David, I read and acknowledge your concerns.  The
arguments you cite have parallelism in other sectors.
The question begs itself:  Does the head of the
organization need to be an expert in the field which
they are charged with leading, or do they need to have
good leadership/managerial skills and the ability to
hire others who are experts?  I've seen this argument
presented several ways and admittedly argued it
myself--taking the stance you do but in another career
field.

Forgive me for saying it, but are you "too close" to
the situation to see it objectively?  I have to ask
you, as I was once asked. If things were ideal, the
situation would be as you painted it here.  But it's
not.  It's as you have lamented it.

So then the question begs itself, what are YOU going
to do to fix the problem?  We can lament, bemoan, and
bitch, but it doesn't stop the flow of jobs to "the
outsiders."  What can be done realistically,
practically, proactively, and now, to turn the curve
on this?  I see it sort of like--on a bigger
scale--the outsourcing of jobs to other countries.
It's wrong, most Americans see it as wrong, but now
that we've come to that conclusion, who is stepping up
to the plate to fix the problem?

A new boss is just plain intimidating.  An outsider
always can't possibly know as much as the insiders
even if they're from the same field.  But an outsider
who doesn't know squat about museums is just plain
dangerous.

SO . . . here's what I think, and tell me if you think
there is any practicality in this.  Could you and your
cronies put together a "Museum Management for Dummies"
kind of handbook?  What I'm thinking is on the lines
of a notebook filled with key position pieces that, at
a very minimum, your outsider would need to know.

I realize there are all kinds of layers attached to
this, but think of it as a new employee manual for the
new boss.  Is that a possibility?  If you cannot get
boards to stop hiring and politicos to stop appointing
outsiders, can you take steps to stem the damage by
educating the new kid?


--- "David E. Haberstich" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I'm not opposed to bean counters per se.  I
> think every museum and similar institution needs
> competent business managers or
> bean counters, if you will, to help meet the
> challenges of a changing economy.
> And they should have real power and influence.  I
> just think it's foolhardy
> and dangerous to give them 100% of the power.  The
> chief executive of a museum,
> IMHO, obviously needs to have management ability and
> experience, perhaps
> including that MBA--but ALSO solid museum experience
> and understanding, and respect
> for the expertise and value of the professional
> staff.  I think it's unwise
> to pass up people with combined museum and
> managerial qualifications in favor
> of alleged hotshots from the corporate world.  Too
> many business titans,
> furthermore, have recently demonstrated the
> fundamental incompetence and stupidity
> underlying their avarice and corruption to make me
> feel comfortable with
> letting them invade our nonprofit organizations and
> run them into the ground.
>
> Museum boards of trustees are too often populated
> with people whose only
> qualifications are their personal wealth and/or high
> standing in the business
> community.  They need an influx of members who know
> something about museums and
> what they represent so they won't be so inclined to
> panic over a downturn in the
> economy and select an axe-wielding ringer from the
> business world who they
> hope will magically solve all their problems by an
> over-reliance on business
> models.  After many years of encouraging too many
> unqualified people to become
> board members and trustees of museums, it's not
> surprising that they would
> eventually begin selecting unqualified directors.
>
> It's a question of balance.  Every museum needs a
> solid financial foundation
> and a reasonable business plan to ensure its
> survival, but it also needs a
> director and a board of trustees who are as
> committed to quality and respecting
> the central mission of the museum as they are to
> raising money and attendance
> figures.  I just don't believe it's necessary to
> sell our souls to survive or
> to destroy the essence of our institutions in order
> to save them.
>
> Operating a museum is a complex enterprise, far more
> complex than running a
> business whose goal is simply to sell a product or
> service in order to turn a
> profit.  It's a challenge which cannot be met by the
> simplistic solutions of
> those who know only how to make money (and how to
> save it through drastic cuts)
> without understanding the fundamentals and standards
> of the institutions they
> are directing or managing.  I'm particularly alarmed
> by high-handed business
> types who like to start their reign over an
> institution by cutting and
> downsizing without any dialogue or consultation with
> staff, and I'm tired of hearing
> about museum staffs being demoralized by such
> unimaginative and ruthless
> tactics.
>
> David Haberstich
>
>

=====
Indigo Nights
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