As I was drinking my Hot Toddy, my colleague and friend Michael Roderick from Small Pond Entertainment shared some advice with me he heard earlier that evening.
Out of all the blogs I read, seminars I have been to, and conversations I had with industry professionals, this was the most sound-logic-advice I ever heard.
Very simple...
He shares his story in his blog, HERE.
(Warning: If your easily offended, stay away from the advice and click, HERE, instead)
Ken Robinson says Schools Kill Creativity…
This “creativity expert” says “We are educating people out
of creativity”. I wish everyone in education, the arts, and entertainment
watched this video.
Take 19 minutes and 21 seconds of your day to enjoy this seminar brought to you by TED:
* * *
When I was a senior in high school, my guidance counselor in High School, Mr. W., pulled me into his office and attempted to “talk me out of” going into the entertainment industry. Thank gorsh the thick-headed teenager in me remained committed to my passions.
It disturbs me greatly that many educational systems are not
promoting younger generations to explore their creativity and use their creativity
in every day life. Please don’t think that I feel every child should be an
actor, or a singer, or a musician (That would be scary). Creativity to me does not mean that you
dedicate your life to the arts, it means you dedicate to make your life into a
piece of art.
I feel obligated as a member of society to cultivate
experiences that inspire others to take risks with their passions. It is my
wish that as a member of the entertainment world that I can create safe, and entertaining
environments that move audiences to grow.
Here are the ways I am currently doing this:
1)
Through StarQuest – in 2009 we had over 21,000 performers
under the age of 18 perform at our events. Many of our dancers do not attend
our events with the goal to win top score, they come to be their best, to dance, to
create, and to be part of a passionate community. As the Associate Producer for
the upcoming season, it is my goal to ensure that young dancers have an
environment to create, showcase, and grow.
2)
Through This Blog – I hope that readers of this blog gain
something out of it. Be it a gram of inspiration, an ounce of inspiration, or a
bucket of inspiration, I enjoy sharing my journey with others in hope there is
some form of connectivity that sparks motivation. I feel fortunate that every
day I learn new things – Why wouldn’t I want share these lessons with you!?
* * *
What are you doing to foster inspiration or creativity in
others?
Share your stories in the comment section of this blog.
Often I get questions through email, phone calls, and faxes (Yes… I get asked questions through fax from time to time….I didn’t even know my efax number was still active…). Here are a sampling of some of the questions I get:
- Should I send my theatrical resume or my business resume?
- Do you need a cover letter?
- Is there a limit to how many words I should keep my cover letter to?
- Would you like a photo? (Hu?)
- What should I wear to the interview?
Here is my answer to all of the above questions: “Apply in a way you would like to represent yourself for this particular position”.
I respect the fact that candidates want to make a home run for potential employers. Interviewing and applying for gigs can sometimes be an art into itself. I welcome questions from people who apply. It is important to me that you feel welcome in any company I am associated with, regardless to if you are going to be brought on board or not.
There is no magic way to apply for a position. There is no special outfit to wear. Follow the instructions the company has requested in the ad, beyond that do what you feel is right. Represent yourself in the light you would like to been seen.
(This posting dedicated to Randolph Pierson from AMDA, who painfully taught me the lesson above when I asked in class if I should get a headshot with or without my glasses on – which I ended up getting both – No wonder why I’m no longer an actor.)
Learning Styles and Training Part II
Michael Krug is one of my favorite TrendErtainment Subscribers. He often leaves comments that take the blog one step further. In the last post about learning styles and training, Michael commented on the importance of evaluating the current level of skill prior to training a company member. I fully agree with his point of view.
I evaluate the candidate on three criteria outside of their resume itself when hiring for general positions: attitude, aptitude, and skill. I need to know that they have a specific level of “expertise” in order to join a company. Here is what I look for in advance when inviting someone to join my team:
The Criteria
1) Attitude
Is this someone who has a good attitude? If they don’t have a good attitude in the interview process when people are (hopefully) trying to be on their best behavior, they won’t have a good attitude in the work place. During the interview process, how does the candidate represent himself or herself? Will they be a pleasant person to work with or someone you and your team will want to avoid? Is this someone who is taking the job only because they need the money, or is this position going to help them grow? I often ask the individual to tell me about previous employers. I can guarantee you that if they trash the last person they work for, they will bash me too. I like to work with people who have an infectiously positive attitude towards the position they are applying for. It is amazing what a group of properly hired people with high enthusiasm can do for a company.
