I have posted a few blogs over the past few months about the cities and the importance of the arts from a reputation point of view (Arts and the City, Abdoun, New Torn and the new majlis and Cities - bragging or shaming). Summer festivals make a major impact on the economy of Edinburgh (over £250m/$385m over the summer) as well as its reputation.
It's the leadership aspect which has fascinated me these past months. There has been a flurry of new CEOs' appointments of major cultural organisations. These appointments have been high profile, much speculated upon and created much debate. I will set aside, for the time being, the flurry of changes to Chairs of Boards, Board/Trustee memberships which cause much talk among the chattering classes in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
So what of the pressures on this new generation of cultural leaders? Five headings come to mind.
First, stakeholders have mushroomed. The new cultural leaders have a bigger, deeper and often more dangerous pool to navigate: dealing with government funders, political expectations, commercial sponsors, a vocal (and sadly, often uninformed and prejudiced) media, lively and high volume social media. This is a political job, dealing with an audience who believe they know best. Tough call.
Second, accountability has expanded. No longer is it enough for the head of institutions to know their subject. Fiduciary responsibilities run deep, with the added bureaucracy that the layer of government paymasters bring. Commercial sponsorships are under threat so new sources of revenue must be found. Attention to detail is crucial.
Third, leadership skills are more in focus as competition for talent intensifies and search & recruitment firms use their wide nets to entice talent across borders. As other sectors have experienced (and some learnt from), excellent bankers/teachers/engineers doth not automatically excellent CEOs make.
Fourth, the abilities long expected from CEOs - vision, ability to build organisational culture, creativity, innovation and communications skills - are part and parcel of the cultural leaders' remit. To some these come naturally, others need to learn.
Finally and possibly most important, internationalism is part of life. The new leaders in Scotland's cultural institutions have come from Ireland, Canada, England replacing Australians and French. In turn, staging performances overseas brings different insurance, legal and regulatory restrictions. Audiences have become more international so expectations change and are heightened.
Today, cultural institutions are no different from other public and private organisations - Mark Carney's arrival from Canada to be Governor of the Bank of England caused not inconsiderable interest. The Bank of England is, after all, one of the UK's treasured institutions, as is The Edinburgh International Festival to Scotland (new Irishman at the helm via Australia).
Public and private institutions in the Middle East are familiar with international leaders. I have worked with a Danish CEO in Jordan, a British CEO in Abu Dhabi, a Singaporean CEO in Saudi Arabia. These are CEOs who bring leadership best practice, help mentor nationals to become CEOs and bring new, innovative thinking and approach to their organisations. International CEOs help organisations and their host country learn; in turn they too can learn enormously from their cross cultural experience, helping them become even more effective when they move on to their next international role.
Cities can measure their reputations from the quality of talent they are able to attract from an international pool. The bigger the interest, the stronger the reputation. After all, it would take a lot to get some to move, family in tow, to a new city. A leap into the unknown is a leap of faith - how better to give a city a compliment than to make this leap of faith?
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