Meet the New Boss: Opening the Door for Emerging Professionals

Meet the New Boss
Opening the Door for Emerging Professionals

This article was published in Museum, May/June issue 2008.

There are plenty of Google hits for “leadership crisis.” That’s because Baby Boomers, 28 percent of the adult population, will be retiring in droves in the next few years. Leadership, then, is not an issue to be taken lightly.

But who are these future executive directors and CEOs? Of nearly 1,500 members who completed the 2007 AAM Membership Survey, 26 percent identified themselves as Emerging Museum Professionals (EMP), those with 10 years or less in the field. The majority works in collections departments, followed by education. As many museum staffers come into the field after years working elsewhere, EMPs include professionals of all ages, from under 21 to over 65.

“Ready to Lead,” a recent survey of 6,000 “next-generation” leaders conducted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, the Meyer Foundation and Idealist.org, found that nearly two-thirds of respondents have financial worries about committing to nonprofit careers. More than two-thirds rank themselves as underpaid for the work they currently do in the field; only 32 percent aspire to be executive directors. On the flip side, the largest ratio of respondents (47 percent) said their ideal job was within the nonprofit sector. The majority—75 percent—find their work in the field personally fulfilling. And an even larger percentage stated that they are learning and growing within their current positions.

Recognizing this group’s strengths and addressing its weaknesses will help museums successfully navigate the impending leadership transition. Americans for the Arts is working with AAM on an EMP initiative. AAM’s EMP Group holds networking events, offers fellowships and organizes listening sessions to give newcomers an opportunity to develop their talents and voice their opinions.

We asked five EMPs to share their secrets—from fears of inadequacy to bouts of intergenerational politics to tattoo as crystal ball. They disclose the trials and triumphs of working in museums, reveal their goals for the future and touch on how the field at large can help them succeed.

Sidebar information is provided by Rebecca Borden, manager of professional development at Americans for the Arts. She oversees the Emerging Leaders Network, a group of nearly 500 self-identified emerging leaders.

After 20 years in the for-profit business world, mostly working as a newspaper journalist, I was hit by a pleasant bit of culture shock upon entering the nonprofit world of a small art museum. Work was done for the sake of beauty, inspiration and education as opposed to just for money.

Before entering the museum world, the message from management—sometimes subtle and sometimes not so subtle—had always been “increase readership to increase sales and profits.” Sometimes—no, often—this approach seemed to conflict with my professional ethics of being fair and objective. This was especially true when less-than-newsworthy stories were assigned or promoted seemingly just to sell more papers. Finally, this ethical corner-cutting got to the point that I voluntarily quit a good-paying, mid-level editorial position because it was no longer about telling good stories and promoting the truth, unless that happened to be what made a buck at the time.

What I found upon entering the world of art at the Nicolaysen Art Museum and Discovery Center was a purer purpose. I found a genuine desire to showcase work that was done not merely—or even mostly—for economic motives, but as artistic expression. The goal of the museum staff, like the artists, was to stimulate and inspire viewers, even if just for the short duration of their visit. A separate goal I have since found is to educate visitors, not necessarily just about art but maybe also about themselves through reflection, contemplation and relationships that arise while visiting our museum.

For the staff at “the Nic,” our day-to-day efforts are focused on enhancing the life experiences of our visitors, volunteers and artists—whether for a few minutes or a lifetime. Success is not measured in “units sold” or dollars, but by facial expressions and chatter—good or bad—about the works on display.

Money, of course, is still important to our organization. We have to “keep the doors open and the lights on,” as people sometimes say. We have to keep bread on our families’ tables, too. It was clear from day one, however, that no one was here to get rich. Job satisfaction—at least for me, and I believe for the rest—is not tied entirely to the financial statements. That reduces stress and increases the fun of work and life.

Career stages no longer align with life stages. There are young professionals who are executive directors. There are executive-level leaders who are new to the field. Board members may be emerging leaders. Most middle managers do not identify themselves as mid-career. Even retirees still want to contribute. Categorizing people by their titles or generational boundaries limits us from seeing our fellow members of the arts workforce as lifelong learners, as individuals seeking continuous growth and renewal. We all want to be seen in that light regardless of our position, tenure, experience or age.—R.B.

Why is it that being a leader always seems to come as a surprise? I felt prepared, in theory and practically. But professional life is different from the years at university where everything is fresh and young and nothing seems impossible. Reality is especially different in a historic house museum. Let’s face it: Most of the visitors, volunteers and board members are 30 years older than me. How can I lead people who seem to be so much more experienced?

