Leaning Into Value: Becoming a User-Focused Museum(American Alliance of Museums)

Leaning into Value: Becoming a User-Focused Museum provides guidance to museum leaders struggling to navigate today’s often tumultuous, ever-changing economic, political, leisure and educational landscape. Provided is a concrete framework for maximizing institutional success, a continuous Value Realization process that enables museum leaders to effectively: 1) Calibrate the needs and interests of their current and potential users; 2) Articulate how and why they create value so they can foster enduring relationships with users; 3) Create an ever-evolving series of products and services that consistently deliver unique value to an ever-more diverse set of constituencies; and finally, 4) Validate their activities through empirical processes that promote evidence-based decision making and catalyze measurable, year-on-year improvements in their organization’s community value.

About the Author :
John Falk has a nearly unparalleled level of name recognition amongst museum professionals worldwide and enjoys a reputation as a leading researcher and thinker about museums. In acknowledgment of his accomplishments, he has received a number of prestigious awards, including the 2023 Bloop 50 Award celebrating the work of the fifty key individuals internationally whose creativity, passion, and drive has helped shape and improve museums, the Western Museums Association’s (2022) Leadership Award for Significant and Lasting Impact, the Distinguished Career Award (2016) from NARST: A worldwide organization for improving science teaching and learning through research; the Oregon State University, University Outreach and Engagement Vice Provost Award for Excellence, Innovation-Partnerships Award (2016); the Council of Scientific Society Presidents Award for Educational Research (2013) and the American Alliance of Museums John Cotton Dana Award for Leadership (2010). In 2006 the American Alliance of Museums included Falk on their list of the 100 most influential museum professionals of the past 100 years. Over his career, Falk has held a number of senior positions, including at the Smithsonian Institution, Oregon State University, where he is now the Sea Grant Professor Emeritus of Free-Choice Learning, and the Institute for Learning Innovation (ILI), an internationally recognized museum-serving non-profit, which he founded and directed for decades. John Falk is consistently ranked as one of the top social scientists in the world. He has written more than two hundred and fifty scholarly articles and chapters and more than a dozen books in the fields of museum studies, psychology, business, leisure and tourism, biology and education. His ability to synthesize complex ideas and research drawn from multiple disciplines into engaging storylines is a hallmark of his work. He has thoroughly researched and developed the ideas to be presented in Leaning into Value and directly builds on three of his earlier published books The Value of Museums: Enhancing Societal Well-Being (2021), his more theoretical, scholarly book on the same topic: Born to Choose: Evolution, Self & Well-Being (2019), and his museum-focused business book Thriving in the Knowledge Age (with Beverly Sheppard, 2006).

Review :
Falk masterfully bridges the gap between data-driven business practices and the human-centered mission of museums. His value realization framework provides a practical roadmap for institutions to become truly user-focused while staying true to their core purpose. A must-read for forward-thinking museum leaders. John H. Falk's Leaning Into Value is a must-read for museum marketing professionals as the field shifts from traditional metrics, such as revenue and attendance, to a focus on visitor well-being. Falk demonstrates how understanding and prioritizing visitor needs can redefine success, enhance engagement, strengthen market position, and advance the mission of museums. His research is crucial for marketers looking to stay ahead of emerging industry trends. In Leaning into Value, John Falk provides a compelling roadmap for museums ready to prioritize people over products. It’s a must-read for museum leaders seeking to enhance their institution's relevance, impact, and sustainability in a complex world. Falk's approach challenges museums to reimagine their societal role, offering a transformative paradigm for strategic thinking that will shape the future of cultural institutions. Leaning into Value: Becoming a User-Focused Museum by John H. Falk offers a sobering yet practical view on the evolving role of museums in society. The book helps bridge the gap between how museum users and museum directors think about the purpose and value of museums. Through a clear, step-by-step framework, Falk guides museum leaders in understanding, articulating, and enhancing the well-being of their audiences. By focusing on user experiences and embracing data-driven strategies, this book equips museums to stay relevant, impactful, and sustainable in today’s complex world. Value is both the logical starting point for the existence of a museum and the foundation for its sustainability. This book is the second volume in a series of books on value issues by John H. Falk. The remarkable aspect of the book lies in its touches on the underlying logic of museum development. It reveals that when museum staff, especially leaders, give more weight to value, they are more likely to achieve strategic and tactical success. The key to realizing this value is to be user- focused. Therefore, it can be argued that the key to a museum’s success lies in the value realization process focusing on users. This book intends to show us how this process can be effectively achieved through four key stages–calibration, articulation, creation, and validation. At the same time, it convinces us with data and evidence, rather than subjectivity. Leaning into Value is a must for museum heads looking for a roadmap on how to clarify the social contributions of their institutions, with a provocative proposal of analytical tools focused on an in-depth understanding of their audiences to develop a visitor-centered experience.