A Venue Manager’s Secret Sauce. By Susan Jordan GET IT. GOT GRIT? There was the time when the headline artist of a sold-out crowd
required bomb dogs to screen the venue prior to the concert. With only a couple hours until show time, the county sent drug dogs instead. The venue manager frantically called around on a Saturday afternoon to were so long and guests couldn’t get a beer. He could have said forget it and walked out the door, but he persevered in the face of adversity. Exceptional leaders have a high level of self-control, place courage over
fear, have empathy toward others, are self-aware, and maintain and nurture their reputation. A ven- ue manager must have excellent interpersonal skills to interact with a variety of personalities such as artists, clients, guests, trade workers, and employees. Much of what venue managers
are direct-
ing is out of their con- trol. The question of whether tickets will sell, the boiler not break, if stagehands go on strike, weather emergencies, public budgets, cleaning go out, and many other variables are stressors on a daily basis.
76 Facility Manager Magazine
as passion and perseverance. This desire and commitment could be the overriding factor that provides the stamina to “stay the course” when times Angela Duckworth, Ph.D., is a 2013 MacArthur Fellow and professor
of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania who developed the Short Grit Scale (@A Duckworth) which measures the level of grit an individual applies to their daily life, and his or her personal and professional aspirations. consistency of interest. In various empirical studies utilizing the grit scale, it was shown related to all aspects of the state of health, happiness, and prosperity. There was a direct correlation between grit and positive well-be- ing. Would this be the same for venue man- agers? With the permis-
sion of the Duck- worth Foundation, I invited members to take the grit scale. The central question the study sought to answer was, Is one’s grit level a measure of success in the venue management industry, and if so, between the length of service and gener- According to prior conducted
research
GRIT. GOT IT?
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