Skip to main content

One ending is simply another beginning

Yesterday, the Deep Dish Executive Board took me and my husband out for a farewell dinner. The food was delicious, the company lively, and many complimentary things were shared around the table.

The old saying, "I don't regret the things I did, only the things I have not done" applies here. I will look back with fond memories of my time there, but I will always wish I had done more. Worked harder at donor stewardship. Pushed for the marketing campaigns. Written the 'why not' grants. Running a small independent nonprofit theater is not easy; leaving the comfort of corporate retail with its automatic product shipping and management teams and decent paycheck to take on the part-time administration role was a leap of faith.

And now, I stand at the precipice again. I feel like Indiana Jones at the third test in "Last Crusade", where he says "Only in the leap from the lion's head will he prove his worth" before closing his eyes and taking the step into the void. There's only faith that I've got enough moxie to do this. I'm a huge believer in underpromising and overdelivering as a key to great customer service. Which makes me worried from two different directions: Can I deliver on what my [innate] promise is?

AND: what if I am underpromising? What will be the overdelivering?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Death & The Theater

I was listening to a recent episode of the Tim Ferris podcast and the guest, happiness scholar Arthur C. Brooks, was discussing death meditations. And the little lightbulb in my brain turned on with the thought, "We need to talk more about death in theaters." I know, I know, that seems like an illogical statement because it feels like we're always talking about the death of theater. This whole summer has been filled with articles and op-eds from across the country about how large regional theaters are dying in major cities. But that's not the kind of death Brooks was talking about, and in reality, it isn't death these articles are complaining about, either: they are trying to stay alive in a “E’s just resting” fashion, to find some kind of life-support for the theaters, to keep them going, receive new money from new audiences or donors, new shows, new gimmicks to draw more or different people in the door. Anything to keep from dying. We don't talk about death...

Pass the Collection Plate, Please.

Various sizes of buildings, with some sort of seating arranged in rows, facing a slightly raised platform. may have curtains around the platform. people --primarily men-- take the platform to orate to the audience seated before them. A plea for donations is made at some point, either before or after the show, which may have music and will definitely have directives masked as stories on how to be a human in this day-and-age. children will be seen, maybe, but definitely not heard. the men in charge will believe they have been given a special gift for leading this particular group of people. and the people, for whatever reason, will also believe this. and this group of people will believe that their building and person and each other are completely different and somehow better than all the other exact same groups around their town/city/county/state/nation. If theater wants to be treated as church and church as theater, then both are getting exactly what they have been setting up for the p...

Hello Again! My 2024 Reading List

My final read of the year (oh, wow, I didn't realize I hadn't done one of these since 2020's list. What is time.) I read 48 books in 2024, slightly off my goal of a book a week, but not too shabby over all. As always, some books that will stay with me, some that were meh-for-me, and a bit of "book candy". This list is not the complete list (you can check my Ig highlight for that) but instead, the ones I really enjoyed or meant the most to me for this time of my life. These are in chronological order to when I read them. Memorable: Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes by Morgan Housel This new book is a fantastic antidote to our current chicken little the sky is falling media culture (which he actually talks about it "Crazy is Normal. Calm plants the seeds of crazy.") The chapters are short, so overall a quick read, but one packed with thoughtful points. I'm pondering writing my own post about "The grass is always greener on the side fert...