Firstly, may I thank all of you that have been reading the Rock’n'Roll Business Blog through 2011. We have had a whopping 14 000 views since it started in earnest in June last year.
In terms of 2012, if we are to turn the UK plc round, its going to take every bit of adaptation, learning and innovation. You may care to reflect on some of the more popular posts of 2011 - Lady Gaga and adaptive strategy, Deep Purple, improvisation and innovation, The Beatles on creativity, Prince on excellence, Britney Spears on becoming a learning society, Hendrix v Clapton on innovation and Personal mastery in business and music – lessons from Jeff Beck, Les Paul and Bill Nelson.
So, what does 2012 hold in store for us? Well, here’s some views taken in the course of my travels recently, with the themes linked to pop and rock songs of course!
There is power in a union?
2011 was marked by a resurgence of industrial relations unrest in the UK. However, the recent public sector strikes was marked not by braziers, banners and protest songs, but by the best shopping day in 2011, as retail sales soared. I saw people leaving local government picket lines to go to Costa Coffee at 10 am. Is shopping for Ugg boots and flat screen TV’s the hallmark of the new rebellion?
Can we look forward to more industrial unrest? From talking with people in local government, it seems that there is still plenty of scope for downsizing and it also appears that quite a few people are basically happy with their pension, so it appears that the current industrial unrest may not develop. When I talk to my self-employed friends, there appears to be little sympathy with the strikes – as one remarked “Pension, what pension?” One thing is for sure, in an age of unrest we can expect more performances by proto punk protest singer Billy Bragg:
What’s new pussycat?
During 2011 I met Evan Davis of BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme and Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills. During our conversations we touched on the vexed question of what we should do to rebuild Britain. There are no easy answers here and a debate has since been raging on Linkedin over this issue. There seems to be broad agreement that the UK plc desperately needs more innovation, especially the type that can be exported and that which builds out of our strengths in ways that are hard to copy or appropriate. At the same time the service sector needs to shrink, whether this is through a smaller public service component to the economy or in service industries that merely consume wealth at a local level – for example tanning rooms and burger bars. The change is going to be hard to swallow for some. Doing more of the same will not do, we need to do things differently. Musically, it’s more a case of ‘What’s new pussycat’ rather than ‘Do the standing still’.
We’ve got a meeting with the Department of Business Innovation and Skills to explore some of the ramifications of the UK’s innovation needs coming up. More on innovation coming up in future posts.
What are your hopes and fears for 2012? Post a comment on this blog.
The Beatles transformed the pop song from simple three chord tales of love lost and found into an artform that has defined and redefined much popular music for the latter part of the 20th Century. Take a listen to ‘I am the Walrus’ to hear one of The Beatles’ more complex orchestrated pieces of psychedelic pop from 1967:
This is the first post in a long and winding road which explores what we can learn from The Beatles about business. More on the Beatles and Business in the book ‘Sex, Leadership and Rock’n'Roll. We’ll focus on what business leaders can learn about creativity from The Beatles in this post:
Beatles Business Insight # 1. Creativity rests on difference
The Beatles pulled off a clever trick of making diversity work, when it is much more common to resist working with people who are different in business. Lennon and Mc Cartney were quite different characters and this is audible in the songs that they instigated. Some of Lennon’s early songs are considered to have been influenced by the loss of his mother at an early age, for example “Help” and “Nowhere Man”. A kind of beautiful melancholy. It is considered that McCartney coped with his loss rather better and tended to write more optimistic songs such as “All My Loving” and “We can Work it Out”. Of course, both had their moments of doing the opposites of these – witness “Hey Jude” and “Another Day” by Mc Cartney much later in his career, the former was intended to be a message to Lennon’s son after the breakup of his marriage.
Business lesson: Requisite diversity is essential if you are to have an innovative business. Find ways to resolve tensions that build up by putting different people together, but resist attempts to sidestep conflict. The creative leader utilises the tension between opposites whilst maintaining a focus on the goal.
