A Sustainable Diet of Meat Loaf & American Pie
What leadership nutrients are found in Meat Loaf & American Pie?
Well, in honor of the 63rd anniversary of "the day the music died" when 3 young Rock ‘N' Rollers perished in a plane crash—and in recognition of another musical death 2 weeks ago—this episode of The Energy Detox will extract 5 sustainable leadership lessons/questions from 3 of Meat Loaf's hits to help you avoid a premature (leadership) demise.
From "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad":
1 - How is your focus on getting everything perfect holding you and your team back from sustained success?
From "I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)":
2 - How is your inability to listen effectively chipping away at your credibility? (How many millions of people have asked what "that" thing is that Meat Loaf wouldn't do despite the fact that everything he says he won't do is clearly contained in the lyrics?)
3 - What are some of the things you're not willing to do to be successful...and should you view those things as assets or liabilities?
From "Paradise by the Dashboard Light":
4 - Are you leading with a constant level of urgency ("I gotta know right now!") that is diminishing your effectiveness with your increasingly burned out stakeholders who are silently pleading with you to "let me sleep on it...and I'll give you an answer in the morning?"
5 - What undesirable contracts—like a figurative 20-year firm transportation agreement that no longer suits the restrained development plans of an oil and gas operator—are holding you back from success and have you "praying for the end of time to hurry up and arrive" so you can break free and realize your full potential?
RELATed Content:
The line “…BUT I won’t do that” from Meat Loaf has led to plenty of confusion over the years; and the word “but” has caused unnecessary harm for many leaders suffering from ineffective communication strategies.
For more about the word “but,” check out the content below:
Episode 14: Come on, Simone...Let's Talk About Your Big "But"
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Transcript
(AI training in progress; please excuse any errors)
Today marks the 63rd anniversary of the day the music died. Because on this day in 1959, three young rock and rollers Buddy Holly Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper perished in a plane crash that inspired the hit song, American Pie, which, of course, repeatedly speaks of the day, the music died. Today also marks the two week anniversary of another musical death, the death of meatloaf. And so on today's episode of the energy detox, we're going to take these two musical events. And we're going to use them as a way to help you avoid a premature death or premature demise
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at least when it comes to your leadership. And in order to do that, we're going to turn to the top three songs of meatloaf. And we're going to extract five questions, five lessons that you can have in mind as you continue on your path as a leader, and to help you avoid common barriers, common distractions and common problems that again, can lead you astray and can lead you down a path that is unsustainable. And the first of the songs that we'll look at today is two out of three ain't bad. And the question that comes out of that song is, Are you striving for perfection? Are you striving for three out of three at all times when in fact, that is not necessarily the best path to sustainable success. And this follows naturally from yesterday's conversation about Groundhog Day and about Punxsutawney Phil and his ability to make predictions and in many cases are wrong. Because what do we talk about yesterday? Well, we talked about the idea that again, being wrong on occasion is okay, so long as you're right, more than you're wrong. And so long as you're able to make quick decisions, confident decisions and allow yourself to keep moving forward. And you know, some of those decisions turn out to be not so great, then, so be it. Now, of course, in the case of Phil, two out of three times he's actually wrong. So that's not something you want to aspire to. But again, are you striving for perfection, when in fact, something less than that is actually the most sustainable path? The next song from meatloaf, then the next two questions to ask yourself come from? I would do anything for love. But I won't do that. And the first question for you is, are you missing clear answers and clear cries for help from your people that should be front and center, but you're refusing to hear or see. And the reason for this question is because what is the most common question that stems from the song? I would do anything for love? But I won't do that? Well, it's well, what is that? What is that third thing that meatloaf won't do for love as if it's some big secret, when in reality, the answer to that question is repeatedly throughout the song. And again, I've asked it, I'm sure millions of people have asked it, there's a good chance you've asked, say, Well, what is it? What is the thing he won't do for love. But if you actually go through the lyrics, it's there, it's front and center. In fact, there's multiple things he won't do for love, he won't lie to you, he won't forget the way you feel right now. He won't stop dreaming of you every night in my life, and so on and so forth. It's all right there front and center. But yet, for many listeners of that song, and people who are familiar with that song, no, we're not aware of that. And so the question for you is, what are the things that you're not aware of? What are the things that you're missing, that your people are telling you? In some cases, you're screaming at you, but you're not hearing? And that kind of flows to the to the next question that comes from this song. The third question, the third lesson from today, which is, what are the things that you're not willing to do to be successful? What are the things that you know you don't want to do, or maybe you can't do or you don't feel that you should do. And we're not talking about things that are illegal or immoral, we're not going to point to, you know, yesterday's headlines regarding CNN and some of the things that you probably shouldn't do in order to move up in your career, but we're going to talk about things that are maybe more subtle than that, like, perhaps you're not willing to go to black tie events, you're not willing to travel, you know, internationally, for some reason you're not willing to, to drink if that's not something that you wish to do. And again, for those who I work with, that are, you know, have achieved high levels of success, many CEOs, it's easier for them to say no to certain things that, you know, they simply don't want to do they're at a point in their career when they can say no, but how about for you, if you are in a position where you're, you're an aspiring leader, or you're an emerging leader? What are those handful of things that again, you're not willing to do to be successful, because