Who wants to be famous?

Previously I discussed Napoleon Bonaparte’s views on glory (fame) and social networking (ok that was a bit tongue in cheek) and were based on my interpretation of his quote:  Glory is fleeting, obscurity is forever.

According to Napoleon then ‘Glory is not forever’ (Lesson 1) and ‘The opposite of glory is obscurity’ (Lesson 2).

Applying these two lessons to business I used the example of the Fortune 500 Company list, the vast majority of which didn’t survive longer than 60 years on the list.

And then I discussed why most adults, like teenagers, reckon anything is better than obscurity.

And if you didn’t believe me, I challenged you to ask yourself a couple of questions: Why do we have such a need to post our thoughts on Twitter? Make ourselves heard on a blog? Meet up with people we didn’t even like at school via FaceBook? Or make a complete ass or ourselves using YouTube.com?

On to Lesson 3: If glory or fame is fleeting, and the opposite of glory is obscurity, and obscurity is forever, can we not agree on a middle ground that doesn’t sound so bleak?

I mean who amongst us really wants to be famous?

Business needs to be famous.

It aspires to fame through something called brands and branding and spends huge resources on making those brands … you guessed it: famous.

How then do we reconcile the idea that even spending all that money and time most companies can’t survive 60 years on the Fortune 500?

But there are many organizations that survive well into the 100s of years.

The oldest magazine I ever worked on was the South African Medical Journal—first published in 1886 it is 123 years old this year.

Around the world there are many organizations that have been ’successful’ for a long time even though they didn’t make it onto the Fortune 500.

If glory (fame) is fleeting and obscurity is forever then what about that middle ground I spoke of earlier?

A middle ground where we don’t have to be incredibly famous, nor obscure for the rest of our lives.

A middle ground where we feel we matter. Where we count and feel we make a difference. Is it possible that sustainability may

be the middle ground that balances fame with obscurity? 

Good place to start next post.

Napoleon Bonaparte on social networking

“Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.” -Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

Last post I posed this question: If you were faced with a choice, would you prefer to experience glory for a fleeting moment, knowing it will not last, or to face the knowledge that you will remain obscure forever?

It followed a discussion, based on the quote from Napoleon Bonaparte above, around some fascinating things like the balance of power between nations and that only 14% of the companies on the Fortune 500 list in 1955 are still there today. Glory certainly didn’t even last 60 years for them and Lesson 1- Glory is not forever seemed on the face of it to be correct.

This post the question revolves around the idea that the opposite of glory is obscurity. To understand this lesson you have to understand the difference between glory and obscurity.

Whitney Houston made it big back in the 80’s with her No.1 hit single ‘One moment in time’. At the time she was simply Cissy Houston’s daughter and Dionne Warwick’s niece. But hit it big she did and I couldn’t help but wonder in the words of the song what it would be like to have ‘one moment in time when I knew I had become all I dreamed I could be’. Powerful stuff and it remains one of my favourite songs today.

I suppose a lot depends on how you define that moment. How do you define glory?

The dictionary reckons glory is ‘praise or honour; splendor or praiseworthy thing’. Bearing in mind Napoleon wanted to be Emperor he certainly had an idea of what sort of glory he was looking for.

A hit single is certainly fleeting and the ability to have a lifetime of hit singles is reserved for only a handful of artists.

Being President of your country would be one way to experience glory. Winning the Nobel Peace Prize would be another. Ask Barack Obama.

But again most of these moments are fleeting.

To others ‘glory’ could be something very different: Think about the day someone gets married, or witnesses the birth of their children? What about a hard earned degree? Saving someone’s life? Are these to be seen as fleeting as well?

According to Napoleon obscurity is the alternative to glory. Certainly no shades of grey for him.

Obscurity is defined as ‘not well known’. In the context which Napoleon seems to use the word I think there is also an element of anonymity. Of insignificance. Rather experience glory, even if fleeting, so you don’t have to experience the alternative of being a nobody. A nothing in the course of human history which means forever.

Considering that Napoleon’s reign was almost 200 years ago his thoughts today seem remarkably accurate to describe the need to ‘matter’.

As human beings living in the 21st Century we are programmed to avoid obscurity at all costs. Think about all the user generated content on YouTube. Anything is better than not being well known. Look at some of the stuff you find there. ‘I would rather look a fool than not be famous’ sort of thing. We worship fame. We need it like a drug. Why else would Jackass I and II have been so successful?

Anything is better than obscurity. Why else would social networking sites enjoy the ‘success’ they do? Why else belong to LinkedIn? As adults we hate the idea of not being well known as much as any teenager.

