I believe we end up where we are meant to be. Our personalities and experiences dictate the type of work we choose, the families we create, the life we live.
In my first life, I played trombone for a living through the 1970’s and 1980’s. This included tours with Ray Charles, Tom Jones, Quincy Jones, Louis Bellson and a slew of great jazz and pop musicians. You can hear some of it with the group Baya, with Heat, Shuggie Otis, Supertramp and my own recordings.
Little did I know what I learned in that career would ultimately make me well-suited for my career in media operations, because of the following:
Hours spent in a practice room teach you to be focused, self-disciplined and self-motivated.
When you play in an ensemble, you must listen (LISTEN!) to your section mates and work collaboratively.
Nobody cares about who you are, where you come from, your background, or who you know. Respect is given to those who can play and get the job done.
You must learn to improvise.
Your reputation and track record are your resume.
You will be out of work. Find a way forward.
You will fail. Use your failures as a roadmap for improvement.
No one will dictate your schedule. You must be self-sufficient.
After spending nearly 20 years in my first career, I have ultimately ended up spending the last 20 (and counting) running DMW MediaWorks, comprised of a small band of media operations players, who are self-motivated, who work collaboratively, are great improvisers, and know that their work is their reputation.
Was music a more glamorous occupation than media operations? I’d argue that when you have the opportunity to work for companies like New York Times, Conde Nast, Wall Street Journal, Viacom (now Paramount), Google, WebMD, New England Journal of Medicine, Hearst, Expedia, LinkedIn – those are marque names and associations in their own right.
So, to bring it all full circle, I believe we end up where we are meant to be.
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