....is something I do not naturally have in any quantity.
So let's say you're an engineer who has a passion for innovating and designing solar cells. On the face of it, this would seem a very good thing. It's a useful and very timely interest to have these days. The trouble is that the world - North America especially - is quite addicted to fossil fuels, and its economy is geared to that source of energy. As a solar cell engineer, you would likely find much of your day-to-day job has less to do with research and development, and much more with educating and persuading, in order to develop a market for your product; that is, until you can justify hiring someone to do that part of the job for you while you indulge your engineering passions in the lab.
The little fly in the ointment here is that the art of persuasion is pretty far removed from engineering skills. Is it reasonable to expect one person to be as good with people as she or he is with nanotubes?
A number of musician friends of mine have expressed great surprise to find that Lady Gaga is not a bad musician. She actually shows skill at the piano! I suspect that musicians in particular are shocked by this because she has shown something approaching genius in self-promotion, and anyone that good at the business of music is usually expected to be mediocre at the musical part of it. Gene Simmons & co. are probably a good case in point. Personally, I think everyone who has been in that band has shown good basic musical skill, but no motivation to take those skills beyond working-man levels. If Simmons were to have devoted as much time to writing, bass playing and singing as he has to promotion, would anyone know who he is today? I suspect so, but I'm guessing I'd be in a small minority - and I'd probably have an argument from the man himself.
Certainly, most people who choose to become musicians do it for the love of playing or writing music, not because they're passionate about phoning people in order to hunt down work...yet in this Age of Indie, that's probably the biggest component of a bandleader's professional life. Frankly, it's very much against my nature to schmooze, to persistently (yet politely) phone to drum up work, to peddle my wares online and at gigs. I like to think I don't stink at it, but it's definitely not my nature. For what it's worth, the Myers-Briggs test rated me as about as introverted as a person can get - both as a high school student, and more recently. Ironically, it's that sort of nature that can give one the patience to spend hours writing, re-writing and recording music; but it's no help in the ever-important schmoozing department.
Once upon a time, record labels would sign an artist, promote the artist in conjunction with the artist's management, and take a few years to develop the artist. Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, Rush, and many others certainly didn't have stellar sales for their first few albums, but now their catalogs keeps their record labels afloat. Those days appear to be gone. If you're signed to a major label these days, you're likely to get dumped if your last album didn't sell in a big way. If you're indie, promotion and management falls to you (or your manager, but that's a whole other ball of wax). These days, I almost feel like I'm playing hooky when I pick up my guitar...shouldn't I be updating the website? Expanding the reverbnation profile? Tweeting? At least I'm used to the guitar being a bit of a guilty pleasure...but who wouldn't want their working life to be one big guilty pleasure?
So let's say you're an engineer who has a passion for innovating and designing solar cells. On the face of it, this would seem a very good thing. It's a useful and very timely interest to have these days. The trouble is that the world - North America especially - is quite addicted to fossil fuels, and its economy is geared to that source of energy. As a solar cell engineer, you would likely find much of your day-to-day job has less to do with research and development, and much more with educating and persuading, in order to develop a market for your product; that is, until you can justify hiring someone to do that part of the job for you while you indulge your engineering passions in the lab.
The little fly in the ointment here is that the art of persuasion is pretty far removed from engineering skills. Is it reasonable to expect one person to be as good with people as she or he is with nanotubes?
A number of musician friends of mine have expressed great surprise to find that Lady Gaga is not a bad musician. She actually shows skill at the piano! I suspect that musicians in particular are shocked by this because she has shown something approaching genius in self-promotion, and anyone that good at the business of music is usually expected to be mediocre at the musical part of it. Gene Simmons & co. are probably a good case in point. Personally, I think everyone who has been in that band has shown good basic musical skill, but no motivation to take those skills beyond working-man levels. If Simmons were to have devoted as much time to writing, bass playing and singing as he has to promotion, would anyone know who he is today? I suspect so, but I'm guessing I'd be in a small minority - and I'd probably have an argument from the man himself.
Certainly, most people who choose to become musicians do it for the love of playing or writing music, not because they're passionate about phoning people in order to hunt down work...yet in this Age of Indie, that's probably the biggest component of a bandleader's professional life. Frankly, it's very much against my nature to schmooze, to persistently (yet politely) phone to drum up work, to peddle my wares online and at gigs. I like to think I don't stink at it, but it's definitely not my nature. For what it's worth, the Myers-Briggs test rated me as about as introverted as a person can get - both as a high school student, and more recently. Ironically, it's that sort of nature that can give one the patience to spend hours writing, re-writing and recording music; but it's no help in the ever-important schmoozing department.
Once upon a time, record labels would sign an artist, promote the artist in conjunction with the artist's management, and take a few years to develop the artist. Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, Rush, and many others certainly didn't have stellar sales for their first few albums, but now their catalogs keeps their record labels afloat. Those days appear to be gone. If you're signed to a major label these days, you're likely to get dumped if your last album didn't sell in a big way. If you're indie, promotion and management falls to you (or your manager, but that's a whole other ball of wax). These days, I almost feel like I'm playing hooky when I pick up my guitar...shouldn't I be updating the website? Expanding the reverbnation profile? Tweeting? At least I'm used to the guitar being a bit of a guilty pleasure...but who wouldn't want their working life to be one big guilty pleasure?