A parable of failure

Once upon a time a nice little country summer music festival hired a new Executive Director. Unfortunately he had no management and no communication skills, but his obsession with his importance made him sinister and dangerous if not controlled.

He really wanted to build a building and was able to persuade his Board to buy a bankrupt Inn. He also persuaded a  nice little old lady to give him a million dollars to conduct a "feasibility study" to see what it would cost to fix up the Inn and build a world class Concert Hall (probably to be named after him). The answer was about $40 million.  Anybody who questioned the need for such expenditure was told they were not artistic enough to appreciate good music. Anyone who suggested a less expensive shed like Tanglewood was rejected  by the protest of a woman who lived nearby and who didn't want to hear the noise of concerts on summer evenings. The Board was told it was all quite wonderful and the Chair of the Board changed the Executive Director's title to "President and CEO" and made the woman who lived nearby the chief fundraiser.

So the three most powerful people in this tale were not focused on the product (music) nor on the people who brought that music. One wanted power and a building,  the second wanted to show she could raise a lot of money (and didn't want a noisy neighborhood) and the third just wanted to keep the "President and Chief Executive Officer" happy .  .  . Meanwhile any new Board members who stood up to this and questioned it were  told they were either unmusical peasants or  disloyal traitors not to support the vision. They left.

Unfortunately the conductor of the orchestra was popular so he had to go. We don't like rivals.

Unfortunately the musicians rebelled against being treated like commodities and many in the festival's audience supported them. They were branded as "against change."

Unfortunately the surrounding community were not willing to support the Capital drive for $40MM. They were branded ignorant.

In all this, the sinister little "President and Chief Executive  officer" demonstrated an uncanny ability to gain and hold power over his Board.  He even managed to silence them so they would not even talk to their friends about the Festival. No one demanded transparency of policy or of finances.

Finally, after repeated failure by the Board to do their jobs, a group from the audience (that change-resistant bunch of unmusical idiots who didn't understand the power of passion in music) stepped in to do what the Board should have done:

Focus on the product

Change the management

Forget about building - you're in the music business, not the real estate business 

Good luck SOON

Anonymous