The Permission of the Artist

When it comes to artist management, it helps if the artist manager is a leader. Yeah, you can be an artist manager without being a leader but artist management is all about the relationship and teamwork between the artist and his/her manager. Without thesethings, the artist will not be
able to focus 100% and he/she will never reach their full potential. Often times, artists look at success and leadership as the same thing. There is a HUGE difference between the two.  Success does not make you a leader. Image is important in the entertainment business, but having a $100,000 car and a million home does not make you a leader. Success is simply accomplishing set goals. Leaders have followers because of the way they went about

attaining success. You can make a strong argument on how celebrities are leaders because they have people who follow them, but the moment of truth is when a successful person is placed in a leadership situation. A situation that forces that person to build a relationship and work as a team with someone they are unfamiliar with.

A leader has qualities like influence, integrity, self-discipline, vision, etc. In John C. Maxwell states that there are five levels of leadership. These five levels include position, permission, production, people development, and personhood. As an artist manager, you are already on level one. An artist needs a manager and therefore has to follow to you but an artist will not continue to follow their manager if their manager is content with staying on level one.

To be a good leader, you have to be consistent. For an artist to get better in his/her craft, they have to work at it. The same thing goes for an artist manager when it comes to being a leader. He/she has to practice at it. A great reference for sharpening your leadership skills is John C. Maxwell’s book “Developing the Leader Within You.”