Business Artist Digest Dec 29, 2023

The author Matthew Kelly said, “It is important to understand that you are not writing a story or a book, or a sentence or a paragraph. You are writing a body of work. Whatever you are writing today is just one small part of that body of work.”

This is a great perspective to adopt as we come to the end of another year. In the midst of our busy lives and the relentless pace of business today, it’s easy to feel you are never doing enough.

Taking the long view, however, lets you step away from feeling like you have to accomplish everything right now. You don’t need to get stressed out by the pressure to create that perfect article, presentation, social media post, email, or report every time you create.

No single item you create is the defining element of your body of work. It’s all part of a much larger whole.

For example, if you’re writing a book, don’t think of it as one book, but many. What if you thought about writing a dozen books over the course of your professional life? And what it many of those were short books someone could read in an hour?

Looking at your creative work this way takes the pressure off.

Whatever you’re creating, it’s just a snapshot of where you are right now in your life and business. There is no end to your learning and creative work.

Your legacy isn’t one book, piece of art, or creative work. If you look at any notable artist who has a large body of work, you find something interesting: their career is filled with hits and misses.

For example, the Rolling Stones recently released their new album, Hackney Diamonds, to great acclaim. It came after a long dry spell of music that paled in comparison to their work from decades earlier.

Taken as a whole, the Rolling Stones’ catalog is one of the greatest rock band catalogs of all time. But not every album was a hit. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say they went entire decades putting out “B” level work.

As you think back on your work from this past year and look toward next year, keep the long view in mind. You probably won’t achieve everything you want to do in one single year, but you can accomplish a lot.

However, it pales in comparison to what you can achieve over a lifetime.

At the Taylor Guitars company, they have a motto: “The best guitar we make is the one we make tomorrow.” As a Business Artist, always be improving, growing, and learning. Your best work is just over the horizon, so keep moving.

- Adam

From the Blog

Exploring the Reasons We Are Drawn to Create

Every Business Artist wants to make a difference in the world. None of us wants to leave this life believing that we left things exactly as we found them. Every artist has a deep need to know their creative work matters to other people.

However, if you want to have an impact on the world, it doesn’t start with a big vision (although that’s important). It begins by looking inside yourself and asking a simple yet powerful question: “Why am I drawn to the type of work I do?”

You’re probably drawn in a particular direction for dozens of reasons. I’ll leave that to the psychologists to figure out. But at the end of the day, the single most important reason you’re pulled toward a particular type of work is because it feeds your soul.

Maybe it’s sales, design, writing, finance, HR, entrepreneurship, media, or one of a hundred other areas. If you enjoy your work, it’s because it gives you joy on a fundamental level.

READ MORE

Adam Recommends

For my recommendation section, I usually try to share something that will directly benefit your business. This recommendation may seem like it’s coming out of left field. However, hear me out!

In keeping with the theme of longevity in the opening section of this email, I recommend checking out some of the recent output from Saturday Night Live (otherwise known as SNL). At this point, SNL is far more than an entertainment show. It’s a cultural institution that’s just as relevant today as it was back in the 1970s when it began airing.

In this day and age, it’s pretty rare for any TV show to stay on the air for more than a few years. However, SNL is approaching its 50th anniversary on the air, which is hard to believe.

The reason SNL has stayed a part of the cultural conversation is that they constantly have fresh blood in the form of new writers and cast members. Even though the format of the show has been virtually unchanged since the beginning, the talent is constantly being renewed.

There’s a great lesson for Business Artists here: we have to change if we want to stay relevant over the long term. Easy to say, but much harder to do!

You can watch all the clips from each show on SNL’s YouTube channel. Recent episodes with hosts Adam Driver, Nate Bargatze, and Kate McKinnon have been big hits!

Business Artist Spotlight

For this week's spotlight, I'm honored to feature Brandon Sweeney, President and COO of dbt Labs. I had pleasure of spending a lot of 1:1 time with Brandon developing and delivering a series of virtual sales kickoff events in 2021 while he was CRO at HashiCorp. He is well-known for his creative and strategic approach to sales. He knows his strength in scaling and leading sales teams at different growth stages.

His leadership approach is inspiring and unique to different audiences, helping him shift mindsets when needing to challenge existing market norms and push for new sales strategies in a competitive market.

Before his CRO role at HashiCorp (where he led them to an IPO), his 16-year tenure at VMware was marked by significant achievements. He helped grow VMware into a multi-billion-dollar, globally recognized brand with a wide product footprint in IT departments worldwide. Brandon Sweeney’s career path and achievements exhibit a blend of strategic insight, adaptability, and leadership skills that are rare and valuable in the rapidly evolving tech industry. His latest move to dbt Labs illustrates his adaptability and capability to understand and lead in diverse company cultures and stages while embracing new challenges.

A hearty congrats to Brandon on reaching 100K members in the dbt Community. As he says, "We're just getting started." The Sweeney factor is now in play, and it will be fun to watch them grow.