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And yet … the discussion  and emotions around”Lean In” were so intense I felt I had to read it. I downloaded the audiobook and finished it in two days while breastfeeding.

Because I listened to the audiobook, it’s hard to write a proper review with detailed quotes and excerpts. Which doesn’t matter, because I have a newborn and can only type with one hand these days, and because my main takeaway is Read. The. Book. The content of “Lean In” is far superior to the commentary, and more entertaining. Just do it. It’s only 6 and a half hours long as an mp3 and is very well suited to the medium.

Here’s my one-hand-typing review of the book:

Most Useful
In the first half, Sandberg offers practical tips on how to pitch ideas, negotiate salary, and get promoted. In my experience as a director and as someone who asked for raises and opportunities early in my career, she gives great advice. She offers statistics related to confidence and likability that are different for men and women overall. Sandberg offers the truism that simple awareness of differences (e.g. most men will apply for a job if they have roughly 65% of the qualifications, for most women that percentage is much higher) can change the lens through which women and men consider our actions and change our behavior as well.

Most Surprising
Sandberg’s criticism of mentorship surprised me because I hadn’t heard much of  it before, and because I hadn’t thought of mentorship through the lens of gender. She offers helpful advice on how to seek and acknowledge mentorship from busy, powerful people … and part of that advice is to get to the point quickly and don’t waste time asking for mentorship.

Least Useful
In the last half of the book Sandberg focuses more on family and on sharing homemaking responsibilities with a partner, but her main practical advice in this section is “date them all, but choose your life partner carefully.” She does not offer a lot of nuts-and-bolts advice for how to change an existing relationship if you are—like most women—doing more than your share of homemaking.

Lean In … the Sequel?
In the book, Sandberg envisions what could be possible if women were leaders. There are many women leaders in the arts, far more than in business, and yet the same inequalities exist. Sandberg says that women in leadership are often forced to adapt a different style than men, one that is akin to “walking backwards in a minefield while wearing high heels.” I’d like to see a book that addresses this in more detail with the same balance of advice, research and anecdotes—and I would love to see a book focused on the not-for-profit sector that included content related to working with and diversifying boards and advocating for equitable recognition and opportunity when bottom lines are usually not measured in dollars and sales.

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So, in July and August I took time to re-learn some basic skills. I signed up for a few sewing classes at Workshop SF, checked out some how-to books at the San Francisco Public Library, began collecting online tutorials, ordered a sewing machine, and jumped in. So far, I’ve made three baby bibs and washcloths, a dog coat for Riggins, a baby snuggler, a blanket and some bloomers. I also hemmed our curtains and made some tablecloths for Feast of Words, SOMArts’ literary potluck.

People get crafty for all kinds of reasons and the main provocation in my case is to 1) save money, 2) have nicer things than I could otherwise afford. Not surprisingly, saving money and reaching above one’s financial means are two things I also think about daily in my work at SOMArts. At work, I like to call this “fighting above our weight.” It’s not about cutting back, it’s about doing more: how can we support more artists, reach a bigger audience, give them deeper experiences and make those experiences truly excellent?

The summer’s over and my crafting has slowed considerably, but here are a few lessons I’m taking into my work life from the world of makers.

1) Measure twice, cut once. With my first “complicated” sewing project (a dog jacket), I got way more fabric than I needed because I rushed to the fabric store before taking careful measurements, and a $20 project became twice as expensive. When producing exhibitions, lack of planning can quickly turn a $33k exhibition into a $45k exhibition. Good planning, on the other hand, will save hours of data entry and installation labor. One of the areas where planning has paid off most for SOMArts is in working with volunteers. Cultivating professors as recruitment resources, hosting orientations, creating an easy/informative signup sheet and brainstorming with the whole staff about volunteer to-do lists, jobs and shifts has catapulted us from 300 volunteer hours in 2009 to over 3,000 volunteer hours in 2012. Volunteers and interns regularly tell us that they like coming to SOMArts because they get to work on meaningful projects, learn and make a difference.