Beatles Business Insight # 2. Creativity rests on dissonance
The Beatles were pioneers at combining textures and influences from Indian music, creating a sound which was at that time dissonant to western ears. Musical note: Indian music tends to use different scales to those traditionally used in Western music e.g. major or minor scales. Take a listen to “Within and Without you” to hear what I mean aurally:
Whilst it is possible to profit from dissonance in music, dissonance in business is the silence in the meeting when someone suggests something that is ‘outside the box’ of traditional thinking patterns. Sometimes it can be heard through people talking about other people as mad, bad or evil outside the meeting in the locker rooms and so on. Dissonance in business costs millions through wasted time, missed opportunities, inadequate follow through of ideas and so on. We spend a lot of time helping people use dissonance in business in order to create strategies that set businesses apart from the crowd. It is a strategy that has helped companies such as Unilever continue to succeed. For example – Their ‘All you need is Dove’ campaign – in their use of full figured women to promote beauty products.
The Doves from above
Business lesson: Find ways to listen to ideas that seem dissonant to currently accepted views of your business strategy. Practice curiosity on a daily basis.
Beatles Business Insight # 3. Creativity rests on discipline
Contrary to conventional wisdom, creativity is not the enemy of structure and discipline. Quite the reverse. If you are going to write a song that is different, it’s important to mark out the territory in ways that leads the listener towards certain familiar aspects, i.e. a refrain, verse and so on in music. Even in some of The Beatles strangest compositions, we find such devices e.g. “Strawberry Fields Forever”:
Creativity without structure and discipline in business does not lead to innovation. Witness Pfizer’s breakthrough inhalable insulin product Exubera. The product was a brilliant idea (no more needles), but failed at the detailed execution stage due to the development of a medical device that was cumbersome and difficult to use. It seemed that nobody dared tell the CEO that the device was a turkey, since he had staked his reputation and that of his employees on it. See my point about dissonance above. Failure to package the product in a way that ‘felt familiar and comfortable’ cost Pfizer a cool $2.8 billion.
Some considered the inhaler for Exubera to be as large as a domestic fire extinguisher ... a major social embarrassment
Business lesson: If innovation is your business, make sure that there is enough of ‘the familiar’ about the new to make the innovation attractive to your customers.
If you like this mini blog do check out our seminar offerings which include sessions on The Beatles, innovation and creativity. Our next stop is at an international conference on the subject in Athens next month. You may also enjoy the posts on creativity lessons from David Brent at Creativity Lessons from The Office, Hendrix v. Clapton and Prince on innovation. Our new book ‘Punk Rock People Management – A no-nonsense guide to hiring, inspiring and firing staff’ is also available FREE. Please contact me directly via the Punk Rock People Management webpage for your free copy or order a print version at Punk HR.
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I interviewed Dave Wakely who works for ASK Europe – a premier HR and coaching consultancy on music, business, life etc. Dave had kindly given the thumbs up to my books ‘Sex, Leadership and Rock’n'Roll’ and the new one – Punk Rock People Management – available for FREE by clicking on the cover below:
Punk Rock People Management - Click the pic for your FREE copy
Firstly Dave, tell me something of what you do for a living?
I manage and edit the ASK blog, providing food for thought for people in a range of HR, L&D and management/leadership roles. My role at ASK is mostly about language and organisational culture: finding and using a public voice for the company that reflects its values and style, but also exploring themes, topics and ideas and posing questions where conventional wisdom seems heavier on the first of those words than the second. (My role here also includes a whole range of other ways in which we put words in front of the wider world. As an occasional sailor, a non-musical metaphor springs to mind: I may not be steering the vessel, but I’m adjusting the cut of the jib and how closely to the wind we sail.)
The remainder of the week I work in web development, scoping and defining website projects, evolving email campaigns, advising on or helping to create content – much of which involves subtly reminding organisations that whoever operates the mouse calls the shots: the web isn’t just broadcasting. Those who don’t work in a similar role would probably be surprised how much of that role consists of asking people about different aspects of their business, including its culture, values and ethics – but I’d counter by saying that you can’t build an effective web presence for a company if you don’t understand that company in the first place. That’s the difference between ‘being present’ and ‘presenting an advert’.
Along the way, I’ve been a poetry librarian, a learning resources database manager, an information officer in many a setting, an author and editor of open learning materials, a senior university administrator, an events organiser: a very 21st century ‘portfolio worker’ CV, although ‘patchwork’ is perhaps closer to the mark than ‘portfolio’. My life is an abstract quilting concept in motion!
What do you gain from music as a metaphor for thinking about business and organisational life
Apart from solo performers (which I shall therefore just duck entirely as an issue!), music is something that requires multiple inputs and some kind of organising principle. (I see even something as general as ‘everyone improvise simultaneously’ as a principle, although I’m aware that I’m the kind of person that starts from a ‘how shall we behave’ point of view – something MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) recently reminded me.
Sometimes music starts with a closely scripted score where everyone’s part is prescribed for them to play, sometimes there’s a general theme and the arrangement at any given point is a matter of interpersonal interaction and negotiation: either way, there are many contributions and at some level an approach to deploying them. If it weren’t for the word ‘music’ at the start of that description, that could easily be a description of work.
Having played in a wide range of musical combinations (including jazz quartets, big bands, orchestras – and working as a session musician), there’s another important element that is about making music rather than about music in the abstract: the relationships between the players. Each group, band or orchestra needs the right mixture of people, just as it needs the right combination of talents; likewise, each musician has situations that either do or don’t inspire, satisfy and so on. (This is the ‘engagement’ issue: if the music, relationships or people don’t inspire, you probably won’t play your best.) Editors note – too true!
Sticking to popular music, most bands have a culture, a defining spirit, which has arisen from the combination of individuals and their shared values. Although most organisations are perhaps more like backing bands: an entrepreneur (read songwriter/singer/front-person) who develops a repertoire and a style, and builds their outfit around them. How much of their total potential contribution their band members get the opportunity to make might make a good metaphorical question to ask of organisational managers? (In other words, are you giving your staff the opportunity to show what they can really do or add, or are you just directing them? Being a supplier feels rather different to being a colleague, even if – in the context of the relationship – your role is pretty much just to supply. I’d brave a rash conjecture that most people want to give more at work rather than less, as being able to give more makes them feel they have a voice and a contribution to offer.)
How do you use these ideas in your professional life? Any favourite examples?
An interesting question – especially having recently completed a series of psychometric questionnaires, which confirmed or underlined my impression of myself as someone who’s more interested in the potential of collaboration than competition. Amusingly, when I interviewed you in 2009, I referred to Brian Eno’s published diaries and the band James. Another idea I remember from the same book is James’ realisation that “an arrangement is when some of the band stop playing some of the time”. Editor’s note – only the tiniest prompt needed to play some of Eno’s music:
To me, in any given working situation, there’s probably one approach that will be more appropriate than others: to me, that’s not so different to the idea of identifying which instruments, arranging in which way, would make the most effective soundtrack to the moment. It’s a matter of understanding the particular contribution that different individuals can make and deploying your combined human resources to maximum effect. It also goes back to the point about ‘making music’ rather than music in the abstract: the masterful conductor knows how to work not just with music but with the musicians. If you want a great example of how someone helped (you could even say ‘lead’) a group of people to realise and actualise their potential, I think George Martin’s work with The Beatles is a classic case. ‘Produced’ is a very broad adjective, that doesn’t convey the other roles – adviser, arranger, and motivator are just some. He could have simply adopted a managerial line, but he chose to adopt more of a coach’s role. Some of the methods may have stretched a few envelopes, but not as far as they were stretched by the money that subsequently rolled in: there can’t have been too much arguing about the bottom line. If he had been more interested in efficiency and control, Sir George could, of course, just have typed up some sheet music and ordered them to play it …
Kant said that music is the language of the emotions. How does music affect our emotional lives and what implications does that have for people in business and organisational life?
