Reading List » Dallas Shelby

A conversation on TED.com: With the advent of amazing online videos, why are we still so compelled to experience live performance?

Dallas Shelby — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:40:51 +0000

We’ve all heard about the TED videos, but there’s also a section of the TED site dedicated to conversations about issues. I found this one particularly interesting for arts and culture leaders. The comments touch on what is “online” and what is “live,” the importance of context and the gulf that sometimes exists between artists and audience. What do you think? Why are audiences compelled to experience live performances? What is a “live” performance?

A conversation on TED.com: With the advent of amazing online videos, why are we still so compelled to experience live performance (music, sports games, dance)?

Public Service, Advocacy and Institutional Transformation

Dallas Shelby — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:20:49 +0000

A provocative post by Nina Simon on Musuem 2.0 discussing the role of museums (or any nonprofits, cultural or otherwise) in their community. True public service, she suggests, requires more than mere expansion of outreach services.

I want our museum to be the host for dialogue–not just through panel discussions, but through exhibitions and events and commissions and community experiences that both invite and challenge people to engage with each other around the issues that matter most. And I think that requires us to be an advocacy organization … for the power of art to transform, the power of history to enlighten and the power of a welcoming host to spark new ideas and change.

Museum 2.0: Public Service, Advocacy, and Institutional Transformation

A Logo Is Not a Brand

Dallas Shelby — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 19:05:51 +0000

A great post by Dan Pallotta on the HBR blog site. He talks about brands as a whole range of things — tangible and intangible — that contribute to your customers’ perceptions. I found the article a good reminder that as organizations that deliver experiences, we must keep our brand in the forefront of our minds. We should put ourselves into our customers’ shoes, thinking about all of the details that affect their perceptions. What’s your organization’s brand?

A Logo Is Not a Brand – Dan Pallotta – Harvard Business Review.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop rallies troops in brutally honest “burning platform” memo

Dallas Shelby — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 20:24:04 +0000

I read this post and found it fascinating. While an internal memo from a mobile phone company might not sound too relevant, the message is one of change management. It very clearly illustrates a wonderful formula for change taught by one of our faculty members — Horst Abraham of the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Discomfort x Vision x First step = Change. It doesn’t always require such a dire situation, but it’s an important reminder that change always requires some pain.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop rallies troops in brutally honest ‘burning platform’ memo? update: it’s real! — Engadget.

The price behind the choices we make

Dallas Shelby — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 19:03:00 +0000

This piece from last week’s Marketplace is good food for thought given the increasing competition for audiences’ time and money. It’s an interview with Eduardo Porter, who has written a book “The Price of Everything.” The interview and book excerpt serve as a nice reminder that price is actually a transaction. As Porter puts it, “There is a buyer who values something and a seller who will be willing to make that transaction at that given price or not.”

The price behind the choices we make | Marketplace From American Public Media.

Should cultural institutions be in the business of “romance” or “precision”? Ask your newcomers

Dallas Shelby — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 14:07:25 +0000

Here’s an interesting post from Peter Linett’s blog in which he discusses the presumption of most cultural institutions that “if you’ve shown up, you’re already interested in this content.” He asks if we shouldn’t design experiences for our newcomers as well and references Alfred North Whitehead’s 1916 essay, The Aims of Education, which posits that learning naturally proceeds in three stages: romance, precision and generalization. What about your organization? Are you in the business of romance or precision?

Should cultural institutions be in the business of “romance” or “precision”? Ask your newcomers | Slover Linett Strategies

The Zombie Workplace Survival Guide

Dallas Shelby — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 14:05:25 +0000

Just in time for Halloween, the Harvard Business Review blog offers tips for combating the four contagions that create a zombie workplace — “where creative people and good ideas disturbingly molder.”

The Zombie Workplace Survival Guide – H. James Wilson and Kevin Desouza – Research – Harvard Business Review.

Exploring and Defining Influence: A New Study

Dallas Shelby — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 23:59:13 +0000

With most arts organizations racing get more fans and followers online, they may be interested in the results of this thought-provoking survey. Influence (particularly online) has less to do with the size of your audience and more to do with the value of the content you are providing.

Exploring and Defining Influence: A New Study.

How the Magazine Industry Can Save Itself

Dallas Shelby — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:47:47 +0000

This is an interesting piece from FastCompany about the challenges of content providers, which I think has important implications for arts organizations. “In the internet age, distribution isn’t a competitive advantage. But highly curated content can be. ”

How the Magazine Industry Can Save Itself | Co.Design.

What’s an organization for?

Dallas Shelby — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:17:40 +0000

With many folks talking about the need for new business models to make arts organizations more sustainable, The Artful Manager’s Andrew Taylor takes the discussion a bit further.

What’s an organization for? – The Artful Manager.