2) Master the craft … of collaboration. The makers I admire participate in communities, online and off. They use free patterns from blogs and offer their tips for making them even better, swap fabrics to save on trips to Britax, and swap skills instead of spending their money for beginner classes. At SOMArts circa 2009, we already had a smart and resourceful staff, what we added was planning and the right tools. Some of the tools we use now are Toodledo (a to-do list of ongoing tasks), Asana (free project management organizer for teams), and Volunteerforce (Salesforce software to log volunteer shifts, skills and hours).

Other tools are old-school: a disciplined approach to collaboration that includes written agreements (MOUs), frank conversations about what a particular “partnership” is (co-production? resource sharing? support services?), creation of timelines with deliverables for all collaborators, and clear goals. As with any pursuit, the more I learn about collaboration, the more I realize we could do—should do— to improve. But successful partnerships are THE single most important way that we remain deeply embedded in the communities we serve as a multicultural cultural center. And hardly a week goes by when I don’t get a thank you from partners who say working with SOMArts staff is a uniquely great experience.

3) Good results are difficult when indifference predominates.  There is an excerpt from a 1949 Singer Sewing Machine manual floating around the inter webs which begins:

Prepare yourself mentally for sewing. Think about what you are going to do. Never approach sewing with a sigh or lackadaisically. Good results are difficult when indifference predominates. Never try to sew with a sink full of dirty dishes or beds unmade. When there are urgent housekeeping chores, do them first so your mind is free to enjoy your sewing.

It goes on to say that you should make sure your hair and lipstick are in order in case your husband stops by, and is charmingly outdated. But the part that has been on my mind lately is attitude and indifference.

When I was in my early twenties aspiring to be a director, I imagined the hard or unpleasant parts of the job were like the challenges I read in my Joe Papp biography—urgent, short term obstacles where bursts of 20-hr days with inspiring teammates would overcome wrongs in the world. Leading projects is sometimes like that, but leading an organization is not like that at all. Lately this means reminding myself that even though I love what I do, sometimes work is just work: if I don’t get the unpleasant tasks out of the way (usually HR or finance-related), they clutter my mind and threaten to overwhelm the parts of my work that are the most meaningful and enjoyable. There are many days when preparing mentally makes all the difference.

If you are interested in hearing MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch speak, he’ll be in conversation with Lawrence Rinder at the Berkeley Art Mueseum on September 21.

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June getaway in Mendocino + morning coffee=bliss.

I love this reflective post by Nina Simon about her first year as Executive Director at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. Even more, I love hearing from so many friends who run organizations that since the 2011-12 season came to a close on June 30, we can safely say it was a good year. Not a perfect year (by any means!) but a year where many artists, organizations and groups—particularly those who are passionately creating/presenting work of, by and for communities—are feeling more stable, confident and prosperous.

June was filled with art for me and included two new exhibitions at SOMArts, The Lab’s art auction, and a Mother’s Day performance of White Rabbit, Red Rabbit starring the incomparable Rhodessa Jones (here’s a pic of me on stage as a rabbit). After the performance, I came home and there was a free music show at Mollusk Surf Shop featuring Yesway, who performed at SOMArts during the exhibition Frontrunners. I stopped by and it was full of familiar faces of all ages who I see walking around my neighborhood. The music was great, it was the kind of thing I dreamed of 10 years ago—living right next door to the ocean and a small local shop with good art and music.

Later in June Dan and I escaped to Mendocino and Fort Bragg, where we tried to visit Lost Coast Culture Machine (it was closed). I went on a summer reading binge which included four books in four weeks: The Botany of Desire, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, The American Heiress and Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. June closed with the performance festival This Is What I Want and a weekend of game development workshops in the gallery to prepare for the Nov/Dec Commons Curatorial Residency by Come Out And Play.

My personal “June gloom” was talking with yet another friend who works in the arts who is moving out of San Francisco because she wants to put down roots and can’t afford to buy here. She was the fourth person I’ve spoken to in two weeks who loves the city but is moving out because once you are in your mid-30s you start feeling like paying the highest rent in the country is maybe a bad financial decision. As much as I love San Francisco, the thought of so many smart and interesting arts workers leaving depresses the hell out of me even though I know it is a smart thing to do for survival.

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Dan and I take a break from wedding festivities in Piedmont Park, Atlanta.