A bust of a blizzard but what would you have done?
I woke up this morning half hoping to see mountains of snow in the streets, and people cross country skiing down 5th Avenue (I’ve seen that twice before in my twenty plus years in the city). After all that was promised, I wanted to see Juno’s wrath, and revel in the power of Mama Nature.
But alas, alack, the streets were clear when I got up this AM.
The blizzard of 2015 that shut down Broadway and closed businesses all over town, costing the city and entrepreneurs millions and millions of dollars, was a big ol’ bust.
Grrrr.
Now I’m mad.
And of course, it’s easy to second guess the political leaders that revved us up about this storm . . . especially when you’ve been negatively affected by their decisions to close the MTA, institute travel bans, etc. that forced businesses (including Broadway) to close.
They made a decision . . . not unlike the many, many (did I say many) decisions Producers have to make every day.
They weighed the odds. They assessed the risk. They counted the millions that this could cost. They counted the lives that could be lost.
And they made a decision.
And the storm didn’t live up to what the meteorologists thought.
Does that make the decision wrong?
No.
As a politician or a Producer, your responsibility is to analyze the data, talk to experts, and then make a decision . . . and stand by it, especially when criticized.
So much of business, especially Broadway business, is just like the weather . . . you can’t control it. You’re going to make decisions that cost people money. You’re going to make decisions that make people money.
You’re going to be wrong sometimes. And right other times.
The best businessmen and women are just right more often than they’re wrong. And when they’re right, they’re soooooooo right, it makes you forget that they were ever wrong.
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Ken created one of the first Broadway podcasts, recording over 250 episodes over 7 years. It features interviews with A-listers in the theater about how they “made it”, including 2 Pulitzer Prize Winners, 7 Academy Award Winners and 76 Tony Award winners. Notable guests include Pasek & Paul, Kenny Leon, Lynn Ahrens and more.
