Here’s another chance to compare notes a few decades down the road.
After a slightly meandering start, my adult career has proceeded quite nicely. I get to do interesting work, and (in the big picture) I’ve progressively been given more authority over it. My employers trust me to lead teams of people and try new ideas.
Learning about what you’ve been up to over the past couple of decades, it sounds like a lot of you have found jobs you like and are good at — and a disproportionate number have started your own businesses, from restaurants to barber shops.
For myself, it’s not just hyperbole to say I gained more fundamental career skills playing music with you folks than I did in the classroom. Here are a few lessons I picked up:
- Human resources. I learned pretty quickly that a drummer with space to practice was worth about a dozen aspiring guitarists, and I took up the bass because I realized there was lots more demand for four strings than six. At school, the teachers assigned the places; you had to build a band from scratch.
- Personnel management. We may have mellowed some with age, but this is still a pretty intense crowd. Keeping instruments from flying took a lot of negotiation, and there weren’t any adult referees to dictate manners.
- Networking. I met so many of you so quickly, and I can remember practically every moment when I introduced myself to one of you or vice versa.
- Operations. Overlooking some seemingly innocuous detail like spare strings could screw up a gig. It was one thing to cut corners on schoolwork, but the stakes were a lot higher when you were in front of a crowd of peers who’d paid upwards of $2 to see you play!
- Financial planning. How do divide your $25 share of the door among the five band members? Even-steven, or more for the guy gassing the van?
- Exit strategies. Shows could get a lot rougher than school; playing while things were getting weird — and knowing when to make a quick exit with all your gear — was way higher stakes than any classroom education.
Read more about our high-school days!
What did you learn then that helps you now?
Chemistry!
Respect for Authority
I was thinking Pharmacology, Sociology and Politics. Maybe Primate Behavior, too.
I learned to starve
We all have something to say and want to be heard
What Jim said.
Also, when you really listen to someone, you are likely to be surprised (e.g.,Mike Woods saga). It’s important not to assume to soon that you know what someone is thinking or what has happened. I’ve applied that on the job many times over the years, including within the last few hours- thanks.