They Told Me Not to Take that Job: Tumult, Betrayal, Heroics, and the Transformation of Lincoln Center (51 page)

Of course, to fully benefit from the intellectual energy and creative enthusiasm of these human resources required exposure to me, the CEO. Everyone in our organization was aware of the high regard I had for data-based studies, new ideas, and challenges to conventional wisdom. News of my visible receptivity to those who brought us such gifts spread rapidly.

Bursting the Bubble

How can all of these instrumentalities involving important figures in the life of Lincoln Center actually work?

Certainly a determined chair to help recruit and relate to these entities and their members whenever necessary is indispensable. A committed staff, able to engage trustees and many others and brief them with policy-relevant data and analysis, is critical.

But ultimately, it is the CEO to whom all would like access. In seeking it, trustees, volunteers, benefactors, government officials, activist groups, and all manner and means of the members of advisory boards pushed through my open door.

The effort to infuse fresh energy into Lincoln Center became an obsession. Doing so meant a willingness to view the place the way informed and often critical ticket buyers, donors, journalists, and civic activists might. To ward off inertia and complacency and challenge ourselves was utterly necessary. Otherwise, routine and boredom would
likely set in. Otherwise, we would run the risk of living in that bubble that is said to surround not just US presidents but CEOs everywhere. Self-imposed isolation and a strong amen corner can be the ruination of a leader.

Of all the risks to Lincoln Center’s artistic excellence and financial health, what I worried about most was self-inflicted pain caused by thinking about ourselves in isolation from the environment around us. Stultifying introversion is a clear and present danger to established institutions, even those thought to be at the very top of their game.

This is not advice for others. My most trusted leadership tool is a device available at any full-service drugstore. It is called a mirror.

Leadership can be lonely. Self-indulgence and self-delusion are not healthy ways to cope with that loneliness. Running institutions is not about the women and men at the top. It is about service to others. Forcing myself to experience what others think of Lincoln Center was an invaluable form of discipline.

I regularly read the work of critics, journalists, and bloggers with an open mind. I did not dismiss critical assessments breezily. I needed to take seriously those who watch our performances for a living and not, as too often had happened, allow them to be dismissed ad hominem by colleagues.

The views of our customers on the performance of our ushers, security staff, or parking lot attendants were exceedingly valuable. They helped to uncover deficiencies that either had not been detected by routine procedures and managerial supervision or were more serious than we initially believed.

I spent lots of time with more than two hundred of Lincoln Center’s far-flung trustees and associated advisory body members. Their knowledge, experience, skills, and network of associations were invaluable to Lincoln Center. Asking the right questions and listening intently for the responses were essential. What I learned was invaluable.

Of course, an indispensable source of knowledge was Lincoln Center’s own employees. Expectations for them were set high. By and large, my teammates delivered.

I communicated with them by telephone, by e-mail, and at departmental senior staff and ad hoc meetings. My two or three informal walk-arounds each weekday when I was in the office were very useful.
Three or four breakfast meetings were held annually for employees who had been with Lincoln Center for less than two years. Two or three all-staff meetings were also held. These methods and occasions allowed for me to convey Lincoln Center’s priorities, our challenges, and our values. Just as important, they offered the opportunity for me to ask questions about whether we were doing the right things and whether we were doing things right. And then I would LISTEN. I constantly learned very useful lessons.

Lincoln Center should always be in the process of continuous improvement. It always has unfinished business on its agenda. We made our fair share of mistakes, I am sure. I am equally certain that we were aware of them and learned from them. And that is largely because no bubble surrounded our place or me. You would have searched in vain for an amen chorus. It was probably the only ensemble not welcome at Lincoln Center as long as I was there.

Heavy Lies the Head

I am not sure that there was ever a time when the CEO could rule by command and control. It is true that employees will tend to defer to authority, giving the boss the benefit of the doubt. Over time, that automatic tendency to acquiesce fades, particularly for employees who are talented and marketable. They are looking to follow the leader not by compulsion but by choice. If, by precept and example, the CEO reaches decisions that strengthen the organization, and particularly if the views of the employees closest to the issue are taken into account, then support for the CEO will be forthcoming. Not dutifully or grudgingly, but enthusiastically.

Throughout my career I viewed employees as colleagues in a common cause, not subordinates or “direct reports.” The high regard I was after needed to be earned every day. Like most “bosses,” CEOs tend naturally to “manage up” well. Anticipating the needs of the members of the board at whose pleasure they serve, presidents and executive directors too often give short shrift to their associates. Attention to the employee body becomes erratic and inconsistent.

The maxim that almost anything is possible to achieve in an organization as long as you do not care who receives the credit particularly
applies to the CEO. Mahatma Gandhi always encouraged his followers to do the work, not hog the credit. The line to get the work done, he allowed, is always shorter! A smart CEO knows that whatever plaudits accrue to the team are hers to enjoy as well. Of course employees are especially impressed when the boss not only improves the organization, but goes out of the way to help them directly. That theme pervades this narrative, because nonprofits are labor-intensive institutions. Those who work in them trade in psychic as much as financial currency. They enjoy gratifying transactions. They appreciate the successful completion of projects. They value, most of all, building strong and enduring relationships with fellow team members.

