Marc Pitman: Welcome to the Concord Leaders Podcast. I’m Marc Pitman, the CEO of the Concord Leadership Group, where we’re helping leaders keep focused through these really trying times. Today, our guest is Suzanne Nance, she’s the President and CEO of All Classical Portland. Suzanne, I am super thrilled that you’re on the show. Thanks for joining us today.

Suzanne Nance: Thank you, Marc. I’m a big fan and I appreciate the opportunity.

Marc Pitman: Well, it’s a mutual adoration society for sure. For those of you listening, Suzanne and I got to do some projects together when she was in Maine — she had an NPR station there, our main public broadcasting station. We had a lot of fun collaborations, creating an entire fundraising program out of nothing. That was definitely a favorite of the community up there. I miss Maine.

Suzanne Nance: I get back any chance I can.

Marc Pitman: I would say I do too, but I guess any chance I can means even in a pandemic, right now I don’t have a chance.

Suzanne Nance: Yeah, there aren’t many chances right now, but when we can, I’m sure we both will.

Marc Pitman: Any chance I can. Well, one of the things I love about interviewing guests on this podcast is that I’ve talked to leaders about what they love about leading. And you’ve had so many different leadership opportunities and experiences — what have you found to be the common thread to what you love about leading?

Suzanne Nance: You know, I think other leaders won’t find this to be unique, but it’s something that really drives me — I really love identifying the skills of my colleagues and my team, and I love inspiring the best from them. To be able to look and say, “How can I empower this person? How can I empower this team to work towards a goal?” For me, that is the most rewarding thing I can do as a leader — to identify the goal, find out which direction we all need to row, and then inspire folks to do that. And I never mind rolling up my sleeves and getting the job done. I think that comes from being a trained opera singer, where you just work and work and work, and you have to outwork everyone else, and you can never lose sight of the goal. So having had that training in my past, and having done that as a solo artist, now I get to work with a team, and for me it’s a real passion to look and say, “Gosh, you do that incredibly well — what obstacle can I remove to help you do that even better?”

Marc Pitman: Wow, that is unfortunately still rare in leaders — the leaders I interview tend to say this is what they like to do, but how do you build trust in an environment where people have been traumatized in other positions, where there’s often distrust of leaders? Have you found ways to tell them, “No, I really mean it, I really do want to help you flourish”?

Suzanne Nance: There’s only one way to do that, and that is over time. It’s not something that can happen quickly. Number one, you need to show up, and you need to know when to give someone the space to do what they need to do. You also need to know when to jump in and lend a hand and say, “Hey, let’s try it this way.” But in terms of building that trust, especially when there’s been a traumatic experience — maybe you’re coming into a new organization, but they’ve been through some change, and change, no matter what, even if it’s positive, is traumatic. So I think what a team needs to see is a leader who’s going to show up, be there, deliver on what they say they’re going to deliver. And I also think communication is one of the keys to good success — setting the expectation, reaching really high, but also setting realistic goals, and then communicating progress toward those goals. I think if you’re true to your word, and you keep showing up, and you deliver on your promises, and you set the team up for success, then you will build that trust. It is a long-term goal, and it is a daily commitment.

Marc Pitman: I think I totally resonate with that — time is sometimes what it takes, and it shouldn’t surprise us, but sometimes as leaders we can get a little frustrated, like, “No, I really mean it, why don’t you trust me?”

Suzanne Nance: Right, it’s all about communication and psychology. Sometimes if I say, “This is going to happen and it’s going to be great and we’re going to get there together, and this goal is bigger than all of us” — maybe it’s a really inspiring project we’re working on — I don’t know what each of the humans I’m working with is going through personally. Maybe they’re afraid of their spouse losing their job at this time, and so they’re feeling particularly vulnerable about performing well at this job and making sure they keep it, especially as we’re in a pandemic. The fear out there is paramount. So I feel like I can’t over-communicate — “This is why I’ve made this decision,” or “this is why we’ve made this decision together,” because I think buy-in is really important. And then stepping back and trying to address fears even before they become serious concerns, just getting ahead of it. And I really appreciate listening to other people — my managers, team members — who will say, “This is how I’m feeling about what you just said,” or, “Hey, I noticed so-and-so was a little bit distracted during the meeting, maybe this isn’t resonating well with them.” And taking the time to follow up with that person and say, “Hey, how did that hit you in the meeting? How did you take that goal we set together?” I think that’s really important — getting in front of fears before they become a reality.

Marc Pitman: That’s so good, that’s really good. I know that most leaders — you may be the exception — have tried something and had it not work. Has there been an experience you’ve had with that?

Suzanne Nance: You know what’s interesting? We’ve had real opportunities here. We launched a children’s network last year — we went 24 hours during the pandemic because parents were homeschooling kids. So while we have this arts and classical music-first channel, we thought, “Wow, we can do something for kids.” People are having struggles with emotional literacy, so what can we produce as a team to start addressing the issues for the next generation? So we launched a children’s network, and that’s been really successful. We also launched a mentorship journalism program that was really successful. There is one thing — I hate to use the term “failure,” I just don’t like it. I noticed I didn’t use it this time with you either, which is interesting.

Marc Pitman: You’re so good.

