s cultural muscle – the Philadelphia Cultural Alliance is taking its big lever out of the toolbox. History teaches us that no strategy is so potent as the power to convene and focus smart people on those challenges and opportunities that they jointly own. The Alliance is doing this good work with the support of the Pew Charitable Trusts.
As a people, Americans love to worship rebels. These days we call them innovators and when we think about them, we envision individuals, not groups. The American ideal of the lone, brilliant individual working independently has foisted a stunting mythology on many of us. We’re socialized to cling to independence to maintain control, get credit, and reap rewards.
The old aphorism, “In all the parks, in all the cities, in all the states, you’ll never find a statue erected to a committee,� proves a point. When groups are imagined in the “committee construct,� we roll our eyes, imagine glacial progress, then run for the door. It’s our stereotypes of groups that drive our default to working alone. We certainly pay a price when we do.
When we dig deeper, we learn that teams and groups outperform individuals. Frank Gehry’s architecture inspires awe – and not just of Disney Hall or the Pritzker Pavilion, but of Frank Gehry. The whole concept of the “starchitect� belies the truth. Frank Gehry may be an individual, but his buildings are produced by a team of brilliant architects, designers, and engineers.
Every time I watch my favorite movie, “Casablanca,� I’m reminded that the movie is great because of Sidney Greenstreet, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre, Dooley Wilson, Paul Henreid, and Conrad Veidt. As much as I love Bogie and Bergman, they‘re the meat and potatoes suffused by herbs and spices that, taken together, make the whole recipe memorable. Ensembles, not stars, take good efforts past good and on to great.
On a personal level, I experience this insight repeatedly. Every time I discuss an issue with my partner, Wendy, or with my colleague and art director, Tim Walker, the quality of my thinking takes a big leap. They turbo-charge me. I'm convinced that it's the quality of the people I work with that make me effective, not my own abiities.
James Surowiecki’s book, The Wisdom of Crowds, makes a compelling case about how groups consistently outperform individuals in most endeavors. It’s a fascinating, well-researched, and somewhat frightening book. For those of us who take a bit too much pride in our ability to think, Surowiecki takes us down a notch or two with his evidence that a group of everyday folks will pretty consistently put a polymath to shame when performance is measured objectively over time.
So if a group of just plain folks are so effective, imagine what a team of top performers can do! I’m looking forward to the conversation and the collaboration this coming Friday. Good things come from working together and I’m grateful that I get to be there to listen in.
Posted on February 28, 2006 07:39 AM | Permalink
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