During a January 2002 conference of the Illinois Council of Orchestras, Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association President Henry Fogel, Elgin Symphony Orchestra Executive Director Michael Pastreich, and AFM Local 10-208 President Ed Ward keynoted the opening session, "Mistakes Made and Lessons Learned." We share here a selection of their "lessons learned."

Although some of these lessons may prompt the response "of course," the audience agreed that reminders are worthwhile. When you have read and assimilated the list, we encourage you to click on the link below and share with us your favorite (or most memorable) lesson learned. You can tell us the us the whole story, or just share the lesson. As appropriate, we will add your responses to the list.

• Understand which battles to fight and that damaged relationships can result from fighting the wrong ones.

• Don’t make decisions in anger.

• Balance short- and long-range planning.

• Don’t assume that an item which has been covered extensively in the press will have been noted and understood by all affected.

• Don’t walk into a room thinking, "we’re going to get even."

• Don’t get too far ahead of the troops. Work to keep the entire organization informed and on the same page as you make plans for the future.

• There is no value in holding back bad news.

• Don’t think "if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it." Catch it before it breaks.

And here are some additional lessons learned from our readers:

• Without trust, no relationship can survive or thrive.

• Coach for success, do not police for failure.

• Whenever I lighten up, the problem never seems to be as great, daunting, or overwhelming as originally imagined.

• No one ever bought a ticket to watch me manage. It's about others—not me. (from an executive director)

Now, it is your turn. Just click the link below and share your lesson learned.

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