The music executive had the reputation of pasha, and the perks to prove it. His division at one of the great entertainment conglomerates was run for decades as virtual fiefdom. He didn’t just spot and manage talent – he created stars, he boasted. And for decades he backed up his words with newly minted Top 10 performers whose records routinely went platinum.
Then the nature of the business changed, not incrementally, as was the case since the end of the 1960s, but with jolt – the type of upheaval Joseph Schumpeter, the theorist of dynamic capitalism, calls “creative destruction”.
Sales tumbled, technologies changed, audiences migrated. All the grand gestures, the imperial lifestyle, the haughty mannerisms that were once cited as evidence of his genius now seemed like the gaudy, trumped-up act of circus Svengali. Abruptly he joined the parade of dethroned CEOs and naked internet emperors, out on the street.
The fallen idols
I won’t use his name here, because (a) he didn’t do anything wrong except get caught on the wrong side of huge market shift, and (b) the moral of his story is better presented without distracting personal details.
Any CEO or top executive could find him or herself in the same boat. We are in an era when paradigms are abandoned, verities upended, and the public’s appetite for watching yesterday’s idols grovel in the dust is insatiable.
Therefore, it behoves anyone interested in long and successful career to review their sources of power and compact with their audience.
I’m talking about staying grounded – an art those who make living pleasing the public must cultivate now more than ever. The rules of the game are specific, if largely unwritten. If your rise in the world depends on the public – whether as tastemaker, an entertainer, or an executive – then keep an ear to the ground.
It’s vital if your star has already started to shine. You are already leaving your old self behind. It is time to remember what Abraham Lincoln once said, “everybody puts their pants on one leg at time. No exceptions.”
Staying grounded doesn’t mean donning hair shirt or covering your body with tattoos – it’s possible to ground yourself and still be pasha, an emperor, even powerful music executive. Just know yourself, and retain some authenticity.
You can’t fake it, and you can’t hire someone to do it for you. These are your instincts, your nerve endings; lose touch with them and you may never get back in touch with who you are.
Keep your friends
The first rule is never abandon your friends. I’ve always stayed in touch with mine, going back well before IMG became the cornerstone of our industry. I still invite people to Wimbledon who were close to me 25 years ago, even though I never see them in my day-to-day life. It’s enough for us to share day together. And it means lot to me.
Retain an appreciation for the real cost of things. Reading about Dennis Kozlowski of Tyco and how his life changed as he became rich and powerful – the US$6000 shower curtains and US$15,000 umbrella stand have entered public lore – I realised that I still think about money. It makes no difference what my net worth is, I’m still going to choose bottle of wine somewhere in the $20-to-$40 range.
For many CEOs, the trouble begins when they seek to re-define themselves via status symbols.
Those who know quality only by measuring the price tag are easily fooled, taken to the cleaners, and not just at four-star restaurants. Chances are they will live their life the same way. They substitute market valuation for personal judgement and sacrifice their intelligence for ignorance validated by strangers – and what’s worse, they take pride in making display of it! No wonder the public is hungry for stories about CEOs who take tumble.
If you’re rising star, remember this: The greatest status symbol is one you’re already achieving – success.
If you can say that about yourself, and mean it, why would you want to change into something you aren’t?
