Working in the music industry is kind of like living through a Homerian epic. There are heroes and enemies and epithets a-plenty. You also get introduced to the mighty beast known as hubris. You know the type: brash CEO who boasts on and on and on about how their service will revolutionize the industry. There’s also the musician who assumes that their talent is obvious to everyone and they’ll be the next [insert fading superstar here].
In both cases, their sense of hubris is their own undoing. In the music biz, there’s always a better something or someone. The evolution and revolution of music guarantees it. For every Friendster there’s a Facebook. For every Madonna, there’s a Lady Gaga. Lather, rinse, repeat.
In my own business, I want to dispel any notions of hubris right now. Over the last week, we’ve had a couple clients terminate their business with us. Without going into the details of who’s right or wrong, it’s fair to say there’s ample blame to go around. The nice thing about this (if you can imagine it…) is that this week helped shape the company direction better than any success we’ve had to date.
Our priorities are re-focused in a direction that places new importance on areas that were sorely neglected. But more than being neglected, they were simply lower on the list of “things to fix” than we realized they need to be.
A lot of the music industry types I’ve encountered would rather swallow nails and eat fire than admit they made mistakes. At the very least, they’d like to “market” away problems by talking about downturns in the economy and a shifting focus on something or other. I can’t do that. Integrity and honesty are far more important. I’d like to believe that those qualities are why someone works with me over some slick outfit that usually remains faceless to the public. But then, that’s just what I’d like to believe. Can’t say for certain …
So take this for what it’s worth, and know that sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes …
