From time to time you see guest blogs posted on this site, generally identifiable as such by someone’s byline other than my own, and usually a brief (italicized) intro paragraph letting you know who the writer is.
You might do a double take and look up at the byline to see if this week’s post was written by someone else because it’s not going to sound like me. Generally, in these blogs and on the weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast you read/hear a chipper, positive Bruce Wawrzyniak. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the compliments and every thank you I get for the work that I put in for the creative community. But maybe I’m fed up with nice guys finishing last and/or I’ve shown that I am human and let the weight of the world influence me for this week’s blog. It’s time I spoke up and practiced a little tough love here.
Over the weekend I had brunch with a client who said – despite being a singer, not trying to directly reference the song from the mid-1960s – “What the world needs now is love.” And she is completely correct on that. To me love and selfishness do not go together unless you consider ego to equate to love because it means you’re full of yourself.
Whether you’re in the entertainment business or you’re an author or you work in retail or you’re unemployed, no one is better than anyone. Anywhere. Period.
So, when you decide to promote only certain appearances of yours but not others, shame on you. Don’t your fans, your loyal followers, deserve to hear what you’re doing? We see a bigger push these days to support small businesses. By extension, aren’t you also hurting the little guy when you decide not to promote his or her venue or show? Get off your pedestal.
Similarly, if you share something in a public forum and then someone contacts you to follow-up on that business, product, or service that you mentioned, you have an opportunity to be of further service. You can show your willingness to help. You can provide information that the person contacting you can now benefit from. And again, you’re helping a business that you’re giving a referral to. So, if you ignore that incoming inquiry, it not only reflects poorly on you, but is shutting out other people in the process.
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A third example of behavior that doesn’t reflect well upon your character is this. Without putting a lot of thought into it, I know of three different people who have told me directly that they were going to sign up to the Patreon for my weekly podcast. To use a baseball analogy, that batting average is at .000 because none of them did. People forget, circumstances change, those folks might have it on a To Do list somewhere, and those all, to me, are excuses. Or, since there are too many signs of cockiness showing up these days, maybe it was all just to try to look good in the moment and there never was any follow-through intended in the first place.
My father used to work for an employer where it was said that one “Awe s—t” equals ten “Atta boy” compliments. At a time when there are some individuals and organizations who are trying to do right, it’s sad to see that others are carrying on with a “me, me, me” take-no-prisoners attitude.
In the United States numerous attempts are being made for change, and people will look back on the events and the individuals that presumably will result in such. Do you want people to look back on actions you took – or didn’t take – and remember you for those disappointments? Not only are we here for just a short time, but it really is a small world and you’re going to be in for a big surprise when those slights come back to haunt you as something comes around to bring you back together with someone you passed over before. Be careful. Think twice. Look in the mirror. If your personal infrastructure is not something that leads to a desire to collaborate and cooperate, you’re probably in a competitive posture and that’s not going to serve you or many others well. While so many others are trying to, I suggest you hit the reset button.
Share your struggles with me by tweeting to @NHT_tweets. Alternatively, continue the conversation via Facebook or LinkedIn, or even via email.