Your Job Is To Make It Better

Conducting an orchestra and opera singers is different from your job as a Program Director. One of the reasons I have so much respect for radio programmers and performers is that you operate without a script, without all the notes already written down for the players.

But there are lessons to be learned by paying close attention to the best in any field. And James Levine, Conductor and Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera for 40 years was the best for a very long time.

Give me a couple of minutes and watch THIS...

The first lesson is the palpable joy Levine expresses when he’s working. He loves this job, and that is apparent in every expression he makes.

Do you love your job this way? Does everyone who works with you feel the passion, the joy you have for getting paid to do THIS?

The second lesson: Make it better every day. You’ll never hit perfection, but if you’ve stopped trying to make it better each day, each show, each break… it’s time to move on.

Lesson #3: “You can’t take a risk unless you’re brave, and you can’t be brave if you’re looking down in the pit and you see the top of someone’s head. He gives you enormous confidence.”

Now this part is really important…

In my work, I tend to see one of two extremes when it comes to coaching talent, and this applies to GMs and VPs and everyone else who manages talented people, not just on-air performers: either no feedback at all or confidence-crushing negativity.

“…he always tells them how good they are before he tells them how they can and must do better."

Levine: “I try to make a rehearsal room a very safe environment for a singer so that we can make improvements.”

Substitute “feedback” or “air check session” or “coaching session” for rehearsal room and Levine’s statement applies to your work as a coach too.

Notice how he stops the singer when she nails it so that he can give her immediate positive feedback and add specifics that build confidence rather than shake it. This is Lesson #4.

Of course your job is harder. Radio doesn’t have rehearsals. Your content’s not scripted – or at least, it shouldn’t be. 99% of it is ad-libbed. You should know topics before you open your mic but the actual words come out in the moment, as do the reactions of those sharing that moment with you.

No one can take the risks necessary to create a strong emotional reaction in listeners when s/he is worried about being blasted if it comes up short.

None of us can feel joy in our work when harshly negative feedback is all we hear.

Your job, as coach, is to make the performer better every day, to build confidence rather than shake it, to inspire rather than deflate and if you’re not doing that every day, your performers will begin to settle for whatever content they produce that doesn’t generate negativity.

Take a few moments to watch this recent 60 Minutes profile of director Ken Burns. He understands the power of emotion better than just about everyone else making TV shows today.