One of my favorite theater companies, Single Carrot Theatre, has been selected as a “Startup to Watch” by the Baltimore Business Journal. I’m delighted but not surprised. Every play that Single Carrot produces is a start-up venture. For each production they assemble a unique team of leaders, designers, techies, and performers around a core concept–the script. Each production must be branded and marketed. The audience must be delighted with their experience in order for Single Carrot to earn the right to produce again.
In business, as in theater, you are judged by your performance. In both your customer (audience) is central to the story. Theater best-practices can improve leadership and brand performance. Theater best-practices can help organizations connect with their audiences down deep were they make important decisions…emotionally.
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- The business leader is the author or playwright
- Business processes serve as the script
- A manager is the director who reinforces only the behaviors that serve the story
- Employees are the actors who perform the story
- Their work is theater
- Their performance is the business offering
- The customer is the audience
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The major difference between business and theater is that in business the goal is profit (or shareholder value). In theater, profit is a by-product. The purpose and reward of theater is transformation or moments of unity in which the audience and the actors are one.
In the Baltimore theater scene Single Carrot is unique. Single Carrot is an ensemble theater. An ensemble is a group of complementary parts that contribute to a single effect. Sustaining the ensemble in not just their cause; it is their strength and point of differentiation.
Branding Lesson–Be different
When I asked them what their vision is they said they wanted to create a first class theater company of the future (on a shoe string!) They want to become significant by putting Baltimore on the American theater map.
Branding Lesson–Aim high and leave no wiggle room
The ensemble’s purpose is to stay together. They do so (counter-intuitively) by creating opportunities for each member to flourish on their own terms as artists and businessmen and women. Each ensemble member believes that they will realize his or her personal vision for success faster as an ensemble member loyal the the Single Carrot cause, than they would as freelance actors, designers, and directors who migrate from theater to theater in search of opportunity.
Branding lesson–Embrace paradox or…sometimes the shortest distance between where you are and where you want to be is the path of most resistance
What about leadership or the director’s role? The director must believe passionately in what the story represents. The director helps the creative team and actors to signify the meaning of the story to the audience. The director does this by establishing the world of the play. The world of the play is composed of systems. For example, a system can be the play’s genre, period in history, or language. Making sure the ensemble understands and adheres to the world of the play is the director’s responsibility. The best way to help everyone stay true to the world of the play is to establish a metaphor for the production. The metaphor limits the way everyone thinks about the play. The director never imposes his or her “concept” on others. Theater is a culture of commitment not compliance. A good director doesn’t say much, encourages as much as possible, and says yes to every creative idea. A good director relies on the actor’s intuition and helps the actor channel their intuition through the systems that make up the world of the play.
In theater nothing is arbitrary. Every sight, sound, and movement exists in complete obedience to the world of the play. The director sets up systematic and unified limitations and then gets out of the way.
Branding Lessons–Limitation frees creativity
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Contact me when you are ready to:
- Create like a writer — America needs innovators
- Lead like a director — Your greatest assets are your story and your people
- Perform like an actor — Experience flow and sustain peak performance