The struggle of the entrepreneur-manager-technician
Arts managers predict the future, reflect on the past, and act in the present – all at once.
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
—Walt Whitman, from “Song of Myself”
The practice of arts management continually pulls in many directions at once: The work at hand demands creative attention on the present. The need to build healthy systems demands thoughtful reflection on the past. And the challenge to thrive in a changing world demands a conversation with the future.
Entrepreneurship author Michael E. Gerber claims that balancing this trinity is a primary challenge for anyone starting a business. And it holds true for anyone trying to lead one, as well. Says he (Gerber 2004) :
“…everybody who goes into business is actually three-people-in-one: The Entrepreneur, The Manager, and The Technician. And the problem is compounded by the fact that while each of these personalities wants to be the boss, none of them wants to have a boss.”
He defines these people/roles, in part, by their orientation to time:
The Entrepreneur “is the visionary in us…our creative personality – always at its best dealing with the unknown, prodding the future, creating probabilities out of possibilities, engineering chaos into harmony.”
The Manager “is pragmatic. Without The Manager there would be no planning, no order, no predictability… The Manager lives in the past… Where The Entrepreneur invariably sees the opportunity in events, The Manager invariably sees the problems.”
The Technician “is the doer… lives in the present… loves the feel of things and the fact that things can get done… To The Technician, thinking is unproductive unless it’s thinking about the work that needs to be done.”
Or, as Gerber summarizes:
“The Entrepreneur wakes up with a vision. The Manager screams ‘Oh, no!’ And while the two of them are battling it out, The Technician seizes the opportunity to go into business…”
Gerber challenges conventional assumptions that The Entrepreneur leads the way in business start-ups. More often than not, he suggests, businesses are founded by The Technician who feels constrained by their current employment. And more often than not, that Technician makes a fatal assumption:
“That Fatal Assumption is: if you understand the technical work of a business, you understand a business that does that technical work… The technical work of a business and a business that does that technical work are two totally different things!”
While most nonprofit arts organizations aren’t start-ups, but rather established ventures, their leaders face a similar challenge. Anyone who rose in the ranks of the nonprofit arts ascended through a functional specialty: artistic creation, production, marketing, development, or any other of the Ten Functions that make arts organizations work.
That means that almost all arts managers begin as some form of Technician. As they earn responsibility over larger teams and gain authority to determine organizational direction, they face the challenge of nurturing and integrating The Entrepreneur and The Manager within them.
Of course, some of that challenge can be mediated by assembling a team with diverse experiences and skills. But even then, team members need to navigate and negotiate the inherent tensions across their roles.
Philosopher Amelie Rorty defines “worldliness” as the “ability to enact, with grace and aplomb, a great variety of roles” (Rorty 1976). And while we often emphasize the importance of managing the team around you, it is worldly and worthy to take care of the team inside yourself.
p.s. For a similar framework but with four primary roles instead of three, see Ichak Adizes’ PAEI framework.
p.p.s. Also see last week’s post on “The rocky journey from maker to manager.”
From the ArtsManaged Field Guide
Function of the Week: People Operations
People Operations involves designing and driving systems and practices that attract, engage, retain, and develop people within the enterprise (also called human resources).
Framework of the Week: Adizes Four Management Styles
The framework discussed in this Field Note can also be used to understand management style and team dynamics. For a video overview, watch “Which Style of Arts Manager Are You?”
Sources
Adizes, Ichak. 2004. Leading the Leaders: How to Enrich Your Style of Management and Handle People Whose Style Is Different from Yours. The Adizes Institute Publishing.
Gerber, Michael E. 2004. The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It. Updated,Subsequent edition. New York, NY: Harper Business.
Rorty, Amélie Oksenberg, ed. 1976. The Identities of Persons. Revised edition. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press.