Okay — I hear you groaning:
"Coach — the GRATEFUL
DEAD? What the heck do
THEY have to do with success?" As a
veteran of over 50 concerts since I got
"on the bus" in 1971, I'm a relatively
lightweight "Dead Head," yet I learned
a lot by following them. To quote one
of their song lyrics, "Once in a while
you get shown the light in the
strangest of places, if you look at it
right." So let me break it down for you.
PASSION
We've all heard the saying "Do what
you love and the money will follow."
The Grateful Dead were ALL about the
love of sharing their music with a
legion of rabid Dead Head fans. In
their early years they couldn't have
cared less about money, going deep
into debt as they toured incessantly.
Formed in 1965, the band waited into
the mid-1980s before it began to see its
cash flow swell — are you willing to
pursue your passion for 20 years without
having much financial success to
show for it?
HARD WORK
The group played over 3,000 concerts
in 30 years, most twice as long as
the typical rock show. And no two of
their performances were ever the
same, as compared with your average
touring band that plays the same set
list every night. Yet, was this really
"work," or "play"? They were able to
make a living playing at what they
loved, bringing their fans back tour
after tour to experience the "joy factor"
in every concert — isn't that a worthy
ideal for all of us?
PERSISTENCE
Even though their success might
appear effortless today, all high
achievers know the trials and tribulations
they went through over the
years to finally make it. The Grateful
Dead had more than their fair share of
adversity, from being continually
harassed for their "scene" by the local
gendarmes in every city they visited,
to being panned by most rock critics
as being a "psychedelic-relic greatesthits
band," to having their entire
bankroll embezzled by their manager
(incredibly, the father of their drummer!)
in the early '70s, to the death of
not one, not two, but THREE keyboardists
in 30 years. Yet they just
kept on truckin'.
IMPROVISATION
How often do you need to improvise
solutions in your line of work?
The granddaddy of all "jam bands,"
the Grateful Dead were known for
their unrehearsed sonic excursions.
The quest for a unique concert experience
kept us patient with their
nightly extended jam experiments.
These musical trips into the
unknown sometimes fell short of the
mark — but when it clicked, it was
magic.
TECHNOLOGICALLY SAVVY
We've all got to keep pace with
changing technology, and the
Grateful Dead were often ahead of
the curve. They spent huge wads of
cash on equipment to get the best
sound possible (including their infamous
"wall of sound" — a gargantuan
amplifier set up that literally
dwarfed the band members), refined
the art of the light show, and, most
recently, pioneered direct-to-consumer
digital audio recording sales
of their live concerts (much to the
dismay of music industry middlemen).
MARKETING MAVENS
Quick — when you see a tie-dye
t-shirt, who comes to mind? A full
40 years after the band's inception,
"Brand Dead" is still going strong —
Grateful Dead Merchandising
(www.gdstore.com) is hawking
everything from vintage '60s concert
posters to "dancing bear" baby
wear. They've got the kind of marketing
staying power that rivals
other rock 'n roll icons like the
Beatles and Elvis.
GIVING BACK
Nobody played more benefit concerts
in their time than the
Grateful Dead. The Rex Foundation,
(www.rexfoundation.org), their philanthropic
organization formed in
1984, has given millions of dollars
over the years to support a number of
worthy not-for-profit endeavors. They
seemed to intuitively know that charity
breeds prosperity.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Hard as it may be to believe, the
Grateful Dead was the highest-grossing
touring act in the entire entertainment
business between the 10-year
period of 1985–1995 — outdrawing
(and outearning) the likes of Bruce
Springsteen, Madonna, and Michael
Jackson. (How have your last 10 years
been?)
A full decade has passed since
their legendary lead guitarist and
founding member Jerry Garcia died,
yet the remaining original band members
still go on tour, both collectively
as "The Dead" and with solo projects.
It goes to show you, if you live your
life following the high standards the
Grateful Dead have embodied since
the mid '60s, you'll have a "sunshine
daydream" of a life!
Since developing his first coaching program in 1982, Success Skills Coach Jim Rohrbach, "The Personal Fitness Trainer for Your Business," has coached hundreds of business owners, entrepreneurs, and sales professionals on increasing their clientele.
Learn more about Success Skills Coach Jim Rohrbach.
To find out how a Nightingale-Conant coach can help you become a high achiever, call us at 877.512.3100 to speak with a coaching representative.
