When the Guru Smacks You on the Head,
Take it Like a Man
by Perry S. Marshall
Originally appeared in Canada’s Manufacturing Automation Magazine ©2003 CLB Media
I imagine that most of you Canadians know about Toronto’s celebrated professor of percussion, Mr. Neil Peart. For those of you who aren’t familiar, he’s the legendary drummer for Rush, and is one of the most skilled and respected musicians on the circuit today.
Neil Peart of Rush, the most influential drummer in the history of rock music, plays a drum solo. (Click on the full screen button for better picture and sound.)
Peart says that by the mid ’90′s, he’d pushed his technique just about as far as it could physically be taken. If you’ve seen him play live, you know it’s hard to imagine that anyone could actually be better than he already was. But he felt stagnant and was looking for a breakthrough. So he hired himself a mentor.
When the press already bills you as the greatest rock drummer in the world, where do you find a qualified teacher? Jazz.
So off to L.A. he went, to study under a certain Freddie Gruber. Mr. Gruber is an eccentric old bachelor with a house full of drums, music scores and drumming magazines, a musician who is on par with the greatest performing legends of all time – masters like the late Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa.
So what advice did Freddie have for our famous Canadian rock musician?
Two things, for starters:
- You’re holding your sticks all wrong.
- You’re wearing the wrong kind of shoes.
Pretty basic stuff, eh?
David Lee Roth (Van Halen) would’ve given Freddie the finger and caught the first plane to Miami Beach. But his career, as you’ll recall, caved in years ago under the crushing weight of his over-inflated ego. Roth was no professional – he was just an overgrown, overpaid teenager in buttless pants.
But even after 30 years of playing, Peart had enough humility to begin again at square one and re–learn his instrument from the ground up. He achieved the musical breakthrough he was looking for, and he considered the resulting album Test For Echo to be his finest work to date.
Kind of reminds me of the famous speech Vince Lombardi made to his football players at the beginning of every season: “Gentlemen, this is a football.”
The prima donna takes offense. The true professional takes notes. And world-class specialists always seem to approach even the most basic things differently than the rest of us. Here’s an example from my own business. I’d like to think that everything I write is a paragon of perfection the instant it tumbles out of my brain, but it disturbs me how often the magazine editors disagree.
Last year I sent one of my monthly columns to the editor here at Manufacturing Automation. She tossed a big chunk of useless verbosity out the window, pulled out the last paragraph, and re-inserted it at the beginning.
All of the sudden that ordinary article was really, really good! I hate it when that happens. Or maybe I should put it this way: The headstrong, ego-centric part of me that doesn’t want to listen to anybody hates it when that happens. The sensible, results–oriented part of me, the part that knows it’s better to be embarrassed in private than in public, likes it when that happens.
Even Michael Jordan needs a coach. I just had a very interesting situation with a consulting client. He loved my website (“Perry, your website rocks!”) so he hired me to make his own website more effective. His website had the same problem that most other company websites have. Too corporate. Too institutional. Trying to impress people that just ain’t going to be impressed unless you actually help them solve their problem. Impersonal. Dry as bone dust. Boring.
I made it personal – just like mine. In fact, I put a personal letter from him to the visitor, right on the home page:
“Dear Manufacturing Professional,
<< important reasons why you should take time out of your busy day to check out this site >>
Sincerely,
Joe Bloggs
President”
He didn’t like it at all. “We aren’t comfortable with authored content at this company,” he insisted. So he fired me and changed it back to cold, institutional and impersonal.
Maybe this guy was insecure or something. I dunno, I’m not his shrink. But you know what the problem usually is in situations like this? It’s real simple: The message that most business people like to project is not the message that any customer would actually give a rip about.
C’mon folks, when Paintball or Britney Spears is only a click away, who wants to stick around and read some pompous corporate puffery? You know, stuff like “If one desires to procure the finest internationally acclaimed value added global manufacturing technology that today’s world has to offer, then one must leverage the best of breed ISO9002 certified, robust and scalable e-business solutions from ACME corporation.”
Yuck.
Now before you laugh at this, you might want to get rid of that third-person, institutional monotone on your own website that’s putting everyone to sleep.
And for goodness sake, take another look at the last few press releases that your company sent out. Most companies’ PR reads the same as their boring websites. Remember the “Peter Principle?” It says that people rise to their level of incompetence. They get promoted until they finally land in a position where they’re not quite capable of doing their job.
Then they cover their back side (kind of the opposite of David Lee Roth), wreak havoc and make everyone miserable. That doesn’t have to happen. But why does it happen? Because they stop learning. They stop pushing themselves and they push everyone else instead. They won’t acknowledge that there may be a better way to hold those drumsticks.
