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

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.

As I work on helping to turn around two small performing arts non-profits, I keep referring to this book. It's a great place to start and points one in the right direction. I've passed it around to Board Members and others involved, some have purchased their own copies (my copy is highlighted and heavily sticky noted). Michael Kaiser has turned around some of the great performing arts organizations when they were down on their heals. Artists often don't know anything about operating a business, so they fail. Large or small organization, you will learn something from this book. You will need to supplement with other material, but begin here. Mr Kaiser is a businessman who loves the arts. If that's not who serves on your Board and Management, get rid of them and learn who should be on those Boards and Management. I highly recommend this book for your performing arts organization.

The Arts, especially the performing arts are a passion of mine and my family. Kaiser's work as described in his book serves as a guide that can be generalized to challenges and opportunities facing the arts in America and elsewhere. Many join Boards unclear of their role or the role of the CEO. And many likely have little grasp of the funding cycles and sources of funds and deficits. Arts operate on a model so different from the for profit sector. Organizational management often fails in their fundamental roles of understanding their numbers and Boards often fail in their governance, such that turnarounds and failures to achieve turnarounds are all too common.The individual stories Kaiser shares and the group in aggregate serve as both good reading as well as a useful set of pointers that spell out the challenges and how he attacked them. As interesting as what was said, I was amused by what was left out and what lay between the lines on the human side. Also his own journey of self-discovery was clearly laid out.Those who criticize the book for lack of depth or being too personal miss the point. This is a 180 page or so personal narrative about one man's journey to the highest ranks of arts management. It is not a course, though he teaches one at the Kennedy Center. It presents a number of contexts and challenges and helps frame the work of arts management in a most readable and entertaining way.Anybody joining a non-profit board, especially in the arts would do well to read this book. Likewise anyone managing such organizations.

A wonderful book for those who are interested in the arts. This book is well written and clear. It describes the author's work with the giants of the world of the arts. His methods are clear and intelligent. He analyzes the needs of the organization and creates a long term program to reach their goals.

It is a well written book with incredible social implications. Kaiser is a man of risk and he takes this ability with him into all of the organizational crises. I, however, tired of the name calling, and the people with whom he came contact were helpful to him I suppose, but it certainly got very social. One thesis which did arise from the book is that most arts organizations which flourish do so with the help of governmental support, without which they would probably fail. Kaiser has a big personal ego and it helps him cope with what must have been a very traumatic existence during his battles of organizational survival. I recommend this book to anyone who is involved with an arts organization Board.

This is less of a "how-to" and more of a book that describes, in detail, Kaiser's experiences turning around major arts organizations despite his limited prior background in the field. You do learn lessons with him along the way, and certainly see the scope of challenges that can face an arts organization. But if you are looking for a handbook, or a foundation for arts management, you may want to look elsewhere.

There was a lot if fuss about this book and its author when it first came out, so I was excited when an org I was volunteering for said they were going to use it. Then I read it. A lot of charming anecdotes and maybe two good pieces of advice. Don't buy it. Check it out of the library.

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.

So I previously had an iPhone XS Max. I've had it for about 4 years and really just wanted something new. I saw oodles of marketing for this Z Fold 4 and decided to check it out. I used to have a Note 3 and Note 8 so I was curious to see what advancements Android had made since I last used it. Coming from iOS, I was looking for comparable features and functionality.The phone itself is really eye catching. It looks like your typical slim, large screen phone but once you fold out the phone, it really grabs peoples attention. My biggest concern was with the crease. Being a folding phone, it's inevitable however I was curious as to how noticeable it is. And, it is. Especially if you're looking at the screen in bright light, the contour of the crease is quite noticeable. If you're looking at your phone in the dark or low light, it's hardly noticeable at all. I've had mine for about a week now and, while the crease is easily noticeable, I've sorta conditioned myself to not look at it. If you were expecting the crease to be minimal, it's not but it's something you can live with.Performance wise, wow, really an impressive phone. I've not experienced any stuttering or lag when quickly scrolling through websites or anything like that. All the apps just snap open instantly and really pop on the inside screen. I checked out Youtube videos and took some pics and everything really worked out nicely with no hiccups. The camera is a nice step up from my XS Max so no complaints here. the 8k video seems a bit choppy so not sure if it's some setting I missed or what.Battery life is acceptable, not great. Now, for the past week I've been on this phone pretty much the whole time so that's killing a lot of battery. I also have the screen on full brightness since my eye sight isn't what it used to be. The bigger inner screen really helps out in that respect so that's a big bonus for me. However, after pulling the phone off the charger at 9AM, by the time I went to bed around midnight, my battery was in the teens. I think it was around 14-15 percent or so. While not typical usage for me, I think under my "normal" usage, I think I should be able to be around the 25-30% mark by bedtime. Considering the size of the phone, 2 screens and full brightness, I think that's pretty good performance for the battery. Personally I would've like a larger battery in here but perhaps that'll come in future versions. Thankfully, the apps from Android/iOS are pretty much spot on in terms for 1:1 match so that was really good. I have had some issues transferring data between both but that's sorta to be expected.Size wise, it takes me a little getting used to. It's much skinnier/chunkier than the iPhone and heavier as well. When i'm out and about and have my iPhone in my pockets, I can feel it there but it's not too noticeable. With the Z Fold 4, it's quite noticeable. Again, this is expected so I'm not really all that surprised by this. One real complaint I had was that the phone is really slick. It's glass and metal and some plastic so it does feel like a premium product. Feels very well made and solid. However the front screen and the back of the phone are really slick/slippery more so than any other phone I've had. On one hand it feels really good but, on the other, I was super worried about dropping the phone or having it slide off the couch or something. I have a case on it so that helps but definitely something to note.Aside from software/ecosystem differences, not really that much to gripe about. The Apple Wallet is far superior than the Google Wallet so that's a huge bummer for me. I can't use my Apple card on with this phone and my DC Metro transit card won't work either since this phone isn't compatible. I'm slowly learning all these little differences but, for the most part, it's been a pretty easy switch.So is it worth the price tag? I like it. This phone isn't for everyone, needless to say, so this is geared more towards the "power users" or tech nerds like myself. It's an eye catching phone packed with features and hardware that give you lots of stuff to play with. I'm hoping this holds up for quite some time since it costs a pretty penny. But I think I should be quite content with this phone for quite some time.

Phone good