I had to pause and read around on Kant before replying, but found a reference to him classifying instrumental music as “more pleasure than culture” – without words, it can appeal to our senses but not to reason. My understanding is that he was awed by its ability to convey or evoke emotion, but had no role as a conduit for ideas. (Kant lived, of course, many years before Late Junction on Radio 3 or the John Peel Show, so perhaps we can forgive him?)
Within minutes of arriving home in the evening, two things will happen: I will put on the kettle, and I will put on music. There are a few thousand CDs in the house, but I’ll spend a few minutes while my tea brews to select something that gives voice to a feeling that has been suppressed throughout the day, or that has been invoked by the day, or to a feeling the day has generated that needs something to counter-act it. My partner has little interest in music, but gets an instant emotional update as he crosses the threshold from whatever is coming out of the speakers in the kitchen. I think of it as akin to hydration: you have water when you’re thirsty, you play fado when you’re rueful or wistful, and you play kora music when you’re optimistic and thoughtful (or you aren’t but you’d like to be). It’s a restoration of emotional balance, or a purging of an imbalance of one emotion.
My musical choices are overwhelmingly instrumental, which might either offend Kant or lead him to dismiss me as tasteless or shallow. That’s fine: he could still stay for a cup of tea, but we’d have to agree to differ. I have nothing against vocal music per se, but I’m too interested in language to accept perfunctory twaddle: I demand a decent lyric.
As individuals, identifying something that we can use to help us to maintain our personal emotional poise has obvious value; this is harder to think through in an organisational context – one person’s ideal background music is another’s fingernails down the blackboard moment. (I’ve promised not to play that John Surman CD in the office again: the finance team are still recovering.) I cringe a little at the idea of the utility of music, but I can’t deny that I do it.
In terms of implications for organisational life, anything that can encourage us to recognise our impact on others – and help us to deal with their impact on us – has merit in itself. (A couple of organisations I’ve worked with have had no problem with people who rarely have to answer phones working with headphones, choosing their own soundtrack. Others would sternly ban this as inappropriate, but if it helps personal productivity and improves people’s mood I’m not sure I can see the harm.)
More broadly, the example of the impact and importance of something as hard-to-define and non-verbal as ‘atmosphere’ is probably a neglected aspect of working life: it was interesting to note that The Work Foundation highlighted a sense of team atmosphere as a common attribute of those leaders most admired by those who work for them.
Music is one of those things that remind us that human beings cannot be boiled down to process manuals, spreadsheets, job definitions and bottom lines: there are ineffable aspects to us that we should not ignore. Even at the broadest level, if the existence of music can remind us that our moods and emotional tone affect others, then that’s a valuable lesson. And very few valuable lessons come with the bonus of a beautiful tune.
What can we learn from the music business about business in general? More importantly, what should we NOT learn from the music business about business in general?
A hard question, having kept my distance from the music business for many years, although I can’t help but feel that mainstream business could probably draw more and better lessons from the art form than from the industry that has evolved around it. I think we can safely learn that management and creativity are distinct skills, and that the music business requires a balance of both. I’d like to think we can learn that authentic branding trounces manufactured branding every day of the week, but I very much doubt that we can. And the more shameless examples of amateurism or lack of skill – and ethics – in the music business are something we’d do well to avoid importing into other sectors.
It’s very difficult to generalise about a business that embraces everything from The Saturdays to Radiohead, Leonard Cohen to Justin Bieber, indie-labels to global corporations and many other dichotomies. But I’m not too sure it generally provides a healthy model in its treatment of its ‘talent’: “build ‘em up, milk ‘em, drop ‘em” and an urgent sense of churn aren’t characteristics that bode well. Each golden goose is expected to lay all its eggs as quickly as possible and then surrender to the stockpot, to be replaced by the next goose: any development on the goose’s part seems to be coincidental, accidental or self-motivated – at least in the mainstream.
Beware laying all your eggs in one session ...
The cricketer Ed Smith has said some very interesting things about striking a balance between the passionate amateur and the schooled, consistent but less inspiring professional, and about the dangers of putting academies on some kind of pedestal. I’m more concerned by the business people within the music industry than the performers, too many of whom seem to be treated shoddily. As an industry, it’s parasitic: the business depends on the performers, without whom there’s no product.