Suzanne Nance: Because I think of it more as learning opportunities, and there are always great things to take away from any initiative or experience. There was an initiative we did — and I’ll be honest with you, I knew it wouldn’t be a long-term initiative, I could just tell it wasn’t sustainable — but I felt we still needed to do it, because there were lessons to take away and there was morale-boosting that could come of it. The project was called Night Out, and it was born out of the team. The team was on the phone calling donors and checking in with different stakeholders, and time and time again, Marc, they would say, “I haven’t been to a concert in years, my eyesight isn’t so good at this point in my life, I don’t drive at night, I lost my spouse two years ago.” And we realized that a lot of our folks — our listeners at the station and beyond — were socially isolated. So the team came to me, really excited, and said, “We want to create this Night Out — we’ll send a staff member to people’s homes, we’ll pick them up, and we’ll give them a companion to go to a concert with them.” It was such a beautiful idea, so pure, so inspired, so genuine. And I thought, well, how many people can we do that for? We’ve got 25 people on staff — so if everyone on staff took a cab, picked up a concertgoer, and went to a concert, that would be 25 people. And we know that foundations don’t generally fund something with that low of an impact, that low a body count. So I knew it probably wasn’t fundable unless I got a donor who was really keen on that kind of project. I also knew it was a bit of a nightmare — there were insurance things, like, who’s going to drive them, what if something happens, is there a cab company we could partner with, etc. So there were all these different things where I’m thinking, wow, this is really going to tax the resources of the organization. But it was born so naturally, and there was so much passion and commitment, that I said, “Let’s do it, let’s see what happens.” We did it three times, and it was an incredible lift for the organization — everybody working, calling people, arranging cabs, the whole bit. It was good. I’d say there were disappointing things that happened along the way — cabs didn’t show up, we’re standing outside with folks who probably need to get home by a certain time.

Marc Pitman: Yes.

Suzanne Nance: These things happen, and I’m getting calls like, “Is everybody picked up?” “No, we’re still waiting, it’s an hour and a half after the concert.” So there were things that were less than desirable that happened. But the goodwill from the humans we did get to have that concert experience with — those relationships have lasted, they’re beautiful relationships, and we had this real human experience. And everybody came to the realization, this isn’t sustainable, it’s not fundable, we spent money and resources. And I always ask the crew to gut-check the mission — what is our mission statement? Is this part of our mission? We can serve 250,000 people on the radio in one week, and when you’re talking about spending your resources on taking 20 people to a concert — well, that’s beautiful, but it’s just not going to be possible. But the morale was boosted, and people here at the station felt like they did something really good. And they did. That was worth it.

Marc Pitman: That is so inspiring. Because I think one of the problems is — I had a mentor who said the view is always different from the captain’s chair. When you come into the senior-level position, the CEO position in particular, you have a different view. So what could seem like a good idea from a departmental view, or from a different part of the organization, you see the liability and the funding and all this other stuff. But to have that freedom of knowing it’s going to be a short run — which is probably why I use “beta testing,” or “trying,” “let’s give this a try” — I try to use transitional language, so it doesn’t sound like it’s a permanent new thing. I love that you were able to release the staff — that you heard them, you went with it, and you have the goodwill. I can’t imagine the photos and the communication and the stories.

Suzanne Nance: Yes, and people who said, “I haven’t been to a concert in 50 years,” folks who couldn’t afford the ticket or whatever the reason was — it was a good thing to do. And I needed to let the team fly. I really didn’t need to get in the way — I needed them to own it and enjoy it and fly. That was important.

Marc Pitman: I think there are probably a lot of people during this time, when there are so many stresses just walking out the door — which for many of us used to be a normal thing to do — now we have to think, do we have our mask, do we have all the different things we need to have on hand. Letting the team fly and doing it in a way that’s so human-connection oriented — we couldn’t do this now, of course, there’s no way we’d want people getting into cars together.

Suzanne Nance: I know, that’s true.

Marc Pitman: I love that, giving them a chance to do something that could be a real morale booster. And I love your leadership example of gut-checking with the mission.

Suzanne Nance: Yes.

Marc Pitman: So let’s come back to that, because I think that’s still grounding for most organizations, to be able to say, “Okay, now let’s check with the mission” — oh wait, that’s not personalities, that’s really the mission. I think you just handled that really well, that’s really, really cool, good for you. Well, we’ve blown through our time, but we could do that for hours. Well, first of all, where can people find you and the work your team is doing?

Suzanne Nance: Yeah, so allclassical.org — that covers the radio consortium, where we’ve got our content, all of our projects, our outreach projects, but also our children’s network. If folks are interested in the International Children’s Arts Network, they can go to icanradio.org.

Marc Pitman: Oh, I like that a lot. And as we wrap up this episode, if there’s one thing listeners did after listening to this, what would be your charge to them, or your offering — what would you suggest they do?

Suzanne Nance: I really, every morning, remind myself to listen — to stop and listen and truly hear what’s going on, what the audience wants, how my team is doing. And in addition to really listening and truly hearing what’s going on — that’s where you learn so much about what’s happening within the organization — I have invested a lot of time in trying to become a better storyteller. And I would encourage any leader at any level to think about the stories they tell, or the examples they use, to motivate either a partner in a project or an entire team. Storytelling is so valuable, it’s a part of who we are as humans, and I think if you reach into your DNA and use that, you can inspire quite a few amazing movements and projects.

Marc Pitman: I couldn’t have said it better, that’s wonderful. I know people are going to want to listen to this over and over. This and all the other episodes of the Concord Leaders Podcast can be found at concordleadershipgroup.com/podcasts. Until next time, remember, healthy organizations start with healthy leaders.