I am blessed to work with a young staff. We often hear that people who work with us love the energy that we radiate. As a team we combine our creativity and administrative knowledge to build a young task force that introduces innovative programs to our audience.

Still, being a young leader can mean feeling invisible at the CEO/director’s reception at the AAM Annual Meeting. Being a successful leader does not solely have to be based on age or job-specific experience. I refer to books like The Leadership Challenge by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, which says that leadership is everyone’s business. Not everybody works or volunteers for the same reason. I am beginning to understand different motivations, and to embrace and integrate these. This is invaluable training for me. Managing tasks is something you can learn in theory; managing people is something you have to experience.

I rely on networks to help me along. AAM is a great professional resource for me. My community leadership academy classes helped me to understand needs and challenges of the community; the Rotary Foundation, an international service club organization, gets me connected and ready to give back. And I try to stay close to those professionals that modeled the way for me and inspire me. After all, at this age and stage in my professional life I don’t naturally transmit wisdom or always know the best way. I am seeking inspiration in order to pass it on and inspire others.

When we think about leadership development as a straight line to the top, we are overlooking a whole spectrum of talented professionals who want to make meaningful and lasting contributions to their communities through their organization, but who do so in a much more nuanced ways. The habit of thinking of leadership as “from above” limits us from seeing the true potential within ourselves and in those around us. The most successful managers know how to lead up, lead from the side and occasionally lead in front; they lead with limited authority by developing spheres of influence among their colleagues or constituencies.

Today’s emerging leaders view their career paths as an iterative process. Though most have no illusions that they will stay with any one organization for 25 years, many see themselves spending the bulk of their careers in nonprofits. This means that, though an institution may lose out when an emerging leader leaves, the overall field will likely retain this professional. The nonprofit field is therefore self-populating with emerging professionals who are continually developing their skill sets, creating an excellent pool of candidates for future leadership positions.—R.B.

I was on track to becoming a scientist. I was working in an ecology lab that studied bats and ready to apply for graduate school. The hours weren’t great (bats are nocturnal, and therefore so was I), but I was passionate about working with animals and science and loved teaching others about my work. Still, there were parts of my life that this career couldn’t express. I am an Indian classical dancer who loves music and storytelling. I am an artist who appreciates the process of imagining and creating things. I wanted to marry the skills of science, art, creativity and storytelling, but couldn’t imagine a way to have it all.

It was around this time that I was fortunate enough to make a friend who was an exhibit developer. She described spending six months immersed in learning everything there is to know about the roots of jazz for an exhibition. She would then spend the next six months creating exhibits about the native fishes of New Jersey. Her job seemed the perfect mix of science, art and creativity.

I started my museum career as an intern in the natural history department of a Salem, Mass., museum. It was an amazing experience. I was able to work with experts who had essentially invented the field of exhibit development. My department was given a room dedicated entirely to prototyping exhibit concepts. I had the freedom to experiment.

As I look back fondly on my days as an emerging professional, I remember many experiences with successful exhibits and many opportunities to learn from my mistakes. I have worked on high-end art exhibits, interactive children spaces, exhibits about lemurs and even exhibits in bathrooms.

I have learned that creating exhibits is easier than expressing your creative vision to others. I have discovered that there is a fine balance between leading and being led on a creative team. Early in my career, I had time to experiment and be creative; now my job is to ensure that I, and the people I work with, feel empowered to do the same.

I love what I do. I know that cultural institutions have the potential to change minds, hearts and perspectives. I know I have the ability to reach countless numbers of people and empower action, and I can’t imagine giving that up. There are countless days that I leave work tired, angry and frustrated, but the rewards of being creative, being inspired and hopefully inspiring and sharing the world with others remain.

Emerging leaders have been raised in an era of multiculturalism. For them, diversity is not an issue but a way of life. Rather than focusing on people’s ethnic identity, they see broad cultural assets to be tapped and validated. Emerging leaders in Americans for the Arts’ network have been known to say, “We don’t want to talk about what cultural democracy and diversity are anymore; we want to do something about it, to encourage it.”

No generation seems to place such a core value on diversity as Generation X/Y. For this group, which has always had access to the digital world and the idea of a global village, emerging leaders and emerging art forms go hand-in-hand. They bring new interpretations of art and culture to the table, embracing genres such as slam poetry, media arts and street theater, to name a few. They challenge and motivate the field to stay in touch with new trends and themes.—R.B.