The story of the music business in response to the rise of the net and the iPod is also a powerful lesson in the importance of keeping an eye on the longer-term and being as interested in that as in maintaining an urgent sense of churn in the present. (I was going to say something about the potency of adolescent dreams of glory, but even if it’s harsh it’s fair to say that those are just as prevalent in many other sectors.) It’ll be interesting to see how musicians use the net and structure their careers in future – I think there’s an unexplored parallel there with knowledge workers and their relationship with employing organisations.
It is thought that attention spans have shortened in a world bombarded by media of all sorts. Perhaps that plays itself out in a nation of people that prefer to consume ‘The X-Factor’ over progressive rock that requires longer and more detailed attention. What do you think to this? What might be the implications for people working in the field of human development?
I think you have a good point, and I think we see its effects in many ways – the familiar death by PowerPoint syndrome, the number of times any writer/editor is encouraged to use bullet lists (‘people won’t read this stuff …’), the tickertape nature of rolling news. Lots of pans with lots of flashes in them, and a comparative lack of metaphorical hearty slow-cooked stews. I do see a contemporary world more fascinated by – and expectant of – the ‘instant’ than 20 years ago: I suspect a lot of this is down to technology and the abundance (of ‘information’, to flatter some of it) that it’s enabled us to generate. Waiting more than a few minutes for something now feels not just like an eternity, but an affront. (One of the many points made in Michael Bywater’s excellent and very funny Big Babies, and a point explored more fully in Michael Foley’s The Age of Absurdity.)
As someone primarily concerned with communication, I can understand the pressures that have produced a culture that’s more heavily slanted to the soundbite, the headline, the nugget, although it’s hard not to be concerned that all this haste might be coming at the price of not just more in-depth understanding, but more especially of nuance and of perspective. We seem more interested in the idea of having news 24 hours a day than in the content of that continuous news (often the same handful of 3 minute clips circulating on a playlist that shifts slowly as the day goes by). While I wonder if I’m turning into a Grumpy Old Man, the questioning approach of such tech-literate commentators as Sherry Turkle and Jaron Lanier makes me feel less alone. And I haven’t forgotten a very ahead-of-the- curve book by Marshall McLuhan’s son Eric, Electric Language, that was first published back in 1998 – and mentioned in an earlier blog – that now feels like a topic in need of a significant update.
(The two things that have struck me most about ‘The X-Factor’ have been the umbrage taken at that cover version of ‘Hallelujah’ – and seeing a performance as fine as Jeff Buckley’s version in the singles chart was an uplifting communal response – but also the lack of longevity of most of the winners. The programme has always struck me as a firework display: buckets of wow, whizz and bang, but precious little left the following morning beyond a lingering bad smell. There’s an immense urgency and drama about something that really doesn’t matter that much, except to the contestants and the programme owners, which seems emblematic of rather too much of our times. )
From the work we do at ASK, in terms of implications for human development, we’re conscious that it’s the transfer of learning that ultimately delivers value and improved performance – both for the individual and the organisation – but that this (and the techniques used to enhance it) takes time. Organisational impatience for instant results means that outcomes are measured at the earliest opportunity (Kirkpatrick’s Level 1 – the proverbial ‘happy sheet’), and therefore don’t measure appropriately. What organisations want is the long-term impact of the learning event, but what they measure is the degree of satisfaction with the event itself. Misleading data feeds back into the process, and allowing time for transfer – or factoring in its importance – take a backseat. I’m not sure how we can counter this tendency – which impacts on more than our approach to learning and training: perhaps the answer is a new series of motivational posters. (“There is no F in magic bullet” springs to mind.) Suggesting an organisational equivalent to the Slow Food movement sounds both fatuous and pretentious – and implies there’s a merit in taking your time for its own sake – but I think most of us would benefit from more frequent reminders that there are multiple timescales in life and that something we might give more attention to is the signal to noise ratio in the ‘messages’ we receive.
Finally, tell me about your personal music tastes. What do you gain from music, both personally and professionally?
