Episode Transcript
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Beth (00:00):
This is Beth Knox and
you're listening to One Hour to
Doors.
Jon (00:10):
This is One Hour to Doors,
a podcast about the business and
soul of the festivals andevents industry.
I am your host, Jon Stone.
Every episode of One Hour toDoors explores the people,
issues, insights and trendsimpacting the enterprise of
bringing people and communitiestogether in common cause.
We are recording today from theWFEA annual conference taking
(00:35):
place this year in the city ofIssaquah.
If you've listened to earlierepisodes of this podcast, you
will certainly recognize ourguest today.
Beth Knox is as acclaimed of anevent producer as you will find
in the Pacific Northwest.
She has held criticalleadership roles at Seattle
(00:55):
institutions such as Seafair andOne Reel.
She produced the 2018 SpecialOlympics USA Games and is
currently president of theSeattle Sports Commission.
Beth has been widely recognizedfor her work by organizations
and influencers far and wide,but to me perhaps Beth's most
important credential is that somany people point to her as
(01:18):
their mentor, role model andinspiration.
Welcome to the show, Beth.
Thanks so much for having me.
Jon, In preparing for oursession today, I was kind of
using the way back machine andmy first memories of you, I
think, are from when I firstwent to work at the One Reel
offices on Westlake mid 1990s orsomething like that that sounds
(01:40):
right, and although we bothplayed for the same team for a
long time, we didn't worktogether collaboratively that
much.
It's like you had your thingsand I had my things.
We didn't cross paths all thatmuch.
Beth (01:55):
Yeah, and I think in part
that was because my job at that
point, especially in those earlydays, was leading the
sponsorship sales team and thenI would work with the
troubleshooters and theproduction team that was helping
to execute the sponsorships,but I don't think that you were
involved with that so much.
So we were working together,but not closely.
Jon (02:17):
Parallel.
That was such a remarkable timeto enter One Reel in the mid
90s.
To me that was kind of acrescendo of output from the
organization, which is so manythings happening all at once.
Beth (02:32):
I felt like it was such a
privilege to work there,
especially looking back.
But I have a very distinctmemory of driving to work during
it was some point in the middleof my eight years there and
just taking a moment toacknowledge the anticipation
that I had going to work andthinking how lucky am I that I
(02:53):
cannot wait to get to my jobtoday and every day it felt like
that.
I mean, I could probably havecounted on one hand the number
of times that I didn't feel likegoing to work.
There was something magicalabout that organization and the
people that we worked withduring that time.
Jon (03:09):
I was just going to say,
the magic was the people.
And there was a mind blower forme especially.
I mean, I grew up on a farm,relatively simple life
experience up until that point,but then to all of a sudden go
into the One Reel offices atthat time, like the mines that
were working there every day.
It was transformational for me.
(03:30):
Simple as that.
Beth (03:31):
It was, and it was also
inspirational and it really
taught me to keep reachinghigher and to have higher
expectations and not limitmyself.
I had so many opportunities toexperience that where they
remember this.
When the team said, hey, weshould, let's do weddings at
(03:53):
Bumbershoot, let's have peopleget married at Bumbershoot and I
thought, okay, that'sridiculous, who would want to
get married at Bumbershoot?
And it turns out a lot ofpeople and I never dreamed of
the creative production thatwere so spectacular coming out
of those weddings and whatremarkable experiences that was.
(04:14):
We had so many great leadersthere who really pushed us to
think more creatively, thinkbigger, think wilder, and that
really set the stage for thefoundation of my career same.
Jon (04:28):
There was no such thing as
good enough, Like the high bar
was always just a little beyondgrasp, and in my recollection
that's what we did every day wasjust kept reaching higher,
further, to see what happened.
Beth (04:45):
To see what happened,
right! And as a result, we had
just extraordinary achievementsthat resulted out of that.
Jon (04:57):
I tried to explain what a
leap that was for me being
invited into those offices.
I don't know if you're a StarTrek fan, but there was an old
Star Trek, I think, TNG episodewhere the crew gets sent to this
mysterious planet to try toestablish contact with the
beings there, which had beenattempted before but always
ended disastrously because forsome reason they couldn't
(05:17):
understand the language and eventheir universal translates like
they could hear them speakingin English, but it didn't make
any sense and, skipping to theend of the episode, it turns out
that those particular beingsthey spoke only in metaphor and
cultural references.
