In catching up a little with my DVR this weekend, I watched several Charlie Rose shows. In one Philip Johnson (an influential architect – the reason we have glass buildings) is visiting the Frank Gehry designed Bilbao Guggenheim Museum for the first time. Overwhelmed, he says “It’s too bad there’s no words. Architecture is not about words. It’s all about tears and love.” You have to see it to really understand its impact. Check it out here and fastforward to 06:14).
Being a teary person myself, it got me thinking about the other times when there are no words. Even when we’re teary because of good circumstances, these are still difficult times simply because they are so emotional – and often so hard won.
I’m writing about it today because sometimes this happens in business. And we don’t talk about this much. Business, by definition is business-like. It’s supposed to be formal, professional, arms-length. It’s nothing personal, it’s just businesses.
But it’s not. At least I think it’s not more often than we like to admit. For example, in two different shows, Charlie Rose also interviewed Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora. Pandora is an on-line music provider that caters what you hear to what you love to hear. Each artist and song are categorized into a dizzying number of categories (patented and named the Music Genome Project) which means that when you click to communicate that you’re really enjoying a song, the system knows what and who else you’ll like.
Pandora struggled for more than ten years to become an overnight success. Tim Westergren is thrilled to finally be pulling a salary and still shares a car with his wife. He gets a little teary when he talks about the lean years, especially when he mentions how some of his employees worked without salaries for two years. It’s not just business to him, it’s personal. Personal for his staff, personal for his family who stuck by him for more than eight years of unsuccessful trying and personal for his passion to help people feel strongly about their music again.
Last month I became embarrassingly teary when two businessmen asked me about the state of my first business endeavor. Neither was taken aback by my tears as they pressed me for what felt like every little detail. In my pain, I was slightly amazed by this phenomenon until one of them told me that everyone has a hard business experience in their past. Apparently no one survives unscathed. Once survived, no one likes to think about these things, much less discuss them.
But we should. Despite his hard business experience, this businessman is now very successful. He mentors and supports many new businesspeople. And he gave me a wonderful gift that day: knowledge that others have made mistakes and have not only survived them, but thrived afterwards based on what they learned. We can survive if we’re in the right business for the right reasons with the right partners.
Do you get a little teary about your business? Are you willing to push through the issues and messes that ultimately lead to tears of all sorts (frustration, fear, anger, gratefulness, failure, joy…)? If not, are you sure you’re in the right business? Business building is hard work. Remember the Heath brothers’ rational rider and emotional elephant? (Click here for relevant blog entry) You’ll get further if your elephant is engaged – even if it costs you some tears.
One last note, if someone claims to have survived all their business experiences unscathed I think they’re either a) unwilling to be honest with you, b) in denial, or c) the person who does the scathing. Think about it.
