"FOH Inspiration"

Hello all! Yesterday started out as a typical Monday...blah. Yet, it did not end up that way. I had an informational interview with Sue Kotila, Director of Visitor Services. She has a lot under on her plate here at the Guthrie, including being in charge of all the ushers, the parking ramp, the front desk people, Stage Door, etc. She told me that she is in charge of over 500 individuals! I can't even imagine being in charge of that many people! Sue gave me the secrets to how she manages that many people and how she has been successful for over thirty years in this type of a position. She takes everything she can and uses it for positives. Sue grew up in South America and was very poor for most of her life. She promised herself that she would never go without the essentials of life again and came to the U.S. After working very hard at many different jobs, Sue went to school at Hamline University in St. Paul. She told me to never, ever tell myself "no"! Even if others are telling me that I can't do something, I should never tell myself that I can't do something or achieve something. A way that she achieves her goals and has been so successful is that she stands out when she meets people. She may give some chocolates to the guy running the parking ramp across the street and next time the Guthrie has a big event, he'll come in on his day off to check how everything is going. The little things count to make people notice you and to give others the needs that all humans have: to be noticed, acknowledged, validated, valued, etc. Sue really capitalizes on these attributes when she meets anyone. Another area where Sue believes a person's success can come from is networking. She is a big believer in this and pushed this concept on me strongly. One more thing that Sue mentioned to me in her inspiring lesson was that everything people say or do comes from one of two places: love or fear. She tries to relate to others from her place of love. She wants to kill her employees, visitors, and co-workers with kindness. From all of these inspirational ideas, I felt energized to continue on my way in my internship and in my career. I can't be afraid or discouraged, but work at everything I do out of the love place in my soul. Also, as another side note, the Guthrie had their Annual Meeting yesterday evening. I figured it would be a lot of talk about the numbers and projections, etc. I was surprised when after that short section was over, Joe Dowling, the Director for the theater (who has been signed on for five more years as director!) got up and spoke about the vision for the future, the successes and failures of the past, and congratulated the whole organization for how it supports each other and functions as the purpose that the mission lays out: "The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is an American center for theater performance, production, education and professional training. By presenting both classical literature and new work from diverse cultures, the Guthrie illuminates the common humanity connecting Minnesota to the peoples of the world." I ended up enjoying the Annual Meeting quite a bit. All in all, a good day. *Left ear tug!*