In college I got Uncle Pennybags, the Monopoly man, tattooed on my upper left arm. It’s not the Uncle Pennybags taking a ride on the Reading Railroad, all happy and holding onto his hat. Not even Uncle Pennybags when it’s Grand Opera Night. It’s Uncle Pennybags from the Poor Tax chance card—the one who’s sad and turning out his empty pockets. I didn’t so much choose the museum field as the museum field chose me.

Three weeks before my college graduation—when I would receive a degree in history with a minor in education—I realized that teaching was tied to not leaving children behind and a classroom was not where I wanted to spend my days. I liked the idea of being home in time for Oprah (don’t judge me), but I did not appreciate students’ performance on a test determining my value. I wanted Dead Poets Society. Instead, teaching looked more like Dangerous Minds.

But I still needed a gimmick, something that made me stand out from my fellow liberal-arts students. And what do I feel I, as a member of the next generation of museum professionals, bring to the table that my predecessors did not? Wall-eyed fear. I am so indebted—not just to my superiors for hiring me, but also financially to Abilene Christian University, the University of Oklahoma and Visa—that I will do anything to keep my job. This drive to prove that we, collectively, didn’t blow it in choosing our professions is what sets us apart. We’ll write articles, attend conferences, pay our own way to professional development seminars and go through the motions on ropes courses so that our superiors won’t fire us and we don’t end up back with our parents working at the Dairy Queen.

Emerging professionals will actively look for ways to engage new audiences, rather than sit back and let the public come to us—because we have to increase attendance. It’s about the impact, too, but it’s also about the numbers. We have to succeed and show the people who hired us that they made the right decision.

I cannot imagine a better existence than working in a field that uses the past to prepare for the future. It’s stressful and liberating and scary and rewarding. And who knows? Maybe I’ll get another Uncle Pennybags. This time, though, I’ll be a little more judicious and get the one where he wins the beauty pageant. I could use the 20 bucks.

Seasoned leaders or established organizations have certain ways of doing things. From programming to administration, there is institutional memory that needs to be preserved and valued. But young professionals often see new opportunities and modes/media for enacting these ideas. It is important to work on two-way knowledge transfer so that emerging leaders understand the historical context of an organization and seasoned professionals are open to new ideas and ways of doing things.

Younger professionals are better equipped to help organizations develop new audiences. The professionals entering the field today are used to personalizing their environments, creating and managing their own content with technology. This is invaluable training for reaching out to younger audiences, who also desire to experience the world on their own terms.—R.B.

As an eager and wide-eyed new curator, I found my first gainful museum employment at age 24. Although I left graduate school with a strong sense of capability and knowledge of best museum practices, my inexperience and naiveté were soon made manifest. My new role was supervisor of gallery attendants. The head attendant, a woman not a day under 80 who had worked at the museum for no less than 20 years, had been put in charge of hiring and scheduling her peers. To my dismay I soon learned that, when reviewing new prospectives, she openly expressed bias based on religious and racial backgrounds. I knew that I had to take immediate corrective action. Suffice it to say, no matter how diplomatic I thought I had been, the feisty octogenarian was less than pleased to be reprimanded by such an upstart youth. She handed me her resignation the following day, and two other gallery attendants quit in protest. She had close friends on the museum’s board and made it clear she was going to share her outrage with them. Fortunately, I had the support of my director and board and weathered the incident. But throughout the ordeal I kept thinking to myself, boy, this was definitely not covered in my museum issues class.

Now that some time has passed and I have gained a little perspective and success in my career, I am from time to time approached by other emerging professionals who wish to talk about their joys and frustrations. Most frequently, discussions are related to education, compensation, advancement and intergenerational office politics. None of these issues are unique to museums; emerging professionals in all fields face them. But working in a museum environment—nonprofit, highly competitive, over-educated, low paid—puts a unique spin on the issues. Many young professionals consider going back to get a higher degree (and a lot of debt) for the fleeting opportunity of job advancement (with little pay increase). I don’t think most for-profit employees face that dilemma.

One challenge that I think EMPs face more than their more experienced colleagues is the extreme competition in today’s job market. With the profusion of museum studies programs and the abundance of qualified people, finding a good, secure job is tough. I smile inwardly when I hear a student say to me, “I’m finishing grad school in three months, and I would like to return to my hometown and line up a job there before graduation. When is the best time to apply?” I’ve learned that finding work often requires months of searching and a willingness to move to faraway and sometimes undesirable places.