2) Aptitude
Do they have the ability to learn the specifics of the job assigned to them? Are they willing to learn something new or are they closed off and think they know everything already? Are they open to criticism or are they defensive? Will they learn quickly or will this be a long painstaking and expensive process?
3) Skill
Where is their current level of skill? I need the candidate to have a strong working knowledge of the technical or managerial elements of the role they are applying for. If I am hiring a sound engineer, I need to know they have the skills needed to operate and set up sound equipment.
Variations
Everything is contingent on attitude, regardless of your current skill. - I don’t always care what your level of skill is or your aptitude. In entertainment, we all work like a family. If you have a bad attitude, I don’t care what your current level of skill is or your ability to learn, you are not right for my team.
Just because you have the skill doesn’t mean you can do the job. – Live entertainment has many challenges. Every gig is different. Due to the demands of the theatre, you may have to be flexible with the way you are used to doing things. If you are not willing to learn the job the way it needs to be done for this company, then you are not right for us.
If you are a great person ready to learn but have no practical experience, I can’t use you, yet. – I can’t hire you to be a tour manager if you have absolutely no background in management. The road is tough. I don’t want you making beginner mistakes while in the line of fire. I will remember you though. Come back to me when you have some assistant training (or perhaps when I have an assistant position available).
Hire slowly – Fire Quickly!
It’s that simple, and that hard.
Several times I have made the mistake of not adhering to this golden rule. Every time it bit my team and me in the butt. If you are a road company, I fully acknowledge how difficult it can be to replace someone while in the trenches. Not releasing a bad company member is like staying in a bad relationship- don’t stay with the person if they are not right for you! (Another mistake I made too many times before meeting my wife.)
Asking for Feedback at Training
This has been an intensive week of training for the StarQuest 2009 road staff.
The dance competition world is unlike anything else I have ever experienced in entertainment. It is a mix of reality TV, a pageant, and a pop concert. I can promise you that a new set of rules apply to just about everything when working in a youth oriented dance competition.
This year we have a very strong group of auditors (Judges Managers), and awards managers. After a long week of training, they picked up on the complexities that come along with their positions. The other day we asked them, “…with all this training, and running through the motions of your role, is there anything else we could have done to enhance your learning experience?”.
The young women, already very energized (from what I consider a successful training period) started to rattle off ideas on what could have enhanced the experience for them. The ideas varied and each one involved a different learning style.
Their feedback reinforced my need to revisit learning styles and the importance of incorporating them when training my staff.
The Three Learning Styles:
1) Auditory Learners
2) Visual Learner
3) Tactile/Kinesthetic Learners
Often as managers in entertainment, we don’t take the time to work with these concepts; however, we run into conflicts when we don’t acknowledge that what is a common learning approach for one person, is not the best for another. A visual manager, who uses images to demonstrate to their staff how to do something, gets frustrated with a company member (a kinesthetic learner) when he doesn’t get it. A kinestheic manager gets frustrated when a well-educated auditory learner doesn’t get it after having them do it for the first time.
I don’t have the time to figure out what the best learning style is to teach each and every company member (and I doubt you have the time either). We often have to train entire groups how to accomplish a task – and everyone learns differently!
It is always a safe bet to incorporate the “Tell, Show, Do, and Review” method. It is really simple, and I have experienced and seen it work first hand.
Tell, Show, Do, and Review:
Tell – Tell the company members what the task is, and why it is being done. (This covers the Auditory Learners.)
Show – Do the task yourself, or have a skilled technician do the job. (This covers the Visual Learners.)
Do – Have the company members do the task themselves. (This gets your Kinesthetic learners in on the action.)
Review – Go over with the company what you have done by asking questions and getting feedback. (Reinforces the task overall.)
Everyone utilize all the learning styles in one way or another, so this method embeds the task further for everyone.
So…Before you get frustrated with a very competent employee, ask yourself, “Am I showing them how to do this the way I learn, or the way they need to learn?”.
