All tagged Taking Risks
Near the end of Crypto.com’s SuperBowl commercial earlier this year, in which Lebron James goes back in time to talk to his 17 year old self, the younger Lebron asks his future self what’s most on his mind:
“Is the hype too much? Am I ready?”
He’s looking for reassurance, of course, some certainty that the choices he’s about to make, the risks he’s about to take, are the right ones. Valid concerns for a 17 year old.
Today's episode focuses on a story from Live Aid back in the mid-Eighties and a moment that set the band U2 on the path to global stardom.
But on the day, it didn't seem like it to the band - and represents a lesson about risk-taking that we can all learn from.
As I write this post, I’m 30,000 feet in the air, on an American Airlines flight headed to New Jersey. The last time I was on a plane was, funnily enough, exactly a year and a half ago, to the day.
If you’d told me back then that it would be 18 months before I’d fly again, I’d have told you that you were nuts.
Beating the dealer. It’s the eternal quest.
How do I upset the odds? How do I move the needle to get what I want?
At its core, it’s really a desire to remain in control, to stay relevant. But it’s worth remembering what game we’re trying to play as well.
If you compare a song off of Radiohead’s first album, Pablo Honey, and their third album, OK Computer - for example, a song like “Anyone Can Play Guitar”, with “Let Down” - you can hear a real sonic difference.
From the complexity of the songwriting to the musicianship, right through to the production work, you can hear an increasing level of sophistication. Essentially, you can hear the growth and evolution of the band over the years.
This month's podcasts delve into the seeds of entrepreneurship, where these crazy ideas come from and what they mean for us, as entrepreneurs.
In today's episode, I reflect on article I read about Lauryn Hill and the importance of creating art for yourself and not for anyone else. This is true of all truly great creators - not simply in the Arts but in business as well.
In 1969, Led Zeppelin released their sophomore album titled Led Zeppelin 2, which is widely regarded as one of the greatest rock albums of all time. A year later, they followed up that album with Led Zeppelin 3, which diverged from the path that their first two albums took. Where as the first two albums were driving rock albums, this one, while it didn’t lack for driving rock songs, dove pretty heavily into the acoustic realm. The album was panned at first but is now regarded among their best.
Presentations and pitches are tricky things.
By definition, the goal is to sell something to someone. It could be to get a business idea funded, to get approval to move forward on a project or, to make a sale. In all cases, we’re trying to convince someone to part with something valuable (usually, but not always, money) in return for whatever it is we have to offer.
What it boils down to is this: there’s a legitimate fear that if we actually make something, we’ll have to face the true state of our skills and accept how much improvement we still have ahead of us” Chase Jarvis - Creative Calling
This is the hard part about creating - particularly for the very first time, when we’re trying something brand new.
In my very early twenties, I went on my first business trip with my then boss. It was a quick trip to Bangkok (I was based in Hong Kong at the time) and I remember four things about that trip.
First, I got to fly business class, which was awesome. Business class was nice.
Second, I stayed at the Grand Hyatt Erawan, which was amazing. I couldn’t fathom such luxury.
Third, Bangkok traffic sucked - a 15 minute drive took an hour plus. Apparently, pretty normal back then (and not all that different now).
By the time Bruce Springsteen released his first album, Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ, in 1973, he’d already had almost a decade of playing experience under his belt. He’d started playing back in 1964 with a band called The Rogues, then another, then another, ultimately morphing into the now famous E Street Band.
That first album met with critical acclaim but little commercial success. The one after (The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle) fared pretty much the same, and he didn’t really achieve commercial success until Born To Run was released in 1975.
“It was a great day, but I thought I had fucked it up.”
“We felt like we’d blown an opportunity to be great.”
“I really thought we were crap.”
On July 13th, 1985, U2 took to the stage at Wembley stadium for their designated slot at Live Aid, the global concert for African famine relief. This was pre-Joshua Tree, so while they were popular, they were nowhere near the household name that they are now.
Sunday morning, I woke up to watch the Arsenal-Spurs game, famously known as the North London Derby. It’s a game where form goes out the window and these two arch-rivals go all out for bragging rights as to who is the best team in North London.
It’s a game that hasn’t gone our way in recent years and as I anticipated the stress and emotional rollercoaster I would go through over the next couple of hours, I briefly debated staying in bed and waking up when it was all over. To just not have to deal with it all.
Around the turn of the year, Dave Chappelle and John Mayer (an interesting combination) played a series of shows at the Hollywood Palladium. As part of the event experience, they required their audience to put their cellphones in a special bag that could only be unlocked by a special tool located outside the performance venue.
