I May Be Boring, But I#8217;m Very Rich

I May Be Boring, But I8217m Very Rich Last Thursday, I finally got to seeThe Cars in concert at the House of Blues in Boston. The Cars hadnt toured in 25 years, so this event welches the buzz of the town the band members being local boys after all. I love live music and over the years, I have slowly, but steadily, been checking off my huge bands-I-need-to-see-before-I-die list. There are a few bands that have been deckenfries at the bottom of that list for longer than I can remember names like Pink Floyd, Nirvana, (the original) Alice in Chains. These bands fall into the unfortunately, its not meant to be category. The Cars were relegated to that category too after all, the band broke up in 1988, and Ric Ocasek (the lead singer) had always discouraged talk of a reunion since then, telling one interviewer in 1997 Im saying never and you can count on that. So this unexpected and intimate tour wa s a surprise to all.As it turned out, thousands of people were as excited as I was to see them play. Ive been to the House of Blues countless times to see way bigger acts but I have never seen such a long line of people at the door. Fortunately, I was totenstill able to inch my way to the very front. We were all shoulder-to-shoulder, packed like sardines just the way I prefer it. The atmosphere was electric, and just past 8PM, the eagerly awaited show began.Wow, did they sound good Ocaseks voice was absolutely sublime. They opened up with Lets Go, one of their very upbeat classic. The crowd was pumped and very animated. But after the 3rd song, I noticed something very peculiar about the band they were all anchored to their spot, and remained quasi-stationary throughout their performance. The Cars are possibly the least animated band in the history of mankind turns out, theyve always been this way. They have zero stage presence and outside of their music, theyre an incredibly bo ring bunch which is mind-boggling, given that this is what they do for a living. But this didnt stop people from coming out in droves to see them play. And it didnt stop The Cars from being one of the most successful bands of the 80s.This reminds me of another band I adore Dire Straits. I saw them play in Perth, Australia, circa early 1990s. The day before the concert, I ran into them inside a small second hand CD store (remember those?) in downtown Perth. Here I was, flicking through obscure CDs, and right next to me was Mark Knopfler, the lead singer and inspiration behind Dire Straits. I didnt want to be one of those annoying groupies, so I just glanced over at him and nodded. He was just a regular guy in fact, no one else besides the store owner recognized him. Knopfler grabbed a few CDs, and was off. The next day, hed be entertaining a crowd of 80,000.A few days after the concert, the main newspaper in Perth printed an exclusive interview of him. At one point in the intervie w, the journalist asked Knopfler why he was so boring on stage. An irked Knopfler replied I may be boring, but Im very rich.Like The Cars, Dire Straits is very static on stage. There is zero interaction with the crowd its all about the music. And what music Brothers in Arms, the bands defining album, is one of the best selling of all time with over 30 million copies sold. The band toured furiously, playing 247 sold out shows in over 100 different cities. Boring or not, people loved the music and the band was very successful.Who you are and what you do ends up defining you. You end up falling in 1 of 4 quadrantsVery exuberant, and very good at what you do its when you have something of great value, and youre able to mesmerize the world in the process. This creates explosive growth. Lady Gaga and Facebook come to mind.Very exuberant, but what you offer is very unimaginative and has little value you will make an initial splash, but will eventually fade away into oblivion. You burn through cash, and become the joke of the town. This reminds me of Milli Vanilli and Jobster.Boring, but very good at what you do you wont share the same spotlight as your exuberant counterpart, but youll outlast them all. People wont be passionate about you, but theyll miss you when youre not around. These are the Dire Straits, The Cars and the IBMs of the world.Boring and not very good those that crash on takeoff. The startup world is littered with those.As a business, you cant really choose your quadrant you become it. Its a combination of your core principles, your values, your ideas, your execution and so forth. But one thing is certain be good at what you do, or youll eventually fizzle out. You cannot be successful without producing something of value but its OK to be boring.