-- Welcome to the team: Lyssa, Jennifer, Patricia, Stacey, and Leah (The new StarQuest International Auditors and Awards Managers)
What type of learning style works best for YOU?
**CALLING PAST, PRESENT, AND TOURING PERSONNEL****
When people ask me to describe life on a bus and truck tour, I tell them “It is the best Reality TV you will ever live!”.
For those of you who have lived or do live life on the road you know what I am talking about. Plop a camera on one of those tours and you have a network TV hit ! Why know one has done this yet is beyond me. (Anyone with a TV background want to pair up with me on this idea let me know.)
I am now gathering anecdotes from actors, crew, and management about the magical time of a tour that is right around February. What is referred to often as the “F-U Febuaries. I want to know how you and your team prevented the gloom from happening or how the gloom manifested to a gooey chaos. Email me your stories at Michael@michaelcedar.com or comment below. I will protect the innocent.
If you don’t know what this “mythical” F.U.F. is don’t worry you soon will!
Stay tuned at the beginning of February for the collection of stories and thoughts regarding this topic. Hopefully with all the experience of our readers we can develop “The Psychology on how to prevent the F.U.Fs.”.
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By a show of hands how many people set clear goals for themselves recently?
Now…
By a show of hands how many people set clear goals for their company members recently?
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Unfortunately, I know there were fewer hands raised for the later. Many different sources indicate that most company members don’t understand what they are working towards and what is expected of them.
With the beginning of the year at our fingertips, now is a great time to increase your company’s performance. Clearly define for your staff:
1) The Mission of the Project
2) The Role of the Individual
Here is some help:
Mission of the company: What is the overall goal of this project? Who do we serve? How do we measure our progress? If you are a for-profit entity, making money is probably priority. Hopefully though, your product has other goals in addition to making a profit.
Role of the individual: What is my main objective? What is my next challenge? How is my progress going to be measured?
It is crucial that the goals you set for your staff are measurable. If they are not measurable, there is no way to reward (or discipline) company members fairly. What is common sense to you may not be common sense to your staff. Showing up on time to bus call means you have your luggage is loaded and you are in your seat at call time (while your leading lady may think “on time” means 10 minutes after is perfectly acceptable).
Setting clear goals doesn’t mean micro-managing your team. Detailed expectations will guide the way while allowing your company the room to add their own nuances.
You may say to a group sales representative, “It is your job to sell groups of 10 or more. Now go!”. If this is the expectation set to your group sales representative, he may sell two groups of 10 in one week and think he did a fantastic job; meanwhile you are starting to pull your hair out.
It may serve you better as a manager to set more specific expectations, “It is your job to sell $10,000 worth of tickets per week through groups of 10 or more”. Now, you both have a way to measure the performance.
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Happy New Year TrendErtainment Subscribers!
Let’s ring in the New Year together….
- - -
While Riding to Hebrew School:
As a tween, I listened with my dad to Anthony Robins and Brian Tracy cassette tapes on car rides. I got to hear all about N.L.P and Goal Setting on my way to school, the N.J. malls, and Hebrew School. (Side note: my father is a subscriber to this blog and an inspirational teacher to thousands of young musicians.)
The tapes conditioned me to set goals and make mission statements. According to Anthony Robbins, this was “what you were supposed to do to have a successful life”. As a kid, you believe what you are told. So… Due to the brain washings, I associated pain with not setting goals. Every year, I would set my goals. The repetition did help: by the time I was 13, I had my own business, and by the time I was a senior in high school, I had a fully operational and profitable corporation.
What I Learned When I was 12 Years Old:
Goal setting can be as simple as writing down your top 3 things you want to achieve, or as complex as a full 10-year plan for life. Regardless to how you go about committing to your goals, the mere act of getting them down on paper and (possibly) sharing it with others brings a huge element of reality to your aspirations. To go really in-depth Google: goal setting here.
Just Do It:
I encourage you all to set a minimum of three big goals (RIGHT NOW!) that you would like to attain in your entertainment/arts career this year. I further challenge you to share them with the other readers of the TrendErtainment blog by listing them in the comments section below.
(Dad, I want you to participate in this exercise too!)
