I am a Trekker. I am not ashamed to admit that I own an (original series) Captain's uniform (don't call it a costume, please), my own set of "Vulcan ears" and an eclectic array of items both purchased and received as gifts including, yes, my very own tribble. As a kid, countless idyllic Saturday nights began with a Star Trek rerun (at 6pm on Channel 11 in New York) on a black & white TV while the babysitter heated up my frozen … [Read more...]
Learning to Play Ball on a New Field
In the book, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game Michael Lewis reveals how the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its general manager Billy Beane crafted an analytical, evidence-based, sabermetric* approach to assembling a competitive baseball team, despite Oakland's disadvantaged revenue situation. (*SABR refers to the Society of American Baseball Research, an entity founded in 1971 to compile information of interest to historians, … [Read more...]
BASS ACKWARDS: Audience Development Grants
Forgive me if I don't get overly excited from this week's NEWS that OPERA America has awarded nearly $200,000 in "Audience Development" grants to 16 opera companies. Their announcement proclaims that the "Audience Development grants help opera companies to implement community engagement activities that develop new audiences for American opera and music-theater, engage diverse audiences, deepen current audiences’ understanding and appreciation of … [Read more...]
Going Forward, There Is No “Collective”
In a "collective" - the component parts exist only to serve the good of the whole. There is no appreciation of individuality, independence, choice, creativity, dialogue, agility or soul. Collectives are imposed. As the Borg in Star Trek say, "You will be assimilated." "Collective" is NOT a synonym for "collaboration." Try gathering a group of people together to discuss HOW to address some shared need or pursue some mutual objective and … [Read more...]
Learning to Live in a Post-Strategic World
This was supposed to be a book. I should have known better. Every time I think I’ve mastered something, events conspire to remind me that there is (so much) more that I still don’t understand. An experienced hiker (which I’m not) would have understood this immediately. Having approached a mountain first seen from a distance and then having climbed to its summit, the experienced hiker would have expected the view to reveal so many MORE … [Read more...]