Leading a cultural institution is one of the more challenging jobs a person can take on, which is why many don’t last very long in the role. “Fifteen years ago, both Peter Simon and Robert Sirman took on jobs that probably only enemies would have wished on them, so daunting were the prospects for success. On paper, the jobs sounded prestigious, top-of-the-line — in Simon’s case, the presidency of the Royal Conservatory of Music, in Sirman’s the administrative directorship of the National Ballet School of Canada, each based in the heart of the country’s largest city. But beneath the fancy-pants titles were organizations in deep trouble.” Somehow, both men are still in place, and both organizations are now models of cultural success.