So so much…
In all my job interviews, I have approached this question head on, before it’s even been asked.
Why am I applying for a business/operations position when my background is in theatre?
And this is what I say…
I was interested in how to bring magic to the stage. I wanted to know how all those moving parts and pieces worked together. I found that most of it is people manually doing thing. Now it is the technology doing the things, programmed and managed by people. Still, you need people and people doing what they do best for a performance to work like magic.
Our personal lives and our businesses are no different.
Things should feel and work like magic. There are ways to put systems in place that give it the effortlessness and beauty that we crave. Yes, there might be some lift (and maybe some heavy lift) to get the right system in place, but that’s what it is all about to me.
I want something in place where it’s been tested and put through the paces for this exact business, this exact life and this exact world. And I look ahead, seeing if what is coming along will make my life and business easier.
This is what good operations, good indirect costs do. They help spend that money and time wisely, so when it’s execution time, you can just go. And you have meetings to check-in, to evaluate, to think ahead, for the good of the business and the life that you have.
Everything is a production in some form. There is always an 8 o’clock curtain. It might look like a 10 am Zoom presentation. It might look like a 1pm appointment. It might look like stopping at the grocery store at 7 in the evening.
Much of this also came from my upbringing. When the nearest grocery store is 35 minutes away down a mountain…you learned to get everything you need and be ready for what would come. I was training for production long before I even knew I could get a degree in it.
My brain does sometimes over checklist and “productionize” my life. I have to be careful not to go too far to the extreme. I have to remember that I am in control – that I am molding the checklist and the production, they are not molding me.
My resume would seem as if I haven’t worked in theatre since – but managing businesses, volunteer work in leadership roles, serving on a board, cooking dinner, and just living – I’m in production all day long.
We are all in production all day long.