For those of you who don’t want to spend too much time on this TrendErtainment exercise, here is a basic set of instructions for simple goal setting:
1) Pick up a pad of paper or pen (or open a new document on your computer).
2) Write down the top three things you want to achieve in the next 365 days.
3) Share these three thing or more in this blog
4) Put your goals somewhere safe and review monthly (Give yourselves an evaluation on how your doing).
It is my GOAL to have a minimum of three readers list their entertainment goals in the comments section below. Perhaps another reader in this blog can help you attain your goal!
Go ahead, what do you have to lose?
I will even follow up with you every other month through the year to see how your progress is doing.
I'll show you mine, if you show me yours:
My Top Entertainment Goals for 2009:
- - -
Now... Show me yours !
(A prize to the best set of goals)
Carpe-Diem !
The first item that I purchased for my first apartment in my mid-20s was a paperweight that said: “What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?”. As someone who is always striving to be my best and live a fulfilling life, I thought this was a perfect centerpiece to always help keep me in line. Having this on my desk prods me: “Is what I am doing now helping me or hindering me to achieve my goals?”, “What are my goals?”, “Am I doing this because its easier or because its right?”, or “Should I have been a nice Jewish doctor instead?”. To this day, I still have the plaque in my house and it always strikes up stimulating conversations when guests come over.
The power of questions is unbelievable, especially when we stop to ask ourselves the questions. The quality of the questions we ask dictates the quality of life. We can ask “Why me?” or we can ask “How can we make this better right now?”.
Sadly, I have found that asking questions is not easy for many people. During the traditional “New York Birthday Dinner” I ask the friend in the spotlight what I call “The Birthday Questions”:
1) How is your life different today than 365 days ago?
2) How is the world affected by your presence?
3) What will be different in 365 days from now?
I never thought that asking three simple questions would cause so much hatred towards me. One friend broke down crying after the 2nd question and said, “Why would you ask me such horrible questions and make me question my self-worth?”, another friend refused to answer them all together, another friend almost kicked me, and someone un-friended me on Facebook after I asked the questions. Still, I continue to ask the questions.
During a goal-setting workshop that I taught for young artists at the EdTA's International Thespian Festival, I continued to ask questions:
-What things can you do forever and never get bored of it?
-What angers you most?
-Who knows you best in this world and what would they say are your three greatest strengths?
At the end of the workshop I had teenagers, parents, and teachers all coming up to me saying: “No one ever asked me these questions before, I really learned something about myself today”. Asking ourselves questions is something we are not accustom to doing….
As members of a very vain industry, it is easy to get tied up in the grandeur and speed. It is easy to forget what brought us here in the first place. Questions are the best way to keep ourselves in check and ensure we are contributing the best.
Here are a few questions to get the day going:
1) In your entertainment career, what would you do if you knew you could not fail?
2) What would you like your overall contribution in entertainment/arts/education to be?
3) Flashing very far ahead, what would you want The New York Times article to say under the Arts section upon your death. (Morbid, I know.)
What are your answers? Leave them in the comment section below!
In my early 20’s I went in search of a new accountant for the DJ company I used to operate. I was heading out on a big project and had little time to interview people for the role. I asked a colleague of mine (also in the party event business) to recommend someone to me and he told me to go to Larry Goldberg. He is from NJ, has a Jewish name and has other clients who were in the same field as me. Perfect right?
I went for my initial meeting with him and when I walked into his home office, he had papers all over the room. Everything was piled up with no sign of organization. My gut told me, “run away, you don’t want someone like this handling your money, the man can barley keep his pen collection in order… Of course the youthful manager in me said, “Well, he has been recommended to me, so lets use him!”. Needless to say he cost me thousands of dollars in fees and penalties. I was guided wrong on every account.
Also…
I was interviewing a replacement sound engineer several years ago for a tour I was managing. I was in a tight position, and needed someone ASAP. After several disappointing interviews, an “experienced” man walks into the room. The interview goes great. He has the background we need, the skill-set and the availability – Charming too. In the last minute of the interview his cell phone rang and he picked it up. Gut instinct, “Who the hell is this picking up their phone in an interview!? Say goodbye Gracie!”. What did I say to myself though, “Well, we really need someone, I I’m too busy to interview anyone else, he can do the job….he’s hired”. I bet you can guess what happened… he turned out to be the most disrespectful, cocky staff member the company had seen. He changed the dynamic of the culture on the road, and we didn’t recover that season.