Careful consideration of employee needs and protection of their interests win much favor. I consistently viewed my CEO job as creating and sustaining an environment in which my colleagues could do their best work and realize their professional dreams. Much of what I do for a living is identify, nurture, and reward talent. That may require raising more money to finance an idea; or protecting staff from unnecessary, unfair, or excessive trustee criticism; or assigning more resources to a problem when an employee in charge is feeling overwhelmed.

Ultimately, the values you embody as a leader and who you are as revealed to your colleagues will win the day.

Leadership can be isolating and burdensome. When you can fully share in the successes of others and helpfully intervene when crisis hits employees unexpectedly, at work or at home, that sense of being alone subsides.

But running a nonprofit is never to be confused with running for office. It is not a popularity contest. There will be occasions when tough choices are necessary. They will not always be well received. The true leader should aim neither to be feared, nor to be loved, but to be respected.

APPENDIX A

International Rescue Committee

122 East 42nd Street

New York, NY 10168–1289

Tel: (212) 551–3000

Fax: (212) 551–3180

Email:
[email protected]

December 14, 1998

Dear Jim and Win:

Judging by its ability to become more self-supporting, the IRC is a 65 year old that hasn’t yet come of age.

During its distinguished history, the IRC has urged and enabled refugees to become self-reliant as soon as possible and to rapidly develop the means to independence.

Ironically, the institution we all revere has refused to take the advice it proffers to others.

For reasons good or ill, solid or flimsy, the IRC has never undertaken a serious capital campaign. In fact, on more than one occasion in the past, its doors were close to shutting, irate bill collectors demanding payment for services rendered. In more recent years, annual operating deficits have threatened to become habit-forming and have undermined any chance for a substantial capital accumulation in the decade of the nineties. During that decade, thousands of non-profits improved their balance sheets significantly, taking advantage of a terrific economic environment in which to raise and invest funds.

Such sins of omission and commission are history.

Now, the IRC is well on its way to healing managerially and to redeeming its full promise programmatically.

And, now is a time for growing up, for institutional adulthood.

APPENDIX B

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION FOR LINCOLN CENTER REDEVELOPMENT

Alice Tully Hall

Executive Architect, Diller Scofidio + Renfro

Best Cultural Project of the Year, Greater New York Construction User Council, 2010

American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) IDEAS National Award, 2010

American Institute of Architects (AIA) Honor Award in Architecture, 2009

AIA New York Design Honor Award, 2009

AIA New York State Award of Merit, 2009

Progressive Architecture Award Citation, 2009

American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Platinum Award for Engineering Excellence, 2009

Society of American Registered Architects, Design Award of Honor, 2009

The Los Angeles Times
, Top 10 Architecture Moments of 2009

The New Yorker
, The Ten Most Positive Architecture Moments of 2009

The Washington Post
, Best Architecture of the Decade

McGraw-Hill, Best Construction, Cultural Projects Category, 2009

The New York Construction Magazine
, Best Cultural Project, 2009

The New York Times
, The Arts in 2009

School of American Ballet

Executive Architect, Diller Scofidio + Renfro

International Illumination Design Award of Merit, 2008

AIA New York State Award of Excellence, 2007

International Association of Lighting Designers, Award of Excellence, 2007

The David Rubenstein Atrium

Executive Architect, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien

LEED Gold—Official Certification

AIA Design Awards, Interiors Honor Award, 2011

Lincoln Center Hypar Pavilion

Executive Architect, Diller Scofidio + Renfro

National Award for Structural Engineering from the American Institute of Steel Construction, 2011

AIA Design Awards, Architecture Honor Award, 2011

Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

Executive Architect, David Rockwell

BusinessWeek Magazine
, IDEA Finalist, Environments, 2012

AIA, Citation, Interior Architecture, 2012

Interior Design Magazine
, Best of the Year, Finalist, Institution, 2011

Lincoln Center Theater—Claire Tow Theater

Executive Architect, H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture

AIA New York State Design Award of Excellence,

Institutional Category, 2013

Architect Magazine
Design Review Award,

Bond Category Award Winner, 2012

Interior Design Best of Year Awards,

Institutional Category Winner, 2012

ACEC NY Chapter Engineering Excellence Diamond Award, 2012

AIA New York State Design Award, 2010

David H. Koch Theater

RC Dolner and Theometrics

CETI Fiatech Award Winner, 2009

Other Awards/Recognition

Cooper-Hewitt Design Patron Award, Reynold Levy, 2009

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Platinum Award for Engineering Excellence, The Juilliard School, 2009

ASCE Platinum Award for Engineering Excellence,

Central Mechanical Plant Project, 2008

AIA Design Awards, Urban Design Honor Award Winner,

Lincoln Center Public Spaces, 2011

APPENDIX C