photo by mediman30

Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result.
Oscar Wilde

I think science is for the smart kids.

I got through school by figuring out who I needed to listen to so I could do what I needed to do. Like pass science.

Today I was given an intriguing request for information by a funder. A list of dance artists, a few questions about Queens. I could have beamed up a list from our artist database at the speed of light and dashed off some answers.

But no!

Remembering how effortlessly I delivered wrong answers in class has now taken form as a reflex that stops me every time I am put to task. It actually looks like I am twitching or doing a disco imitation of a robot – damn high school science!

OK, back to my tried and true scientific methodology: Who do I need to know to do what I need to do?

I needed to know ten dance artists who would be inspired, eager and ready to build a dance community in Queens. I needed to take more time in responding and give myself more time to listen to the artists one at a time. Of course, what usually happens is that everyone has great ideas and the eventually the common vision of this community and the conditions for its success became a vivid reality with each conversation, each artist.

I have no doubt this project will be an inspired success. It will be the inevitable result of a science that I call knowing who to listen to.

How do you make things happen?

I am listening.

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Hoong Yee