I unfortunately have other stories that have the same thread to them. I have heard countless stories of others making similar decisions. We don’t want to believe the little quirks that peep into interviews, but we must.
Moral of story: Putting the “ok choice” person on the team does not help the team at all. Find the right people, build the right bench, and staff your baby with people who fit the culture and skills needed.
Anyone have any similar stories themselves out there ?
In the last post, I promised you all that I would not disappear.. Yet I did…
Well, If you are wondering where I have been here ya go:
www.SheLovesYouYeahYeahYeah.com
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So why do you hear from me now ? What made me pick up the ol’ Macintosh and sign into Typepad ? Here is why… Because I am working Smart (Again).
The last few weeks I was working extremely hard. By the end of last week I was burnt out. I lost numerous hours of bogging time, time with my wife, time developing new projects, time to read the Sunday paper, Yada Yada Yada…
I love working on the production of She Loves You, however, I fell into a trend that is familiar to most of us in this great land of entertainment. The “Working Hard” trend.
After numerous hours of frustration, and working. I realized what I was doing. Wearing many hats, jumping from department to department I was getting lots of small things done, but nothing monumental. I was gaining no momentum in my day. Uggg !
I stopped, and realized its time to work smart. I realized that if I concentrated on one area of focus at a time (instead of working in all 10 at a given moment), I would accomplish more in a hour than I would in a week working “Hard”. If I spent 1 hour focusing on nothing but marketing I would get a huge return. If I focused 1 hour on finances I would have crystal clear numbers. If I focused on 1 hour on educating myself, I would be smarter!!!
Q) How do you find a needle in a haystack?
A) By removing one piece of hay at a time.
So… I have created an agenda for myself. I now work in the appropriate departments at the appropriate times. I now go back to gaining clarity through the day instead of mudding it up with 15 items at once.
How did my agenda work out ? How did my working smart plan end up ?
Well… Here I am, on my couch, bogging, eating ice cream, and waiting for my wife to come home. Ready and refreshed for another round of General Managing !
StarQuest International is the best at what they do. They host close to 30,000 young dancers every year in 40 cities. They run three teams simultaneously. On an advertising level they have eliminated all print media and rely on the execution of their remarkable product and customer relations to do the talking for them.
Recently while talking with Steve Wapple the CEO of StarQuest, I asked how he managed to make it all happen while having a life of his own. How does he lead a profitable, successful enterprise and get to go home for dinner?
His short response: “The system will set you free”.
There is difference between working hard and working smart. In the entertainment industry I have seen too many people work too hard. They sacrifice their personal lives in lieu of their careers in show business. Marriages gone corrupt, health down the drain, and freedom non-existent. Do you want that? Of course you don’t!
As a company manager and project manager, systems have become my friend. They make the overload of work bearable. Set yourself up on a unconditional schedule. Make sure that certain tasks are always done uninterrupted on certain days at certain times. Do this consistently yourself, set others up on a system, set expectations, and allow room for growth.
Build it and be set free….
An entertainment company asked me to help them restructure their operations to accommodate for their rapid growth. I sat down with the president of the organization who franticly tried to explain his overwhelming list of things to do. It was clear the biggest challenge was going to be preventing butter. Yes, butter.
When transporting cream in bulk, you can’t put all the cream into
one large container or it will slosh around and turn into butter.
However, if you compartmentalize the cream and put it into small
containers, you will still have your sweet cream at the end of the trip.
How management butter is made:
First, you take all the things on your managerial to-do list (the Cream), then you look at them at the same time (transporting), and finally you will become a paralyzed member of management (with a heavy butter-filled head).
To prevent management butter:
Keep in mind that you need to compartmentalize your task list. Separate the tasks into four quadrants from high to low priority. Focus on one task at a time, which allows you to eliminate stress and make yourself a productive manager.
I love butter, more than I should, but I don’t like butter on my payroll reports or border-crossing manifests.
Any suggestions as to how you prevent the butter?
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