Customer Reviews

The Art of the Turnaround: Creating and Maintaining Healthy Arts Organizations

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Michael Kaiser has a great reputation for being an arts administrator and for being an effective leader during troubling times. This book takes you through his process and philosophy for turning companies around. The points he makes and his ideas are very practical. I found myself writing down notes and ideas on how I could apply them to our own company. The meat of the book is his case studies, in which he takes you through five organizations he has worked for and what he did to turn the company around. This is the best book I have read on administration in the arts. Mainly because it isn't academic and gives you applicable ideas the moment you start reading.

As a former arts organization executive officer and board member, I purchased this book based on its excellent reviews in several magazines and internet sites. I would agree that its anecdotal approach makes it quite readable. For those who are really interested in taking on the heavy lifting of sustaining or resurrecting performing arts companies, it lists most of the rudimentary issues that must be addressed. However, Mr. Kaiser offers more charming anecdotes than bedrock substance. Granted a standard text on the "how-to" of arts management is very dry reading (I already have a few of these). What would have made this book more valuable to more serious readers is at least one technical chapter (possibly as an appendix) that anatomizes the process of creating and supporting a successful arts company. Perhaps Mr. Kaiser will consider doing this in a second edition.

The remarkable thing about this book - to one who ploughs through a few of them - is that it is readable! Most books on any aspect of fundraising are prescriptive, bulleted to death, and lend themselves readily to Power Point presentations. Can I be more abusive of the genre than that?

Mr. Kaiser's book makes none of these mistakes. Instead he gives you a superb distillation of his experience in a neat package - up front. Busy managers and other important folk need read no further. They would be idiots if they did not since the bulk of the book is a series of "cases" - tales - about the experiences that led Mr. Kaiser to his list of essentials of charity management.

He calls it "turnaround". And I'm sure the principles apply very well to any turnarounds you might be planning. But the real reason for persisting with this book is that its applications are much broader than that.

It's a great guide for any ED struggling with his or her board - and there are many insights that you can relate to those struggles and principles you can adhere to that will serve you well.

It's a brilliant training tool for anyone who wants to teach fundraising in most of its varied aspects - how do you present the organization to prospective or past donors as a viable entity they should be thrilled to support? ("invest in" if you want the current parlance.) How do you identify and know these donors? How do you sustain relations with these donors? And how in the long term do you turn these donors into the bedrock of your charity?

Working through Mr. Kaiser's cases with students, and even practised fundraisers, would be a stirring way to energize, or re-energize, your fundraising staff.

What is missing in the book is the "answers" to questions like those I have proposed for the fundraisers in your stable. Mr. Kaiser spins a great yarn, but is short on analysis. He fails to show how he distilled his 10 rules from his experience, and that would be a fascinating path to follow. But this can be a plus or a minus depending on how you use the book; and of course depending on how astute you are.

Whether or not you intend to use the work in an applied way or just enjoy it as the very good read it is, I highly recommend it. Mr. Kaiser reveals his disasters as well as his successes and this makes for a very human narrative. And - have I mentioned this yet? - he is a superb writer, so you will be laughing (and wincing) as you learn.

Tess Samuel, Senior Development Officer, SickKids Foundation

Hearing Michael Kaiser in person is what prompted me to explore this very interesting book. Kaiser has had remarkable success in nurturing several professional arts organizations to good fiscal and organizational success.

I was part of a group of several hundred patrons and representatives of the arts to hear Mr. Kaiser interviewed by Maestro Michael Stern of the Kansas City Symphony. Honestly, I had no idea what to expect. It quickly became apparent that Kaiser is very smart, has an abundance of common sense accompanied by great instincts, and provides leadership that keeps people focused on the mission. The bulk of the interview was his "off-the-cuff" review of ten principles that have guided him in turning around struggling organizations. Also obvious, was that these ten principles apply not just to the arts but to many organizations, especially NPO's that rely on donors for their existence.

Kaiser's principles are profoundly simple, yet powerful if diligently and faithfully applied. Immediately, I ordered copies of his book for key people on a number of NPO boards on which I serve. The principles are found right up front and the rest of the book illustrates them by recounting Kaiser's personal experiences of turnarounds. I highly recommend this book.

Fantastically well-done. This book combines common-sense general prinicples for performing arts groups experiencing financial difficulties with a handful of case studies of organizations that author Michael Kaiser has worked with. Mixes practical and specific advice with general philosophies designed to establish stability and health for performing arts organizations.

This book is excellent. Every theater management should read it, especially community theaters that are struggling. Michael Kaiser is an amazing manager and very talented!!! I purchased books for the whole board and management of my community theater! They loved it and it really influenced how the theater is being run especially in these difficult economic times! Ginger

I've been an arts administrator for 13 years and have a masters degree in the field. I felt the book was very readable, but lacked applicability to smaller arts organizations....ones that make up the majority of our arts community.

The over-arching message of, [programming and marketing are key, and should be the last thing cut in a financial crisis], is universal. But beyond that, the anecdotal approach to the book leaves the smaller organization needing more guidance. Where's the book for the organizations that will NEVER have access to the Jumbo Tron?

The author was more successful in a speaking engagement than in this book.

Not worth it in my humble opinion.

A "must read" for staff and board of directors of any arts organization. It has a blueprint for economic survival in an arts world.

This book was assigned to me as recommended reading in my graduate class. I highly recommend this book to anyone in management, business, te arts and non for profit. It reads like a biography and its very inspiring.

Great stories of the rise of some of the great arts institutions in this world. And very practical information about identifying issues in failing organizations and, subsequently, how to turn them around.