June 10, 2004 | Read Time: 3 minutes
Taking over the reins of an organization at a young age — as Ari B. Solotoff did last year by becoming
the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra’s executive director at age 22 — can present a set of challenges.
John E. Forsyte, who 16 years ago was one of the youngest orchestra directors in the country, has advice for Mr. Solotoff and other young executives. Now 39 and president of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, in Santa Ana, Calif., Mr. Forsyte headed the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, in Madison, when he was 23. He also participated in the American Symphony Orchestra League’s yearlong management fellowship program and ran the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, in Michigan, before taking the job at the Pacific Symphony.
Among Mr. Forsyte’s suggestions:
Take your time. Initially, Mr. Forsyte says, he felt overwhelmed by the amount of work and responsibility waiting for him when he started his first job. He learned he had to decide on the top priority items, or risk running out of energy. “It really meant stepping back and asking yourself fundamental questions like, If I don’t do this, will the orchestra not exist?” he says.
Mr. Solotoff says he is already following this advice by waiting to start a planned-giving program until the symphony’s capital campaign ends in December.
Establish credibility with the board. “I made the mistake of not worrying about that initially,” says Mr. Forsyte. “I was focused on educating myself rather than relationship-building.” He suggests that a young leader meet with as many board members as possible right away to hear their concerns and ideas before presenting his or her own ideas and opinions, as a way to establish trust and understanding and start building support for future projects a leader might want to propose.
Don’t be arrogant. Some older colleagues may be tempted to patronize a young boss, says Mr. Forsyte: “You have to acknowledge it, accept it, and be respectful of the fact that they have 20 more years of experience than you do.”
Don’t let age hold you back. Mr. Forsyte says he never found that his age hindered his ability to lead an orchestra and raise money. “You earn the credibility,” he says. “If you are an excellent communicator and you have strong ideas, why wouldn’t they take you seriously?” Another advantage to youth, he adds, is that “you are given a lot more room to make mistakes.”
Make yourself replaceable. While this is good advice for any leader, Mr. Forsyte says young executive directors are especially susceptible to taking on too much themselves and not putting enough emphasis on training others. This idea is especially important when it comes to fund raising, says Mr. Forsyte. “I make sure I am not the only person who has worked with a donor, so that if I left, I am not taking the relationship with me,” he says.
In addition, Mr. Forsyte believes an executive director should keep a clear record of how decisions are made and of all future plans so that if someone else took over, he or she would have a “road map” of the group to work with.
Mr. Forsyte says young leaders will have achieved success if they have “made their organizations so strong that if they leave, the groups are certain to be successful without them.”
