Respect the expertise of your staff, and learn enough about the functions of different departments to recognize when you have a bad apple who is making life harder for other staff. On Wed, Jun 20, 2012 at 12:48 PM, Deb Fuller <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > On Wed, Jun 20, 2012 at 12:10 PM, Michael Reuter > <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > > Do any of you out there have any advice for someone who is about to > become > > an executive director for the first time? I’ve done as much reading and > > research as I can to this point, but I know that learning doesn’t all > come > > from books. If there are any peers or colleagues of mine that have any > tips > > or kernels of knowledge that they would like to pass on, I’m all ears. > > I will respond with an example from this weekend. I was at a big event > at a major museum, which brought in thousands of visitors and probably > used a couple hundred staff and volunteers. In the chow line for the > participants, I spied the museum director, a retired 4 star Marine > general, serving food just like he was a regular volunteer. It wasn't > a photo-op nor was he dressed any differently than anyone else other > than his name-tag. I thought this was an excellent display of > leadership and humility. > > So as an executive director or any other kind of director for that > matter, never think that you are above your staff or that any job is > beneath you. If you are willing to get in the trenches and do what > needs to be done, your staff will rise to the occasion as well. This > is not an excuse to work them to death but to say that a staff's > attitude reflects that of their leader. If morale is sucking, look at > yourself first and see what you can change, not at your staff. If you > aren't willing to do a job, chances are they aren't going to want to > do it either. The old cliche' is true: if you want to learn how to > lead, first learn how to follow. > > So good luck! The rest is mainly paperwork anyway. ;) > > Deb Fuller > > ========================================================= > Important Subscriber Information: > > The Museum-L FAQ file is located at > http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed > information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail > message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should > read "help" (without the quotes). > > If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to > [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read > "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). > ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).