They forget the part about the football. The only time their stuff gets edited is when someone else is pretty sure they won’t notice. They fired their coach a long time ago, and now they just bluff their way through everything. I hired myself a coach to help me with my writing. This guy’s no slouch – he gets paid as much as $100,000 to write a single ad. And I didn’t ask him to send me puff reviews.
His comments on the very first thing I sent him: “You’re a talented guy, but the way you’ve put this together is like nothing else I’ve ever seen…” Then he busts my chops for awhile and tells me to re–write the whole thing. I felt like the Karate Kid painting the fence for Mr. Miyagi.
But when it’s time to go into the ring, I’d rather be prepared – and win. How about you? If you don’t want to peter out, you’re going to have to get yourself a coach. It will probably be a humbling experience, because if he’s any good, he’s going to slap you on the side of the head.
Not just every once in awhile, but frequently. And speaking of petering out, remember St. Peter? Your Sunday School teacher probably told you Jesus was a nice guy, but Jesus slapped Peter around quite a bit. That was his job. So get on with the slapping and learn to enjoy it.
Vince Berland once said “Boxers somehow learn to like getting hit.” He’s right. It’s not masochism, it’s just the way things are when you’re in pursuit of excellence.
So when the guru slaps you on the side of the head, take it like a man.
Perry Marshall is a technical marketing consultant who constantly discovers kinder, gentler ways to slap his clients on the side of the head. His website, www.perrymarshall.com, rocks.
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In my mind you’re right on, or should I say write on.
Even so, there is a catch 22 for most would be marketers, including me. That catch 22 is somewhat perverse because it is multi-layered and you can peal them back one at a time and still be perplexed.
For starters there is always, or usually, the lack of money to hire a good coach. And even if you could they would not want to help you because you have nothing to work with. You haven’t been slapped around even a bit.
Next layer (deeper layer) is just getting that experience of fumbling around with words and getting parts and pieces that seem to work – but you don’t get slapped. You’re a nobody and you’ll stay there because no one’s paying any attention.
An aside: My wife loves the word awesome and she animates the word in so many different ways, but I’ve taken a liking to the word slapped. Thanks for that.
Next layer gets peeled back (deeper yet and you’re still a nobody) and you still have no money but you’re borrowing styles from some one else’s repetoire and if you do get slapped it’s all their fault. How do you get your own stuff until you’ve got your own stuff?
Next layer shows itself when you still don’t know what you’re doing, but you’re doing it, and discovering your own talent, or doubting that you have any talent. How can you do something you can’t do?
Another layer and you’re getting some notice from others and getting slapped by those that want you to go back into oblivion. Capable people have been where you are and they don’t slap you unless you make it worth their while. How do you find good slappers in a sea of miscreants?
So far I haven’t been slapped around much but I see that there is no end of catch 22′s in layer after layer. Each catch 22 is like the space gap where a synapse takes place between neuron transmitters and in the middle of the leap between neurons anything can happen.
This is called creativity and it is called change. Both scary words to the status quo.
That is sick
Love the 3/4 part where Neil homages Max Roach’s “The Drum Also Waltzes”
Cutting edge is sexy, but there’s gold to be picked up form back in The Day…
“I hate it when that happens. Or maybe I should put it this way: The headstrong, ego-centric part of me that doesn’t want to listen to anybody hates it when that happens. The sensible, results–oriented part of me, the part that knows it’s better to be embarrassed in private than in public”
well, don’t we all! As you rightly say, the prima donnas take umbridge and the pros get out their notebooks. I have made enough mistakes in my life to know that – and honestly I am wondering after reading #6 of your “Nine Lies” why the h*ll I am still doing what I am doing. Nobody wants me to make them furniture, the problem is – at 50 what else can I do! Tipped out of a reasonably stable relationship with nix?
But I do enjoy the advertising. It ain’t a challenge, it is fun. Friday I meet Jasper for a big talk through. It would have been Thursday but somebody changed their times … and I am not missing that little talk!!!!
Nice vid.
He certainly has the chops but personally I rate my drumming heroes on feel – John Bonham, Jeff Porcaro, Bernard Purdie or a funky chick like Yvette ‘Babygirl’ Preyer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIgTPvnCg_g&list=PL0423CB5C56BE2494&index=20&feature=plpp
cheers
Harley
Hello Perry
Great stuff as always. However, you are laboring under the (greatly shared) misconception that David Lee Roth was not a consummate professional. Although he did (and probably still does have) a HUGE ego, he was known for his attention to detail.
