LECTORAAT CHANGE MANAGEMENT – De Haagse Hogeschool

I was recently at a book launch event at an art institution in Amsterdam. The author who was launching their new book had a great way to present their research which led to the book. Why was it great? It was to the point, it was confident, and it was well informed by speaking to more than fifty art professionals in the field of art worldwide about their ideas of how the art institution of the future should look and behave like. I was immediately drawn in even before I sat down in my seat. In that sense I would like to give my respect to the research done and the book that is now published. Congratulations to the author!

The only thing that bothered me, and it doesn’t really have to do with the book, or the author, was that during the talk, and at the end of it, I had, and still have, nothing to say about the topic of the art institution of the future. I thought to myself this is weird as I usually like to share my opinion, or thoughts, with others, and I have been researching embodiment in cultural and academic institutions for over three years now as part of my PhD research, and yet I had nothing to contribute, nor could I imagine myself speaking of my PhD research in the same concise manner as the author did.

I immediately shared this with my dear PhD supervisors and expressed the desire to be able to have what I would call an elevator pitch of my PhD; something concise, straightforward and powerful, in the same manner that I witnessed at the book launch. I let that desire for a persuasive and enchanting elevator pitch of my PhD sink in for a while. I literally wanted to be able to step into any kind of conversation with any kind of person (my mother included) and tell them very briefly and convincingly (while we were in an imaginary elevator) what my PhD is ABOUT as I have heard this question for over more than three years now (also from my mother) and I thought it is about time to enter the imaginary elevator well prepared.

The more I let that desire for a new elevator pitch sink in, I knew deep in my heart that I don’t want, or need, an elevator pitch, but I was, and still am, willing to play the game, also because ‘we’ are not just one ‘person’ and our hearts can be wide and versatile. I imagined myself in a fancy suit entering an elevator on the ground floor in any office building around the world and by the time I reached the fourth, or fifth floor, I could put a spell on anyone that would share the elevator ride with me.

At the same time I was thinking that the elevator, and the elevator pitch, need me, not just me it. The elevator is that room that we think must be filled with something, for example  some words while conversing with someone we know or don’t know in it. But the elevator that requires an elevator pitch, is a fictional elevator of course. Not because it doesn’t exist. It sure does, and the more we go into efficiency, or productivity-oriented structural changes in the systems that make up our social-professional worlds, those elevators that require an elevator pitch will continue to be built. But if the elevator, and the elevator pitch, need me, and lets say I am not available at the time, I can also take the stairs I thought to myself.

But taking the stairs takes time, and effort, and we might not be fit, or we might be too young, or too old, or there might be any other obstacle for us to take the stairs, so some of us actually do need an elevator. If elevators are means to go faster and higher, and by consequence the pitch you give in an elevator should be fast, concise and clear, because everything is so fast, concise and clear, then maybe I simply have a fear of being fast, concise and clear. Maybe.

A blog post like this one is also somewhat like an elevator that I find myself needing to spit out as quickly, and efficiently as possible, my message. I am also well aware that there is a listener, or reader, on the other side about whom I should be thinking when I think of writing, or reading, or giving, an elevator pitch. That reader, or listener, needs to do stuff. They need to take their kids to school, they need to get groceries, they need to go to the toilet. They have real human needs. In that sense it is also about taking care of the time of the other person, that the elevator pitch is meant for. And that ofcourse is beautiful – to take care of someone else’s time. But how to best take care of someone else’s time? Is it really by being as efficiently compact in our message? The elevator pitch feels more like it is taking care of time as capital, or time as money that is being spent or consumed. By now I realize that it is totally fine to not have that pitch, at least not in words, and maybe let the elevator, and the bodies of mass in it speak for themselves, not in terms of brief pitches, but more like a look in the eyes, or a smile, which can also be very brief and summary to-the-point like, but with nothing really to sell. If such an elevator doesn’t exist than the ones we have built are maybe broken and we better just take the stairs.

If you do still want to try to develop an elevator pitch for whatever you are busy with, below are a couple of examples you can use. For my own research I think I will continue to use the stairs and try to figure out while I am walking up or down the stairs what my PhD is about. By now I am quite sure that the art institution of the future should definitely have a beautiful staircase.

A Good Elevator Pitch Example

The Perfect Elevator Pitch – Best Examples and Templates