The Beatles and a set list for business

Life is what happens when you are making plans, said John Lennon and perhaps every SME should go deeper into the Beatles lexicon when thinking ahead. After all, Steve Jobs, the Founder of Apple and so much besides once said that every business decision he had taken and product he had launched could be expressed in either a Bob Dylan or a Beatles song. 

The Beatles wrote 229 songs; 20 number one hits and sold over 188 million records in the USA alone. We all have a soundtrack to our lives and, if we make it, we may even have the chance to select our very own Desert Island Discs. Meanwhile, as Lockdown 3.0 bites, here is something that may pass the time. 

Sunday, February 9, 1964. That was when the Beatles shook the world with their first performance on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Later that year at the Royal Variety Performance in London, they struck a chord for the working classes when they asked those in the boxes neither to clap or scream – just to rattle their jewellery. Where were you when you first heard a Beatles Song? Which one was it? 

In business terms, the Beatles didn’t put a foot wrong. After all, “there’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be”. The Beatles were innovators from the off and the Album Sergeant Peppers redefined the business they were in. Coopting the skills of the fifth Beatle, Producer George Martin, they expanded their sound with everything from a brass section to a string quartet. With Ravi Shankar, even the sitar made it onto Norwegian Wood - though fans had a hard time keeping up. In one session, the screamers started to clap and Ravi had to point out that this was him tuning up. The message is clear – rethink your approach to produce an even better version of your product or service - continuously. True fans will follow.

And so, to the records themselves. We all have a reason for a choice. In terms of being a North of Englander, A Day in the Life comes close to being the National Anthem. This is the post-industrial chorale if ever there was one. After all, living is easy with your eyes closed - politicians whitening on about levelling up the North and South take heed. In My Life, for me, opens up the roots, heritage and futures potential in any place to have come from. Memories lose their meaning when everything has to be something new. As T.S. Eliot once made plain; there is nothing worse than the parochialism of now.

Yesterday strikes so many chords. Whatever we do in these Brexit-Covid and New-Normal times, we can’t spend our time on a better yesterday. Years back, I watched Peter Sellars act out a “Hard Day’s Night” as if it was a soliloquy from Shakespeare. It is all about working hard and the work life balance. Masterful. Then, as you close the year, the needle lands on the track to so many tears - Taxman. Nothing is more certain than death and taxes but the impact of VAT hitting you as the quarters pass is akin to buying suits for the team only to draw Liverpool in the next round. 

Then, the routines fall away, and you feel like the Fool on the Hill; feeling all alone when things get tough. And yet, we can work it out. The battle cry of the doers, this one asks us to suspend disbelief, mend all bridges and just get on with things. Elenor Rigby has all the clout of a Covid lockdown; Fr McKenzie writing the words of a sermon that no-one will hear, darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there. Is this the moment when business realises that there is more to consumers than a share of their wallet; that shopping is a means to an end and not the end itself?

And now, when stakeholders mean business just as much as shareholders, Blackbird sings again. Inspired by the spark that was the Little Rock Nine, McCartney and the band reflected the Civil Rights Movement; they took an early knee. Their visits to India opened up their British followers to more than their meat and two veg semi detached lives; vegetarianism no longer a fad when they made it an option. It was a long haul from She Loves you and the suits to four men with minds that sparked a revolution in teenager bedrooms and even more kitchens at parties.

Here Comes the Sun. When all is said and done, we need to see the world sunny side up. No customer wants to buy from a restaurant with a scowl on its face or, from a business whose help desk sounds like they resent doing us a favour of solving a problem that they caused in the first place. 

Even Ageing Britain gets a mention; when I’m 64 and that slide into old age sustained by the communities we are part of and the families that support us. After all, we can all get by with a little help from our friends. Imagine – written by Lennon after the split - takes us beyond it all. So, you launch that new product and plan another one in these tough times. You may well be accused of being a dreamer but, take comfort in the fact that you are not the only one. 

Above all, the Beatles were grafters. Author Malcom Gladwell pointed out that it takes 10,000 to be a specialist at something. He used the Beatles as example in his book. When the Beatles burst onto international scene in 1964, they had played over 1,200 concerts. Those X Factor tears are from those who won’t play that many gigs in their entire careers. And, for those SMEs who are thriving despite the best efforts of the banks to restrict the overdrafts that can help them grow, it is the grafters and their resilience that counts – despite the bleating’s of unicorns, there are no shortcuts.

And the last words have to be with Lennon. A dream you dream alone remains a dream. A dream you dream together is reality. Mind you, if everyone demanded peace instead of another television set – there’d be peace. After all, war is over if you want it.