Tag Archives: Reality checks

March 18, 2014 · 8:50 am

Big Shot

For our TunesDay selection this week, I want to present a song that I suspect a number of people are feeling this morning after St. Patrick‘s Day.

Billy Joel

It’s from Billy Joel who I consider to be one of the top three American songwriters of the last 35 – 40 years (along with Dylan and Springsteen). It’s called “Big Shot” and it has a lot to do with the morning after as well as some thoughts about the night before. Give it a listen:

I’ll be the first to tell you that music videos from the 1970’s weren’t quite what they are now and this one was no exception.  That said, his tale of the morning after the night on the town resonates in a number of ways.  I realize that Billy is not writing about business – the song is alleged to have been written about either (pick one) himself, Mick Jagger, or Bianca Jagger.  There is one thing, however, I take from the song that has nothing to do with midnight misbehavior and everything to do with business:  being a big shot.

Too many people confuse what they do with who they are.  As Billy writes:

They were all impressed with your Halston dress
And the people that you knew at Elaine’s
And the story of your latest success
Kept ’em so entertained

There is a fine line between having the confidence one needs to be successful in business and the other side of that line which is arrogance.  Great leaders listen a lot more than they speak and when they have the information they need, they act.  Great leaders recognize that while the vision may be theirs it probably took the hard work of a devoted team to make that vision a reality.  When success comes, staying humble might be hard but it’s the only way that success leaves everyone that sees it feeling good.  While I suppose that being a rich jerk has its pluses, success (and money) often doesn’t last.  The people you see on the way down will remember how you were on the way up.

The song ends with this thought:

Well, it’s no big sin to stick your two cents in
If you know when to leave it alone
But you went over the line
You couldn’t see it was time to go home

I’ve seen people in high positions who overestimate their capabilities and are out of touch with reality.  They think their two cents are gospel.  The Greeks had a word for it: hubris.  I have one too: stupidity.  Staying humble doesn’t make you weak just as having a big job doesn’t make you a big shot.   That’s my take – what’s yours?

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March 12, 2014 · 8:49 am

The “DOH” Factor

I did something really dumb yesterday and I thought it might be instructive. After all, as I tell my clients, the reason you hire someone with as much experience as I have is because I’ve already made most of the stupid mistakes. Why not learn from my stupidity?

A friend was excited to learn that very high-speed internet was coming to her town.

Homer Simpson

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

She sent me a link to the local article about it.  I scanned the first paragraph and saw “Google Fiber” and assumed that’s what she was talking about.  I had read that Google was bringing its gigabit internet service to her town a couple of weeks ago.  Being the good-natured sort, I replied that yes, I was aware of it when it was news a couple of weeks ago.  Snark quotient off the chart, I know.  She calmly said, “No, not Google.  Read it – it’s a local company.  They’ll be here before Google.”  My apology was immediate and sincere.

We all do that, I think.  We’re so trained to multitask that our brains get good at parsing little pieces of information, evaluating them, and deciding whether and how to act upon them in an incredibly rapid fashion.  Maybe it’s become too fast.  As my faux-pas demonstrates, taking the time to get all of the available information might delay an opinion but it will probably make the quality of that opinion – and the decisions we make based upon our opinions – much higher.

Homer Simpson is one of my favorite characters but I’m not so sure he’s a great example for any of us as a businessperson.  “DOH” is a word he says on a regular basis, not that anyone would accuse him of moving in an overly rapid manner.  Taking our time – just a bit more time – to gather information more carefully and completely can help eliminate the “doh” factor.  I’m going to try to do just that – you?

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March 11, 2014 · 8:36 am

On Whose Scarecrow Are You Raining?

TunesDay, and this week it’s one of my favorite artists, John Mellencamp. Starting his career as John Cougar, a name he hated, he’s a member of the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame (2008) who has written some of the most American rock songs ever. Today we’re going to take a business point from one of my favorites – “Rain On The Scarecrow”. First – a listen:

As a founder of FarmAid, this has to be one of his most personally important songs.  It’s the dark cousin of his song “Pink Houses“.  Where does the land for all those houses come?  From the destruction of the family farm.  But the point I want to make today is buried in the middle of the song:

Called my old friend Schepman up to auction off the land
He said John it’s just my job and I hope you understand
Hey calling it your job ol’ hoss sure don’t make it right
But if you want me to I’ll say a prayer for your soul tonight

There are so many things I see these days where I wonder about what human beings are making the business decisions involved and, more importantly, how they live with themselves for having done so.  “It’s just business” is a lousy excuse.  That’s the “blood on the scarecrow.”  I know we don’t do politics here, but have a think about how the “profits over people” mentality has made this country and our world a little less human.

It’s impossible to serve our customers when we’re totally focused on the bottom like.  No, Schepman, I don’t understand.  Customers – and the people who work to serve them – aren’t numbers on a balance sheet.  Cutting staff or reducing their pay to improve profits hurts you because there are fewer (happy) staff to support customer issues.  It may be investors who make the decisions but it’s customers who pay the bills in a well-run operation.  Springsteen wrote in the similar-sounding “Cover Me” that

This whole world is out there just trying to score
I’ve seen enough I don’t want to see any more

Maybe it’s not our economy or our businesses that are in trouble but our priorities?

This is the title song from an album about the fading of the American dream in the face of corporate greed.  That trend has only become worse in the almost 30 years since the album was released (1985).  I may be too much of an optimist but I believe that can be changed.  As with everything, it’s people and not faceless legal entities called corporations that are doing this.  People can undo this too.  What say you?

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