At SPS Sree...
- Showed the liberating effects of digital media
- Shared his views as a media “all-star”
- Challenged students to have a strategic vision
- Stressed the importance of lifelong learning
- Revealed how he ran a start-up inside a 140-year old institution as…
You were a professor of digital journalism at Columbia’s grad school of Journalism. What led you to the world of not-for-profit?
In 2013, I transitioned from educator to social media strategist to nonprofit executive for the Met. I wanted to be a change agent in what many thought of as a staid institution. Museums use the same kinds of tools that are available to everyone. Even on a small budget, you can have a big impact. You just have to embrace the digital space.
Tell us about your experience at the Met.
At the Met, we were always good at counting people in the door and evaluating our programs, but we weren’t good at counting our digital audience. By adding a digital analytics expert in the arts sector, we changed everything, basing our approach on user experience. You have to become a student of your own data. This allowed us to liberate the museum from its physical walls and get people to experience the Met in new ways, such as social media.
Can you share some of the lessons you learned in change management after going through this transformation?
Once you have a strategic vision, then everything can be measured against that. If the people at the very top are vested in it and lead by example, then it makes an impact. The premise of the work we do at The Met is to tell stories. For instance, our CEO used his Instagram account brilliantly. He would post about the prep that goes into an exhibition, share photos and post about other museums. Everywhere he traveled, every museum he visited, he kept posting. People paid attention.
How do you explain your own flexibility around change?
While at the Met, I called myself ‘Chief Listening Officer.’ I was always tuned into what’s new, what’s working and what isn’t. I tell people that I ran a start-up inside a 140-year old institution.And even though I’ve moved on to new things, I continue to consult for The Met. I’ve been teaching workshops around the world since 1999 when I founded Digital & Social Media Training. You could say I’m a digital native.