Oh, wow, I thought.
Yeah, that's pretty muchexactly what it was like in
those offices at that time.
Beth (05:37):
Right.
Well, and I did love that, aseach of us were doing our own
jobs, all toward a common goal.
In the middle of that, we wereconstantly learning through our
colleagues and peers at theoffice.
The programming team would beteaching us about new artists
and new forms of art that wereup and coming or things that
(06:01):
they wanted to explore.
Those were lessons that helpedto inform me culturally that I
might not have explored if Iwasn't in that environment.
The production team, with DavidDoxtater and so many others that
really brought a new level ofexpertise to the production team
and taught me how that could bedone.
(06:22):
And the list goes on and on.
And then I would say that oneof my favorite takeaways from
being at One Reel was workingwith so many women leaders that
were my mentors and reallyserved as my role models Jane
Zalutsky, Sheila Hughes therewere just so many there that
(06:42):
made a difference to me, andthere was a shared kinship in
what we could achieve togetherand an encouragement to each
other that I don't know thatI've ever experienced that
elsewhere.
It was really a special time.
Jon (06:55):
That is a really, really
important fact, and I think
about that often.
I have thought about that oftenthrough time, simply because I
was, I think, 25 when I firstwent to the office, and so that
was my first real office job,and there was a large I don't
know how many people workingthere 40 or something like that
(07:16):
at the time but it waspredominantly really strong
women that were running anddriving the whole show, every
aspect of the show, and so to methat was normal.
I didn't really grasp thatwasn't necessarily, that was a
relatively unique situation evenat that time, you know, until
(07:37):
after the fact, and so even tothis day, that's just something
that I carry with me.
My presumption is certainlythere's nothing unusual about
women driving the show.
Beth (07:48):
Well and you know I'm
often asked as a female leader
was did I experiencedifficulties along the way or
times when my work was, my pathwas thwarted?
And In many ways I would say no, because I was always in
(08:08):
environments where we were justsupported, we were encouraged as
leaders.
It wasn't oh, you're a woman,so we're going to push you
harder or give you anything.
There was nothing different.
It was just we were allowed tobe strong leaders.
I started my career at Seafairand had that experience there.
(08:29):
I had it at One Reel.
From that point on, I alwaysfelt like I have a place at the
table.
I expected to have a place atthe table because that's what I
was taught from the beginning.
That gave me a confidence thatI don't know that I would have
had otherwise.
I feel very fortunate to haveworked in those two environments
(08:52):
that were foundational in who Ibecame as a leader.
Jon (08:57):
Talk a little more about
who your mentors were, both at
Seafair or throughout yourcareer.
Have you had the benefit ofreally strong mentors?
Beth (09:05):
Yeah, really amazing
people.
There's a lot of my peers thathave served as role models and
inspiration to me, but my firstand probably most influential
mentor was my boss at Seafairwhen I first started as an
entry-level employee in the late80s early 90s.
His name is Bob Goebrecht.
(09:25):
He was the president of Seafairand was also someone who pushed
us, and in the right way.
Like you, John, I grew up on afarm in Michigan and often would
ask myself in those early dayshow did a farm girl from
Michigan get here and get to dothese things?
(09:46):
Bob really pushed me toleverage my Midwest nice
personality where needed, butthen also tap into someone who
is stronger than that and notjust trying to please everyone,
but to stand up for what I knewwas right or what was needed,
(10:06):
and be assertive whereappropriate.
He taught me to have a voiceand absolutely pushed me out of
my comfort zone many, many timesThen that really led to being
more comfortable, beinguncomfortable.
That was something that was areal takeaway for me that I can
(10:28):
lean into being uncomfortableand it meant that I was growing,
even when it was hard.
Bob was someone who I longafter we weren't working
together.
I mean, we worked together fiveyears and it was an amazing,
amazing time because we workedso hard together and we played
hard as well.
(10:48):
We celebrated after everysuccess, every event, and
learned from those as well.
Others that I would really speakto would be, I mentioned, Jane
Zalutsky.
She was my boss at One Reel andalso just gave me so many
moments of inspiration andserved as a role model for what
(11:09):
it meant to own your voice andto lean into that and what it
meant to be a business woman.
