Know your place.
That’s advice that Scott Rudin believes is the role of every producer. One of the most successful producers on Broadway today, as well as a successful film producer, Rudin believes that it is the role of a producer to create a safe place for people to collaborate.
As Rudin told Terry Gross on NPR’s “Fresh Air,” he didn’t always believe that. When he was producing films — after starting on Broadway — he felt he needed to be everywhere and do everything. Not only was that a recipe for burnout it negated the talents of the people hired to work on the film. So Rudin learned to budget his involvement to the benefit of his people and his projects.
Rudin’s lessons apply beyond the footlights. Management itself is the art of bringing people together to work on something in which they believe and in which they can succeed.
It is a matter of knowing your place.