Been a bit under the weather; thus the blogging has slowed up, but jumping back into it.
To celebrate feeling better (and my good news from the Doc), a friend of ours invited us to a “fancy dinner”. This place was reputed to be in the top 5 or 10 restaurants in the city. Given that there are over 17,000 places to eat in Manhattan alone, I figured this place will be good.
And it was good. Very, very good. But it just missed that something.
I soon realized that the staff was concentrating, fussing and fawning over all the beautiful and well known people, all those so called high profile types who made this restaurant “famous”, (at least for the fifteen minutes of fame that Andy Warhol claimed we were all entitled).
Unfortunately, the restaurant’s purported “obsession” with quality was clearly coming in second, a close second, but nevertheless…second. And that was enough for me to decide, then and there, to not go back.
What happens to institutions, businesses, and entertainment centers when they finally achieve that magical spot of being #1 in the hearts and minds of people and in the hearts, minds and wallets of its stakeholders and customers? Does the obsession with quality stop?
Does the need to develop, test, invent, create, dance, play, write and change just slow down? Is it really like an athlete who just gets a little older and a little slower? Or does something get lost once we are at the top'? Does it eventually become "not losing" the mantle of excellence; or "not losing" our place; or "not losing" our voice?
Does the need to develop, test, invent, create, dance, play, write and change just slow down? Is it really like an athlete who just gets a little older and a little slower? Or does something get lost once we are at the top'? Does it eventually become "not losing" the mantle of excellence; or "not losing" our place; or "not losing" our voice?
Maybe that happens more frequently than we think. But there are so many great places, restaurants, sports teams, clubs, and theatres that have been so good for so long that you just have to ask the question...
How do you get a repeat or a three-peat? How do you stay on top and not “exit” the heights? I think you have to continually and obsessively reinvent the voice that got you to the show. Not necessarily change the tune, but perhaps the words.
The old rockers like Chuck Berry, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, they all developed their unique sound, stuck to it and stayed on top a long, long time until the musical tastes of the country changed… BUT they still were able to build a new following and they were able to develop new fans along the way.
Because they never forgot their roots.
They sang many of the new songs with their own interpretation and were applauded and rewarded for their talent by a whole new group of the population that never really listened to them before. (Listen to Otis Redding sing “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones and your ears will tingle).
Find the new music and listen to it. Interpret it as authentically and honestly as you can. Sing it for them. And your new followers will find you.