many times things are small. And many times though, people, you know, they're not willing to do them, but they're not willing to be open about it. And so they kind of go through, and they let people kind of make up their own stories about why this person chooses, I don't know not to travel, not to go to networking events, or whatever, because so many of these things are things that we're told that we should do, right, you can listen to a million leadership podcasts and read books and blogs, and LinkedIn posts about all these things you should do to to advance and many of these things seem innocent, but for some individuals, for whatever reason, there's something that you just don't want to do. And in many cases, if you ask yourself, well, is that an asset or a liability? It can actually be an asset if you're upfront about it. So ask yourself again, what are the handful of things that you're not willing to do and embrace them, be clear about them, be upfront about them so that people aren't left guessing, as we talked about in the previous question to your intentions and to why you're, you know, you're not drinking at a networking event or you're not going to a networking event or you're going in instead home to your family for whatever reason. With that being said, we'll move on to the third and final song and the the the last two questions today to ask yourself, and that song is Paradise by the dashboard light. And the first lesson, the first question from that song is, are you operating with an unnecessarily high sense of urgency at all times? Because what is the last third of that song all about? Right? It's all about the back and forth between the man in the song and the woman in the song. And the woman is saying, I need to know right now I need to know right now, do you love me? And it's this back and forth where it can be Lofa singing well, well, let me sleep on it. And she's saying, No, I need to know right now. There's this urgency. And so it's a great time, you can feel it in the song right? When you get to that point? Well, it's great time to ask yourself, are you pushing that urgency on others unnecessarily? Are you inducing extra urgency when things can wait, when it's not necessary? Are you constantly crying wolf? Because in many cases, if that's you, well, again, it's not sustainable. It's not sustainable to maintain that level of urgency, even though yes, you know, if you work in the energy industry, in particular, we operate with a high sense of urgency, and that's not a bad thing. But are you doing it at all times? Are you picking and choosing when you need people to give you an answer right away? And are you allowing them the freedom to take a day, take a night, you know, take a couple extra hours to make a more informed decision? Are you constantly pushing them to, to make decisions? And to give you an answer when again, it's not necessary? And, you know, it's obviously, it's a common problem in the work environment. But I see it too in my family life, right? You know, we got four young kids, and they're constantly operating with this heightened sense of urgency where everything needs to happen right away. And what does it do? Well, again, it could grate on you as a parent, right? It's not sustainable. And that's what this whole conversation is about. It's about you sustaining yourself as a leader, as a parent, and making sure that whatever urgency is flying around, whether it's urgency that you're inducing upon others, or whether it's urgency, you know, from those that you work with, if you can bring that down a level and make sure that you're only operating with urgency, or at least that heightened sense of urgency, when you really need to be, you're going to find yourself in a much more sustainable position. And that fourth question for today bleeds into the fifth question, because in many cases, an unnecessarily high sense of urgency, of course, leads to a bad decision, a bad commitment to bad answer. And so what is that fifth question today that stems from song Paradise by the dashboard light? Well, that question is, what contracts what agreements have you entered into that really aren't serving you? Well, anymore? Because what is the point of the song, right? It's the, you know,
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the guy in the song who's trying to have his way with the the female, of course, the female is saying, Well, I'm only going to do that if you tell me you're gonna love me forever. And so again, as we just said, you know, she's pressuring well, I need to know right now, you're gonna love me forever. And eventually, meatloaf says, Yes, I will love you till the end of time, right? And then he finds himself saying, well, now I'm praying for the end of time, because he's entered into this commitment, disagreement that again, credit to him. He's, he's holding fast to, but it doesn't serve him well, anymore. He doesn't want to be in this commitment. So the question for you is, what commitments have you entered into, in some cases, consciously, in some cases, unconsciously, that aren't serving you? Well, and again, I won't expand on this too far, because we've talked about this in other episodes of the energy detox. But in many cases, these are small commitments, or they're small, you know, daily routines and habits that aren't serving you well anymore, or their commitments and relationships that you have, whether the professional or personal that, again, aren't serving you well anymore. And in many cases, these commitments are more severable than you might think they are. And you need to ask yourself, do they need to be severed so that you don't find yourself locked into a long term contract like a, like the long term, you know, firm transportation agreements that we've talked about, on previous episodes that operators might find themselves locked into for decades, when again, they don't want to be in there, they're left praying for the end of time when they can finally walk away from these contracts and realize their full potential instead of being held back, you know, paying for something they don't need. So with that, again, I hope these five questions inspired from the three songs of meatloaf and tied into the the premature demise of the three rock and rollers 63 years ago, help inspire you to continue asking these questions to boost your consciousness and your awareness as a leader and of course, to sustain success to keep moving forward to not get stuck to not be held down by things that in many cases can easily be removed or or moved around, if you will. And so with that, again, I thank you, as always, for listening into yet another episode of the energy detox, which unfortunately, did not meet my goal of coming in below the length of the song American Pie looks like I've exceeded it by about a minute today. But nevertheless, I'm happy that you've tuned in. I'm happy that you've listened today. And I wish you the best for the rest of the day and the rest of the week. And with that, take care thanks again and bye bye.