Life Lessons from John Doe

In college, my roommate and I considered ourselves part of the musical elite. We spent all our time and money on music. We saw live music weekly, bought albums from the newest, sometimes, most obscure bands and artists we could find. One of my favorites from that era was the band, X. Very punk, but different from a lot of the three-cord, nihilist, revolt-rock. They had man-woman harmony and John Doe was their man, their awesome front-man.

As musical trends moved on and the band broke up, John went on to a sustained solo career, even acting in several movies, including beside Jeff Bridges in Great Balls of Fire.

I was luck enough to see John Doe last week in Denver at the Lion's Lair. The show was terrific, but even better, it reminded me of some of the things I need to do better.

Remember your Friends: John called out one of his now-deceased friends during the show. It wasn't necessary, it added a bit to the show, but really demonstrated how he missed his friend. I've got friends like that and I miss them, too.

Keep doing what makes your Happy: Here's a guy who should be dead, in jail or just too tired to play 300 seat dive bars, but that's just what he does. He does it because he likes it. I like what I do and the people on my team. I plan to keep doing it for a long time. Because it makes me happy.

Don't get too full of Yourself: John Doe's not above a healthy dose of self-deprecation. There's always someone who's the smartest guy in the room. Most times, it's not you. Even on the rare occasion that it is you, you can still learn from everyone. Seek out the new, the interesting and the unusual people. They're the ones whose points-of-view differ the most from yours and you'll learn the most from them.

Remember what makes your Special: John Doe's solo work is special. It's lonesome, it's melodic and it stirs things in my soul. When combined, it's those characteristics that makes him special. One of my standard lines of questions, when interviewing candidates, is to challenge them to identify their core characteristic. Most don't know, won't say or can't be honest enough in an interview to tell me. Most common answer: I'm too driven. That's just interview BS. I always tell them the most important thing they can know is who they are...and who they're not. Know your special sauce and make a batch of it every day.

Keep Learning: This is my favorite. Friday night at the show, John talked about his Bucket List. I've got one, you probably do, too, even if it's just a rough mental list. There are lots of things I want to do in the time I have left and I plan to learn massively from them. I learn something new, important and unexpected every day.

I learned or re-learned these things from an unlikely source last week. I learned them from John Doe and for a short time, was back in college, dressing and acting like a bit of an anarchist on the outside, but a reasoned man-child, just looking for the next great experience on the inside.