My own musical tastes are free-ranging, as colleagues would probably agree. (I often get Amazon to deliver CDs to the ASK Office to save all those cards through the door, and most weeks 3 or 4 albums will arrive. They tend to fall into the jazz or world music categories more than pop and rock, and I have some particular loves (30s/40s jazz songs, fado, Nuevo flamenco, modern tango, gypsy jazz, ambient electronics, a good torch song) and total blindspots (reggae, ‘African desert blues’, klezmer and Celtic folk – the last of which makes me cringe on impact). This week’s stack includes Lokkhi Terra (who describe themselves as ‘Banglafrolatinjazz’), Argentine composer Guillermo Klein, Portuguese guitar maestro Carlos Paredes, Swiss guitarist Nicolas Meier who’s heavily influenced by Turkish folk music, and a Lebanese oud trio, Le Trio Joubran. I’m as obsessive about the guitar as about music, so everything has a plucked stringed instrument of some kind involved, but the styles range very broadly – musically and geographically. Two of these are performers I saw at this year’s WOMAD Festival, where I remember a conversation with an old friend – a singer – about what drew us to different musicians. For her, possibly as one who loves to dance, it’s often a rhythmic pulse, while for me it’s almost always a captivating melody or an interesting way with harmony. (I dance like an Englishman – badly and rarely – so a beat is not enough.) She wants to be moved, while I want to be captivated and entranced.
If I could put fully into words what I get personally from music, I’d have linguistic powers of such astonishing prowess I might be tempted to abandon music – but its music’s ability to go beyond words and to evoke emotions, situations or places that is so compelling. It’s almost like our sense of smell – the way fresh bread can bring back the corner baker’s shop from your childhood, or a particular flower’s scent can recall a grandmother. There are pieces of music that made such an impact the first time I heard them, I could describe exactly where I was when I first heard them – even the stranger stood in front of me in the crowd and the temperature of the room. If we could do that so powerfully with words, music might become redundant!
Professionally, I think I’ve gained at two levels. Given the chance, there will be background music where and while I work, and the soundtrack can really influence the mood: I can enhance – or undermine – my own performance depending on my choices on the day. Less superficially, I think music has taught me about team-work and collaboration, about knowing that there are times to play to the gallery and times to provide thoughtful unobtrusive accompaniment. And that not playing, or providing an unconventional counterpoint, or combining instruments in different are all available options. And, of course, that even the most exquisite harp and flute duet is a waste if your audience want Status Quo, burgers and a knees-up. (No problem, but can the harpist blag it on a Telecaster or how adept is the flautist with a pair of BarBQ tongs?) It’s that point about making music again, but it’s about using your ears as well as your instrument: musicians don’t just play together, they listen very closely to each other too. Might this be their biggest lesson to humanity?
Well, I don’t think I can follow that Dave – thanks everso for your time and we’ll finish with one of the artists you have mentioned here. In the spirit of what Dave has said re premature evaluation, let’s give this piece its proper time and space:
Finally, on the subject of the pace of business life and the need to balance this with life experiences that require more gradual and careful attention, here’s a plug for a one-off concert taking place on October 01 by the musical genius Bill Nelson. Bill produces beautiful soundscapes mixing electronica with his virtuoso guitar work. Just a few tickets left. Here is the master at work at the ‘Sensoria’ art festival in Sheffield earlier this year:
Some say that networking does not lead to results for them although I find that face to face and social networking does work. Having just read Ellie Becker’s great post on this subject (who I met on Twitter), it occurred to me that I should write a short post on ‘a day in the life’ of my networking in London. Before that, I must play the fantastic Beatles song of the same name – a rare live studio version:
7.16 am Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head …. Well actually, I did my e-mails for the day and phone calls as well ….
