How being part of a popular rock band became a life lesson on leadership.
Part 1 of a 4-part series on Failing Forward: leadership lessons learned from the rise and fall of my rock band, MAXLIDER.
Once upon a time, there was a band named MAXLIDER – a bunch of hard rockers who somehow went from being the worst band in Bloomington, IL, to finishing fourth place in the country and winning national awards for their performance and music.
It’s an experience that, in a weird way, prepared me for being CEO of a company. It also became a life lesson on the virtues of failing forward.
Birth of a band
I was the lead singer and manager of MAXLIDER, a group that my brother Kristopher and I started in 2000 with a couple other friends.
We started the group with one single goal in mind, to perfect our craft, our sound, our performance, our music so that we could one day win a record deal with a major record company.
Regardless of the thousands of hours and thousands of dollars we invested in that group, we did not reach our goal.
Today, as I reflect back on that experience, I take personal responsibility for that failure.
However, I believe the lessons I learned prepared me to launch a new dream and lead a new group of people in a much more healthy fashion than had I not had that experience.
Trouble in the spotlight
From a really young age, I dreamed about playing in a rock band. And for a while it seemed like a dream that might actually come true. We had a great group of musicians who all wanted the same thing, or so I thought.
We attracted small crowds, and then, the crowds grew. We started getting bigger gigs and we started getting better offers. Just as we were on the verge of making it big, the cracks started to show.
In the end, it didn’t work out. Not because we weren’t a good band, but because we didn’t share the same vision. We couldn’t come together enough to work toward a common goal.
Why?
- We didn’t have as much trust as we wanted.
- We didn’t have a functional group.
- We had conflict.
Fortunately, the mistakes I made with MAXLIDER, paved the way for a ton of personal growth. It taught me many invaluable leadership lessons.
It’s a big part of my life story so it’s going to take a few installments here on the Mavidea blog to tell the whole story.
I hope you’ll hang with me and check back for upcoming articles as I take you along on a wild ride – from the brink of rock notoriety to a healthier organizational state here at Mavidea.
Share your story.
- Have you ever pursued a dream and learned something from it?
- Have you had life-changing experiences that have changed your perspective on what leadership is, and isn’t?
Tell us your story in the comments below. Or share it on our Facebook page!
Next up, the second article in the series, Failing Forward…The euphoria and the fall.
[jetpack_subscription_form subscribe_button=”Sign Me Up”]