I really admire her capacityfor taking on big projects and
then seeing them all the waythrough.
She was not intimidated byanything.
I don't know.
You're right.
You just saw that Jane wassomeone very special to me.
(11:33):
But the other women leaders inmy life working at Seafair Beth
Wojick was someone that went onto continue to be a mentor to me
Sheila Hughes and Jeannie Fallsand Renee Duff and Susan
Eastley all of these strongwomen at One Reel became a
foundation of a collectivementorship to me.
(11:56):
That made me feel confident inmy ability to take on the next
challenge, because I saw all ofthem be successful in that way
as well.
Jon (12:08):
Jane was, I believe, my
first perception of a real
leader, and yes, I would agree.
Do you have the benefit of amentor presently?
Beth (12:22):
Well, I would say that I
have peers that I turn to based
on the specific need, orsometimes it's just the
emotional need.
You know, when you are a leader, especially in a CEO position,
you know they'll often say it'slonely at the top and it can
feel like you don't have anyoneto talk to because you have to
(12:46):
be a leader to your employees.
So I do rely on many of thosesame women that we just
mentioned when I just need asounding board, when I need
someone to commiserate with, andthen that encouragement which
just it always just helps merebound when I have that time
(13:09):
with these individuals, thatthat I still consider a mentor
in a different way.
So, yes, I very much rely onthose people.
Jon (13:18):
Absolutely understood, and
you're kind of touching on this.
I'm going to go tangential justfor a moment.
We're talking about leadership,the loneliness at the top,
which is just a very real,profound thing to have to deal
with.
What methods have worked foryou over the years to help you
take care of yourself?
Beth (13:37):
I wish I was better at it,
frankly.
So I'm reminded frequently thatthis has to be a priority, and
so it's something I would haveto work at intentionally to make
sure that I am taking care ofmyself.
A lot of it for me isconnecting with those peers,
those mentors, who help torestore my energy.
(13:59):
That's one way of taking careof myself.
I know that in my job I have alot of extroverted moments.
I have to be on, I have to bepresent, I have to be leading,
and so I restore by being aloneand having that quiet time.
Sometimes I spend that timeworking, but I do it quietly and
(14:22):
without any interruptions.
That's a gift for me thatrestores.
But I do try to, of course, dothe exercise and the massages
and things that help mephysically restore as well, but
that's something that I have towork at consistently.
So I would say that it is anarea that I am trying to turn my
(14:44):
attention to more emphaticallyso that I can be a role model in
that area, because I don't knowthat I am at this point.
I want to be better at thewell-being.
Jon (14:54):
That is a very honest
self-analysis.
Beth (14:58):
Yeah, I think it's that
type A.
I don't want to say workaholic,although maybe some people
would say that about me, but Ithink what happens is that I get
into a pattern of hard workthat is needed.
When I took over the sportscommission, it was during the
pandemic and it was just me, soI was the chief cook and bottle
(15:19):
washer, and so you put in thehours necessary and our kinds of
jobs to be successful.
It's hard for me to then shiftgears and say, okay, we're at a
good place right now.
I can rely on other people todo these things instead of
myself.
So that's something intentional.
That I'm focusing on is to usethe people around me.
(15:42):
I have a great board ofdirectors who frequently says
how can we help you, how can wesupport you?
And taking advantage of thoseoffers, or doing the outreach
and say, hey, this is what Icould use from you today.
That isn't easy for me to do,because I was taught to be
self-sufficient and when I wasyoung I used to thought asking
(16:03):
for help meant that I had failed.
And even though I know that100% that is not accurate,
there's probably still a littlebit of that muscle memory that I
fight to this day.
So that's an effort that I make.
Jon (16:17):
Is there a big difference
between Beth Knox the person and
Beth Knox when you're in yourwork role?
Do you feel like you put on aface every day to go into work?
Maybe another way of asking isto speak for myself.
I've never really been able toseparate work from life
(16:38):
internally because I think, forall the right reasons, generally
speaking, I love what I do andI know that's not.
Most people don't have thatprivilege in whatever they do
for work.
Work is more of a job.
It's something you do inexchange for money, but for a
long time it's just like I dowhat I do and I don't really
have hard lines between where mywork and where my everything
(17:01):
else is.
I know in talking with otherpeople on this show that's kind
of a common thread.
