Know Your Core Values: 4 Tips to Help You Do the Right Thing

I am a big believer in the importance of knowing your core values as a compass for making major decisions. The more that you align with your core values, the clearer you can be when it comes to making choices in one’s career, personal life, relationships and creative activities. This month, I am honored to be featured in an article …

Development Officer

[The best thing about Opera America Leadership Intensive 2016 was the] …small group coaching session with Astrid. By this point our cohort had built up a strong level of mutual trust. It was one of the more powerful things I’ve ever done in terms of professional training – getting to the heart of what “success” and “failure” means and being …

Director of Education & Community Engagement

My time with Astrid was invaluable. She created a very supportive environment in our sessions that encouraged me to really explore the challenges I was creating for myself in moving forward in my career. With her guidance, I was able to uncover some stark truths about myself and begin the process of making the changes necessary to turn the challenges …

How Arts Leaders Manage Failure: 4 Strategies to Learn and Grow

Failure. The true “F” word. So many people are afraid of failure, particularly smart, talented ambitious people who set very high standards for themselves and worry that if they ever fail, they feel they just are not up to the job. It’s particularly difficult hard to admit failure in a world where the opportunities are perceived to be scarce and …

Director of Artistic Development and Mezzo Soprano

I found Astrid’s workshop on The Art of Leadership to be a transformative and fully immersive experience. Not only did the information and her teaching style allow me to understand my own strengths and how best to use them, her course addressed so many issues that come up every single day in the workplace and in life, and I have …

Networking and the Growth Mindset: How Music Entrepreneurs Can Learn to Love Networking

Summer is a great time to network! Chances are that you are touring, at a festival or engaged in a new teaching or performance venues where you are likely to be meeting a lot of new people. Yet for so many people, networking brings up a lot of negativity. I have heard the following: Networking feels sleazy activity but musicians have to …

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The Musician’s Elevator Pitch: How To Connect Authentically and Effectively

One of the things I love about the music world is that it is still a people business. We have not outsourced the face-to-face contact that is so vital to making great music and sharing it with live audiences. It is no surprise, then, that successful musicians know the art of networking: a combination of using your head to be …

How Music Entrepreneurs Leverage Strengths: The First Step to Masterful Collaboration

What is the secret of successful collaboration? One key element is trust, based on a recognition that the members of a collaborative group have a high degree of respect for each other’s strengths, expertise and knowledge. An outstanding example of a successful collaboration is the Brentano String Quartet, the quartet in residence at Yale. Last year, I had the pleasure …

How Music Entrepreneurs Stay Positive: 4 Mindset Strategies to Help Through Tough Times

positive-mindset

My coaching groups at Yale are going strong! Students appreciate having a confidential forum where they can share successes and challenges with a trusted group of peers and learn new strategies for creating sustainable careers. With the semester winding down in a few weeks, our students, especially those who are graduating, are finding it a challenge to keep their spirits up …