Kansas City Ballet

Kansas, KS

Michael M. Kaiser, 2005

In 1985 the Kansas City Ballet was on the brink of bankruptcy. By 1987 it enjoyed artistic and financial prosperity. A newcomer to arts leadership was able to create a turnaround by restructuring the board of directors, increasing public awareness, and developing innovative fundraising and programming..

Looking for a job in the arts was, perhaps, the most humbling experience of my career. While my management consulting firm, Michael M. Kaiser Associates, was not a large firm, it had far exceeded my expectations for growth and profitability. I was still only 31 years old but I was flying first class around the world talking to business leaders. While my original idea for Kaiser Associates was to work at the division level, I found that, over time, the level of my client was rising and I was frequently in the executive suite with very senior personnel of very large corporations. (My mother once suggested I write a book reviewing the many executive dining rooms in which I had eaten lunch.)

However, while my “portfolio” of skills was broad, it was not deep. I knew a good amount about financial modeling and strategic planning and a bit about managing people. I was a good presenter and not a bad salesman, and I had served on the Board of one arts organization for one year (The Washington Opera)—hardly the profile to excite search committees of major arts organizations. While I was realistic about my lack of arts management experience, I felt I had progressed far enough in my career to obtain a responsible position and was not prepared to accept work as a secretary or junior level manager.

The arts world is not an easy one to enter, however. Jobs are relatively scarce and, while they turn over rapidly, the market for job applicants is not very efficient; there are simply not enough jobs to justify the kind of recruiting services that exist for larger industries. One clearly has to “network,” particularly for higher-level jobs. Apart from a few people at the Washington Opera, however, my network was remarkably small. Ironically, it was one of my Kaiser Associates clients who helped me enter the arts management field.

In my few last weeks at Kaiser Associates, I informed each client of my plans and introduced them to my business partner, Bob Fifer. Most of my clients thought I was absolutely insane. Why would I leave the safe, profitable, glamorous world of consulting to enter the inefficient, unimportant, effete world of the arts? In their minds, and in the minds of many corporate executives, managing an arts organization, even a large one, is one step up from running the PTA bake sale.

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Kansas City Ballet

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