11.29 am Arrived at the HQ of Premier Christian Radio in London. I had been invited for a bacon roll and coffee with no particular agenda. On arrival, the marketing director said “Would you mind running a 90 minute creative thinking session for our people to help us formulate our next public fundraising campaign? We have no money but will try to think of some way to thank you if it goes well”. I said yes, assuming that he was talking about something for another occasion, to which he replied “Wait here, I’ll get them in”. The session started 2 minutes later! Much of my work is pre-planned and it was therefore refreshing to be asked to do a live session with no warning. I’m pleased to say that the session went so well that Premier have offered to write me some PR and broadcast it widely.
Networking lesson # 1: Remain open and receptive to surprises.
1.37 pm Onwards to Lloyds of London for a coaching session / exchange with Alex, who works as a change agent there. Nothing Rock’n’Roll about that I hear you say? Well, Alex is also a talented singer with suburban blues band Bastedo, having had recording / writing contracts with Sony. Turns out that Premier Christian Radio want to record a version of the Aretha Franklin song R.E.S.P.E.C.T for their campaign. Alex is a follower of Premier and an extremely talented singer / songwriter. Who would have thought of that piece of serendipity?
Networking lesson # 2: Make connections between seemingly unrelated things.
3.34 pm Arrived at the offices of Pricespective to meet someone who I last met on my 1st day at work 35 years ago. How did we reconnect? Linkedin. I think we will end up doing a number of things to our mutual advantage, some of them social (my friend has also turned into an author) and some of them business related. Upon leaving his offices, I noticed a door in the Foyer marked ‘music room’. I asked the guy at the desk what this was about and it turned out that the law firm in the building has a rock band, which he is part of. Cards and book details were exchanged immediately. I can’t wait to hear the Lawyers rock!
Networking lesson # 3: Open all your senses and be curious.
5.23 pm Arrived at the offices of The Halcyon Galley to meet with their Finance Director, another long lost connection, found again via Linkedin. Turns out that he is also interested in coaching and we’ve agreed to share our collective knowledge, skill and experience in the area via my master NLP practitioner. He is also on the lookout to provide free coaching sessions to help him complete his coaching diploma. Write to me here if you are interested? Some strategy work may be in the offing as a result of our random reconnection. It also turns out that the Halcyon may be interested in getting involved with The London Mapping Festival – A celebration of all things geographical and IT from now until the end of 2012.
10.28 pm Got home!
Networking lesson # 4: Get up early, get home late, discover business!
Networking works, both face to face and online, but you have to work at it. It just occurred to me that my post on my pub meeting with Bernie Torme, guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne and Ian Gillan also has a networking theme. Contact me if you would like to make your networking work better for you.
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A no-nonsense guide to Human Relations
Finally, I know this really has nothing much to do with the post, but I just found Jeff Beck playing the Beatles song ‘A Day in the Life’ in his inimitable style with the brilliant Tal Wilkenfield, so I will leave you with this. Especially for my network contact and friend Jason Bell of Datasentiment, bass player extraordinaire.
It may not be Rock’n’Roll to be a cook, or is it? Well, I must say how much I admire the leadership coach and trainer Phil Hawthorn, who synthesises his ideas about business with cooking, actually preparing food while he speaks at corporate conferences and events. He is also the author of Can Men Cook, a saucy look at gender stereotypes and cooking which rocks! I interviewed Phil about his views on cooking, music and life.
So, what is your unique difference Phil?
I have built a fun little business linking cooking to order, leadership and teamwork. A lot of the time I will work helping teams and their leaders to work more effectively together. This is where the theory and practice of organisational life come together. I’m especially good at just getting people to talk – which is a god start for fixing problems. At the other extreme, I have run cookery demonstrations at The Ideal Home show and other places, and appeared on ITV’s competition “Britain’s Best Dish”. I mix the two in presentations on management teams and cooking! Here’s a clip from Britain’s Best Dish:
If music be the food of love. What’s the link?
Shakespeare. Next question? Seriously, both food and music feed the soul. They are ultimately involved in being creative, making something new, making the thought processes a bit different, a bit of relaxation and making people happy. This isn’t a bad set of aims for organisations too, I feel. Much recent research has shown that the happier an organisation is, the more successful it is. Simple but true. Perhaps Lord Sugar should read more of this stuff! (I loved your blog on The Apprentice, btw).
