My Pursuit of the Podium Fundraiser Interview

I have the privilege to compete in the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra’s Pursuit of the Podium Fundraiser, which is a competition to raise money for the symphony’s various education programs throughout the year. People donate $5 with each vote for their favorite contestant and the person with the most votes gets to conduct the symphony for a day. Below is the transcript of my interview with Menlo’s Christopher Shepherd asking me why I was interested in becoming the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra’s next celebrity conductor.

Christopher: So, Tell me about yourself.

Rich: I am the CEO, Cofounder and chief storyteller at Menlo innovations, a software design and development firm on E. Liberty in downtown Ann Arbor. My personal history is as a programmer, I fell in love with computers when I was 13 years old in high school, in 1971. I wrote my first program in those days and eventually came to the University Michigan and got a couple of degrees in computer science and computer engineering. I fell in love with this profession. I tell my kids to this day that I decided when I was 13 years old what I was going to do for the rest of my life and they are still stunned by that. I'm 57 now and I'm still in the same profession so I think that I chose wisely. But I can tell you that much of what you see at Menlo here today is not only born out of an incredible passion for what we did as an industry, but also a great deal of frustration about what I saw actually occur. And I decided at a certain point in my life that I was not going to keep going down that path. I wanted to get back to the joy I felt as a kid and that is in many ways how Menlo came to be.

Christopher: Ok, so Menlo was your foray into bringing joy back into your own professional experience?

Rich: Yes, it was part of a dream I had as a college student. Just as you mentioned, Chris, you believe you have entrepreneurship in your blood. I knew I did from a very early age so I always had envisioned that I would have my own business someday. I knew I didn't want to do it alone, I wanted to be in a partnership with others and so when we founded Menlo there were four of us who founded the business and three of us still in it today. For me the freedom of expression that comes with entrepreneurship is just an incredible gift.

Christopher: Great, so why are you interested in becoming the next celebrity Symphony Conductor?

Rich: Number one, all kidding aside, this is an import part of our community and the fact that I can lend my hand to support this effort that they're taking on, is quite an honor. The fact that they have made it as fun as they have, and I think this is just a brilliant idea on their part, is quite frankly why all of us who are competing will feel good about what we helped them accomplish, whether we win or lose. Make no mistake though, I am competitive. I want to win. I want to be up on that stage. I'm never going to run for office so the fact that I can get the most votes for something like this is going to be fun. I know that I'm up against some very worthy opponents, who I will enjoy defeating and proudly so. But, I will support anyone of them who might beat me, if that is the case, because this is just fun. The fun that comes out of something like this is what makes Ann Arbor such a special place. This is a great town for culture, for diversity, for technology, for community, and I think this kind of opportunity brings all that stuff together into one package.

Christopher: So, how does joy fit in with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra?

Rich: When I think about joy and Menlo, it's about us delivering to the world some amazing software that delights people. That is the joyful focus of our culture. And it’s a lot like music. So for me, to stand in front of incredibly talented musicians, raise your arms, move your hands in the air, and then effortlessly produce beautiful music for all the listeners out in the audience and bring that delight to them is also joy. It is analogous to the kind of joy we try to bring with our “symphony” of team members here at Menlo.

Christopher: Nice, I like that. So, what's your favorite instrument?

Rich: My favorite instrument is the guitar because I can play it. I'm also a little enamored with the brass section because I played the cornet as a youth in the sixth and seventh grade school band. I appreciate the sound of beautifully played horns. I'm fascinated by what anybody can do with musical instruments in general, I find music exhilarating both to produce it personally and to listen to those who are far better at it than I am. I'm perhaps most fascinated with anything that happens in the percussion session section, as I think that they must be from a different planet because I can't do that at all.

Christopher: Well maybe you could try it as a side project or something?

Rich: Yep, that's right I could.

Christopher: Alright my next question was whether you play any instruments yourself, which you spoke on briefly.

Rich: Well I play the guitar, just casually; I don't play it in a group or anything like that. I don't get near enough time for it. I've dabbled, and really mean dabbled, with the piano. We have a piano in the house and my daughters play it beautifully, my wife plays it beautifully, and me I've only tinkered with it. I sang base in our church choir … I enjoy using my voice for speaking and I enjoy using it for singing.

Christopher: Ok. So, how often do you go to the symphony and what has your experience been?

Rich: Oh boy, you know I don't get there at all really. That's the hard part, and this is I think the most frustrating part about living in Ann Arbor, there are all these wonderful things to do and if only I could just un-busy my life enough. I think one of the reasons I want to be a part of this is it is going to remind me that this is one of those amazing Ann Arbor things that I've got to be building into my life. I've got to set the time aside to make room for the finer things in life.

Christopher: Tell me why people should vote for you.

Rich: Why should they vote for me? I'm very tall so I think the guys in back can see me. So when I raise my hands, the whole symphony will be able to see me from where I'm standing. I think I may be even taller than our mayor Christopher Taylor. I think that people should vote for everybody, but they just need to give more votes to me.

Christopher: ok so five votes for Rich and one vote for everyone else?

Rich: Exactly, exactly. One for you, one for you, three for Rich, one for you. That's exactly how it should play out.

Christopher: Ok so my next question was how bad do you want it?

Rich: [laughs] I want this really badly. It's funny because when they first asked me about this, I was like "really?" What's this about? But once it finally dawned on me what I was actually competing for, the whole competitive thing hit me. I want to be that guy. It's probably one of those bucket list kinds of things for me: wanting to jump out of an airplane once, or bungee jump off a bridge. The gravity of standing in front of a group of such talented musicians and getting them to play as a symphony is such a cool idea. It plays into the kind of team we are trying to build at Menlo. When you have a team, getting the team to perform together and perform well together is one the most joyous things a leader can experience.

Christopher: Final question, you mentioned that you were a bass singer, so if you could sing one song on American Idol, what would it be?

Rich: Well, I'm going to channel an experience that my family finds incredibly embarrassing. I was off in Salt Lake City on a business trip and I happened to have some extra time so I went to a bar to listen to a comedian do his routine and after he finished, they rolled out the karaoke machine. I'd never done karaoke before, but then I thought "I'm in a town that I've never been to before, nobody knows me, I could totally embarrass myself and no one would know." So I got up and sang a Phil Collins song. I realized quickly that I was not capable of singing in Phil Collin's range. So, it was a total bomb, people booed me off the stage, it was embarrassing. After a couple more beers, I thought that I wanted one more shot at it, so I flipped through the song list and I found the song … With my deeper voice and my hankering for the music of the 60s and 70s, the song that worked for me was Secret Agent Man by Johnny Rivers. I got a big round of applause after that one. So that's the song I would sing for American Idol.