On one hand, I think that'sfantastic in terms of being able
to do what you love.
That's a good thing.
But it can create challenges inkind of that self-care mode.
You know what I'm saying.
Beth (17:17):
No, I completely agree
with that and yes, I love what I
do.
There is no, it's five o'clockand now I'm on personal time.
There are times when I've beenenvious of those kinds of jobs
where they clock out and theydon't have to think about
anything related to work untilthey clock back in.
(17:38):
There's certainly some appealto that on some level, but I
wouldn't trade what I do forthat Absolutely not.
I think I would grow bored withthat very quickly.
There is no hard line and mostdays I think that that is
something that is what fuels me.
I love being able to go from thekind of the quote unquote
(17:59):
workday into an event, whetherI'm being hosted somewhere at a
sporting event or I'm producingan event and entertaining other
people.
There's a real joy in thatbecause it is my community, it's
my world, and I love being ableto connect with those people
and make new connections.
(18:20):
So that's something that doesfuel me and it also can be
exhausting at the same time.
So, finding the balance of whatcan I do just for Beth instead
of going to a game where I'm onthat's the hard part is I really
get to go to a sporting eventand just cheer on the team and
(18:40):
sit there and talk with myhusband and just enjoy the game,
because I'm usuallyentertaining someone and quote
unquote working, making time forthose moments, because I
certainly can go to a game andnot be working.
I just have to make thoseopportunities intentionally.
Jon (18:57):
How would you describe your
leadership style?
Beth (19:01):
I am someone who works
hard to communicate the vision
and then empower them to get tothat point.
I'm not a micromanager in anyway.
That doesn't mean I'm not.
I don't have high expectationsand I'm not demanding of meeting
those expectations, but I doexpect my team to have the same
(19:23):
level of commitment and thatquality experience.
I think that's the key is thateveryone understands what the
end goal is, what the eventvision is, so that they can
execute it in their own way.
But that's I want it to be ateam effort.
I want us to all feel like weare headed toward the same
(19:45):
outcome and that we cancelebrate collectively.
You know, good, bad orotherwise I mean, no event is
perfect and I love the, thatdebrief point where we talk
about, sure, what didn't goright, but how can we make that
better next year?
Even if it went well, we knowwe can improve it next year.
And that's what I try to bringto the team is instill that kind
(20:07):
of mindset of how can we dothis better and keep growing it.
Jon (20:12):
Through your lens.
Has your leadership ability,have your leadership chops
developed in a linear path?
Has your career has gone alongor have there been certain
moments, maybe traumatic moments, where you feel like you took a
big leap forward?
Beth (20:28):
Yeah, I think it's both,
Jon.
I think that you know I amsomeone who is really dedicated
to personal and professionaldevelopment.
It's just something that I loveto do.
I'm constantly reading the nextbook on leadership or becoming
a better individual, whetherit's at work or in my family.
(20:49):
That is something that I juststrive to do on a regular basis.
But there is no question thatthe traumatic moments in my
career, the ones that have beenthe hardest, have been the
greatest leaps of growth as aleader, and whether it's my
confidence or my wisdom, myoutlook those took dramatic
(21:11):
leaps during those reallydifficult times, no question.
Jon (21:15):
As I listened to you say
what you just said, I flashed
back again to early one reel andthat, now that I think about it
, that was a really strong valueof the organization at that
time is that failure wasembraced and it was examined
from all angles regularly and itwas never a punitive
(21:36):
environment.
It was always a learningenvironment towards the end of
making it even bigger and betternext time around.
Beth (21:43):
Right.
I remember very specificallyafter it was my first year there
it was the fourth of JulyFireworks Show event and overall
it had gone well.
But there were definitely somechallenges.
We had cloud cover that coveredthe fireworks from the VIP
event perspective and a varietyof other things, some out of our
(22:04):
control and some in.
There was a document on theprinter from our boss, Norm, who
had identified all of.
He had done his own debrief ofall the things that he wanted to
improve on, and it feltinitially like a shock to me,
like these are all the thingsthat went wrong.
And then we talked about it asa team and that was the basis of
(22:26):
now how can we do this better?
And to see that flip of, yes,we can acknowledge something
that either failed or didn't goas expected, but now we shifted
into then, how do we remedy?