The classic example of “no brown M&Ms” on the band’s riders is true, but the reason for it is little-known. In fact, David Lee Roth put it in there so that he could see, at a glance, if the owners of the venue had their collective stuff together. If they couldn’t get a little detail like dressing room candy selections right, his reasoning went, then how could he trust them to make sure the 220 was rigged right for their million-dollar-plus lighting and sound rigs? (This little trick began before the band was huge and they were dealing with smaller venues who may not have had the best grips and electricians on staff.)
If he found brown M&Ms, he knew had to check the electrical, or any number of other details, before the band began their sound check. (It wouldn’t be a good career move to get electrocuted during sound check.)
Now, I’m not a huge fan of David Lee Roth, but when I heard this anecdote from a former highly-placed employee (who must remain nameless), I was impressed.
His work ethic and attention to detail were second to none, even while he partied and slept his way around the world.
Hey, I always love the backstory stuff like this. Good share.
Have you heard of the book, “Mindset” by Carol Dweck? I’m almost done with it now and was planning to mention it to you on our next call, but since I got this in an email today, it seems fitting to mention it here. Dweck supports everythIng you are saying above, but states it in a very succinct summary of “mindsets.” She says there are only two mindsets, “fixed” or “growth.” A musician with an ego = fixed mindset. Neil Peat = growth mindset.
You can pretty well guess what it all means, but I think you would enjoy the depth of her analysis, explanations, and empirical evidence. It’s a perspective that’s right up your alley. The implications of understanding mindsets are HUGE for e-neurs, managers, employees, parents, teachers, and students. I believe this will be the foundation for my next project…#brainonfire#
Welcome back to the US, congrats on Zoe, and Merry Christmas!
“Every $3 you spend on self improvement will generate $300 back in revenue.” – Darren Hardy. Where else can you get that much return on an investment? By the way, RUSH is my favorite band! Thanks for sharing the love.
Hi, Perry. Your point is well taken, but as the video clearly shows, by 2004 Neil Peart went back to “holding the sticks all wrong” except for a few moments in the middle of the solo. I don’t think his performance suffers any for it, but you might consider replacing that video with one from the Test For Echo tour, because he never deviated from the traditional grip that Freddy taught him at any point on that entire tour.
“Roth was no professional – he was just an overgrown, overpaid teenager in buttless pants.”
I’m still rolling on the floor with that line! =)
I wanted to react to Ed’s comment. Of course I must say, Perry, you always do it for me and I send your articles to half a dozen people, at least. You are endearing.
Ed, maybe I misread, but I think the cache-22 you speak of, is a vicious cycle of doom and gloom. The mind set of “I am thankful for this chance today to live my life and make a difference if I can, to do the best with what I got, to fly high with an attitude of gratitude” can break the cycle of poor me I can’t afford to hire Perry.
Yes, just copy what Perry does in your own field. “That’s why they call it “copy” writing. you beg, borrow and steal ideas everywhere you can and mix it up with your own inspiration. That’s why they call it a swipe file when you save examples of excellent copy.
Alex M. gave me an exercise once: Take Joe Karbo’s “Lazy Man’s Way to Riches” Advertisement and told me to copy that whole article and write it out by hand, yes, longhand, 10 times.
Simple words, short sentences, punchy style. Now I kind of write like that automagically!
Here’s one that I wrote this morning. I hope you realized I am sharing just my example, not trying to self-aggrandize. But anyone who wants to slap me upside the head, “I’m here.”
http://optimalhealthbridge.com/commitment-is-the-agent-of-change/
I won’t swing back. I will turn the other cheek.
Garey
Garey,
Great first comment!!! Also great post by Perry. Although I still think of Jesus when I read him. lol I have issues!!
These 2 posts alone, are worth their weight in gold.
I don’t know if its me, but Perry’s (seemed to me?) material was a little light lately, then BOOM!!!
To Garey Simmons:
I wrote that so many months back I had to read it again a few times to see where the doom and gloom was.
Actually, I was writing about myself and how I am probably like a lot of other people still trying to soak everything up. How did I ever know anything by hangin’ on the gate waiting for kudos? Or with my head so far up a gurus ass I couldn’t see how to make the material part of my own repertoire.
No one ever came out of nowhere. It takes a lot of perseverence to get recognized and it takes a lot of repetition to smooth out the rough edges and develop one’s own style and creativity, even after stealing everyone elses work.
But if you don’t love it, and you don’t love the effort you’re putting in then it’s going to be tough to hang in there for the really good slaps.
Perry,
Your work is not only inspiring…the narrative from where you write get’s me pumped to open EVERY message my in-box receives from Perry Marshall.
I love this line, “The prima donna takes offense. The true professional takes notes.” Thanks for not only the slap, but you’re TKO felt ooh-so-good!
Thanks for the appreciation. Hope to keep putting dollars in your pocket.