Have you got an example of a company you worked with using this approach?
A team from The Environment Agency, would you believe? The team worked on day one learning about Rhododendron clearance, and then met up to cook a communal dinner. They had to create the menu, do the shopping and work to a budget. I was tasked with making a gallon (literally) of custard. What a lot of stirring! Food of love? Yes, calm, content and smiling. What better way to team build?
Another event was at a Business School for their MBA Alumni a while back. Their leader said of it: “If you think you have seen everything then think again. The principles of management are presented in a very entertaining, professional and unique way”.
What about music? What music do you love?
I’m of an age where I grew up in Glam Rock – T.Rex, Bolan, David Bowie, Squeeze. I love female singers (Kate Bush, Madonna, and Lady Gaga). Really enjoyed Florence and the Machine, but still hark back to rock – Led Zeppelin and anything with a blues feel really. Bach and Mozart haven’t passed me by either…
This, of course gives me the perfect excuse to play some T.REX
And The Beatles. I am from Liverpool so have an affection. I love the creative juice that flowed from Lennon and McCartney being friends and enemies. Love, hate, Yin, Yang. And that created some of the most beautiful harmonies and dichotomies in the world of music. And I love some classical masterpieces that have created love and hate. Elgar’s cello concerto, for example. No-one dared do it after ‘brave’ (yes, she was) Jacqueline Dupree defined it in the repertoire. Until Natalie Klien became BBC Young Musician of The Year (XXX?) when no-one dared to perform it. How sad! Natalie won by a unanimous heartfelt and emotional mile. But she didn’t record it until 2009. We saw her performing it in the Albert Hall in 2010. And it was better than both the Dupree renditions.
Where can we find out more?
We have a new website called The Two Cooks, delivering exceptional corporate events and keynote speeches that blend business, music and cooking. Check my personal website out at Can Men Cook.
I attended the Kent 20 20 Business Exhibition yesterday and presented PR Guru Max Clifford with a copy of my book ‘Sex, Leadership and Rock’n’Roll’. I was thoroughly impressed with his integrity and skills. I thought I’d share some of the reasons why here.
Clifford pointed out the complexities of the PR world by putting into sharp relief the differences that have taken place over 50 years in the industry. Clifford started in 1962 as the press officer for ‘a little known band called The Beatles’. He said that, at that time, you probably needed to know 20 people in order to get national coverage for a story. Let’s remind ourselves of what they became under his guidance:
Today’s PR world is a massive industry and the sheer volume of media (print, TV, youtube, blogging, social media and so on) make it much harder to get your message across. He offered us a series of tips on how to make the most of media coverage that were both wise and easy to do, given sufficient time. Many of them align with my own experiences, having just been on BBC Radio 2 three times over the last 3 weeks, although I often think I don’t really know what I am doing, having never been on any sales or marketing training in my life.
But, given Max Clifford’s track record for taking on controversial clients at considerable fees, I was surprised to find that he is guided by a strong set of values. Just the other week, he turned down an approach for an unlimited sum of money by the Gadaffi family, who, in his words ‘currently need some image improvement’. He went on to discuss some of the less public activities that he indulges in, for example working with a charity that provides Hospice care to children. Not quite what I had expected at all.
Mr Clifford’s honesty and integrity surprised me when he pointed out his concerns with the UK media and the legal system. After all, these people are, in a sense, his customers. He was also candid enough to tell his audience that (a) none of them could afford him and (b) there were plenty of good PR people there that could do a good job for small businesses. I admired his ‘Robin Hood’ pricing strategy – charging a high price to those who could afford it, in order to give his time for free to the Hospice etc.
I am left wondering who will end up reading the copy of the book I gave him on his coffee table. Given his love for music, it would be a great thrill if some of his clients were to get to see ‘Sex, Leadership and Rock’n’Roll’. From Max Clifford’s salacious stories of dealing with people from Frank Sinatra and The Beatles to Simon Cowell and Cheryl Cole, it seems that many of them will be familiar with the former and the latter part of this trio!