What does it look like nextyear?
And it wasn't you all suckbecause this didn't work, it was
how do we grow from it?
(22:47):
And that was a pivotal momentfor me to be thinking about that
.
And it got to the point where Ihad to caution myself during an
event because I would be in themiddle of an event and already
wishing for the next yearbecause I could do it so much
better.
I could see those places wherewe could do it better.
I would have to remind myselfstay present.
(23:08):
You're executing this festivalright now and there's amazing
things happening.
That gives me a lot of joy tolook at how we can improve.
Jon (23:17):
It's one of the cruel
aspects of live events is that
you don't get any do-overs or,if you do, you have to wait a
whole year.
Beth (23:24):
Exactly exactly.
It's a long time.
Jon (23:27):
And by then everything's
changed.
You've been super busy the lastcouple of years at the Sports
Commission, now everything'sstill trying to restart and
establish some sort of new postCOVID baseline for what normal
means.
What kind of trends are youseeing out there in the live
events world?
Beth (23:48):
I don't know if this is a
trend, but I know in my world
what I am doing with the SeattleSports Commission is so
strongly connected to thecommunity and I am being very
deliberate about making thatconnection.
We could just put on the MLB AllStar week of activities with
the Mariners and keep it veryclose to the chest and in our
(24:10):
own silo.
But I so believe that thesesporting events will play a role
in restoring the vibrancy ofdowntown Seattle, with putting
our city on the map globally,not just nationally, in
transforming our city and how wesee ourselves as a city.
So I am pushing really hard tomake sure that every one of the
(24:33):
events that we have coming upwhether it's an NCAA
championship or a league eventlike an All Star game or
whatever that we are weavingthat into our community in a
manner that is engaging our citydepartments, our agencies,
engaging the community leaders,finding ways that the businesses
(24:55):
can build off of these events,so that it's a holistic approach
and not just a one-off thathappens, goes away and something
we look back on years later andsay, yeah, we did that event.
I want it to be much more thanthat.
So that's my own personal trendis forcing every one of these
events to play a role in thecommunity in a meaningful way.
Jon (25:17):
Briefly and from 30,000
feet.
What are some examples of someof the challenges that you find
are hurdles currently?
Beth (25:26):
Well, there's the obvious
things of staffing shortages
with Seattle police, oh yeah,and I think that I don't think
I've talked to anyone who hasn'tfelt like the volume has just
been turned up in their workspace as far as how much volume
of work they're doing.
So everyone feels stretchedalready.
So that's a challenge to helpinspire them to take on this
(25:49):
next thing and have them beexcited about it.
Fortunately, it is inspiring tothink about hosting these mega
events in our city, so thathelps.
The other challenges are when Iwant to have that kind of an
impact.
It also can lead to the mistakeof trying to be all things to
all people and you can't, andit's that the balance that I try
(26:11):
to strike is how can wecollaborate so that you can be
successful in your businesswithout it being that the sports
commission or Beth has to makeyour business successful by
bringing this event?
So I think it is about how weposition what this event can do
and that can be any live eventin any city.
How do we amplify, how do webuild off of each other and
(26:35):
support each other withoutmaking one either a significant
hindrance or an obstruction orresponsible for the success
outcome of that business.
So I think that's an ongoingchallenge to find that happy
medium.
Jon (26:50):
It's an ongoing challenge.
But it also occurs to me thatanother silver lining, if you
will, of the pandemic is it'skind of created a new window for
us as event producers to dothat positioning, to tell that
story.
It's not necessarily a newstory, but it's a new time.
Beth (27:08):
It's a new time.
That's exactly right, and Ithink it is reminding people
because they do think aboutthings differently post pandemic
, we all do so.
Recrafting that narrative andthe relationships, I think we're
rebuilding them in new ways andmany times better ways.
I think that has to beintentional when we are
(27:30):
proceeding to find theseconnections with our partners in
the community.
Jon (27:34):
Wise words, Beth.
I know we're on a tighttimeframe today, so we'll wrap
it up.
I wanna thank you so much formaking the time and sitting down
with me today.
Beth (27:42):
I've loved sharing some
memories with you, Jonn.
This has been fun.
Jon (27:45):
We'll do it again sometime.
Beth (27:46):
Okay, sounds great.
All call, one hour to doors.