Or Napoleon Bonaparte for that matter.

Lesson 3 courtesy of him next post.

What do Capital Radio 604, Eskimo pies and Take Twos have in common?

“Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.” -Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

Napoleon Bonaparte is a fascinating character in the history of the evolution of war.  His understanding of how to upset the balance of power between nations remains fundamental to understanding the theory of International Relations and helps us to understand the recent behaviour of countries like Iran in the Middle East and Venezuela in South America.

Interestingly, his theory of war also informs business school teaching in something called ‘game-theoretic’ accounts of business. Game theory is basically the idea that where someone benefits they do so at the expense of someone else.

All things being equal, the best for both parties, is to maintain equilibrium, a balance between the different players.

Think about market share for a moment.

Assuming the market size remains constant then the only way to grow market share would be at the expense of someone else. Many strategies are designed to ‘take’ market share from competitors and then to hold on to it when they retaliate. Sounds a bit like warfare right?

Napoleon’s quotation above leads to some interesting lessons when applied to the world of business. Over the next couple of weeks let’s chat about these in some more detail.

Lesson 1- Glory is not forever.

How many companies who appeared on the first Fortune 500 list in 1955 are still there today? 71.

That means, in 54 years, 86% have disappeared off the list completely.

Nearly 2000 companies have appeared on the list since it started and many are long gone.

What then does appearing on the list say about a company’s chances of enduring?

Think about Bear Stearns, previously 156 on the list, and gone in a weekend?

Think for a moment of other iconic brands here in SA that have over time surrendered their independence or disappeared completely: Springbok Radio, Capital 604, Eskimo Pie (ice lolly), Chipstix, Take Two (chocolate), Allied, UBS, NBS, FlightStar, Health & Racquet?

But if the alternative is obscurity, isn’t it better to have experienced glory for a short period even if you know you will lose it in the future.

Leadership is inspiring.  Be inspired.

Nothing on but the radio

A couple of years ago I enjoyed quoting a stat concerning the greatest selling artists of all time. 

Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley and the Beatles would be in the top three slots depending on who you talked to but number four was almost always a surprise—a country mega star by the name of Garth Brooks whose popularity remains such that he performed at the Obama Inaugural Concert—yup he was the guy in the cowboy hat you had probably never heard of.  Even so, most of the adult contemporary stations in SA have placed his songs ‘The River’ and ‘Into the fire’ in their Top 10 at some point in time. 

The commercial reality though is that Elvis Presley became far more popular in death, as did the Beatles after the assassination of John Lennon, than they ever were in life. 

The same will probably be said for the King of Pop himself Michael Jackson and, although I never did a moonwalk myself, as an 80’s teenager I cannot remember a party or night club that didn’t include an ‘eek’ or a ‘ooh’ by him or his Jackson Five brothers.

One of the greatest influences Garth Brooks had though was that he realised that it was possible to be a cross over artist—country to pop—which would increase an artist’s commerciality. 

He set the scene for artists like Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Leanne Rhymes and more recently Taylor Swift. 

Someone like Ronan Keating (or Ronan Cheating as I call him) simply took hits from the country charts and repackaged them for Pop.  ’If tomorrow never comes’ was a hit for Alison Krausse and  the  Union Station six years before it was for him. 

Looking at the back to back coverage that Michael Jackson’s death received on everything from Sky and eTV to CNN and Al Jazeera I am struck by how inadequate TV is. 

Yes it can place the reporters on scene and you have the same screen shot of a coroner’s van leaving the LA County Coroner’s office 20 times over but to get a real sense of Michael Jackson the artist you have to switch on the radio.  

Michael Jackson lives in our minds—each song brings back a memory that plays an important role in our lives be it ‘Beat it’ or ‘Billie Jean’, ‘Heal the world’ or the spookiness of ‘Thriller’.

Gary Allen, another hot country star right now, has a song I enjoy no end—it’s called ‘Nothing on but the radio’ – imagine the play on words. One moment he is thinking about having dinner with the love of his life with ‘Nothing on but the radio’ and in another … well you get the picture. 

If we were looking for a radio anthem I couldn’t think of anything better than ‘Nothing on but the radio’. 

Can you? 

Now imagine if the only memory we had of Michael Jackson was what we heard him sing on the radio?  No tabloid stories, no LA County Court House shots. 

Nothing on but the radio. 

Stephen Covey asks each of us to think about the eulogy we would like people to deliver at our funeral one day.  His point is we should live our lives the way we would like to be remembered. 

Good point. Have a great week.