The same song doesn’t ever sound the same twice

Writing these series of articles, I have rummaged through some of my career experiences for inspiration.? I must admit, this one recommendation I ran into had an incredibly profound change in my life. It provided and highlighted my ability to make decisions based on the greys.?

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As an engineer, we are often trained to make decisions on formulas which are discrete values – in other words, black and white numbers.? Make no mistake, this gives you an incredible amount of discipline – however, in real life scenarios, greys (a combination of black and white attributes) are very much real and should be factored into decisions.

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Which takes me back to the year 1999 – I was actively interviewing in the High-Tech Sector, just about to finish my 2nd Master’s degree I was eager to put all this university theory into action.?

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We entered Interview season; I had narrowed down my job search to 2 companies.? One based in Redmond WA, the 2nd based in Basking Ridge, NJ.? I was incredibly blessed that I was going to be able to pursue one of my career goals:? Change the world through technology.? The question was with who, and what??

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AT&T Lucent (Soon to Be Avaya), had pitched me an interesting idea on the evolution of communications.? Transforming what was then Digital Technologies, Call Center Technologies, Data, and Wireless into their respective next generation:? IP.?

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Microsoft had a similar offer but hit me directly at my passion – Video Games.? I interviewed developing on a new up and coming service called the “Xbox Network” or years later “Xbox Live.”? I would be part of the incubation team to bring VoIP and Centralized Gaming to an online community and serve as an online Gaming Ambassador to the world.? Back in 1999 not a lot of integration online with gaming….amazing to think about that 23 years later.

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Both careers were amazing, change the way people communicate – change the way people play.? Which one would I ultimately select?

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It was the Spring of 99, and I had my 2 onsite final interviews – they went well.? I remember how smart both companies were, how incredible and rich the History of AT&T, Lucent, Avaya was, and how awestruck I was on the Redmond Campus, I remember passing the building where they were building Windows 2K, eagerly anticipating its release.

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As I boarded the plane to return from the Microsoft site visit, my mind was pretty made up where I would start my professional career.? However, this was one of the harshest introductions to “grey” decisions of my life.? As I landed, I was passed a note from the flight attendant – my dad had suffered a heart attack while I was in flight to call the hospital right away.

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Numb, I took my belongings and called my mom to get the latest – my dad was stable but had to have open heart surgery.? A day I thought I had figured out everything, had just completely changed on me.

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The good news was – both Avaya and Microsoft gave me 3 weeks to make a decision, so this was one less thing to worry about.? My dad successfully had Surgery and was now actively recovering at the Hospital.

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I made my decision to accept the Avaya offer, based in Miami, FL vs. moving to Redmond. The factors were simple, be with my dad and help my mom or potentially miss out on helping my dad recover.? Not a difficult decision at all.? In hindsight, my dad passed away in 2004, those 4 additional years I got to be with my dad was the best decision I have ever made – for that I was so grateful.

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However, this is where the story takes an interesting turn.? I had turned down my dream job to work at the Video Game Division of the hottest most up and coming Gaming Company in the world:? Microsoft.

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When I called the recruiter to explain the situation, they were more than empathetic and understood the why.? As we concluded the conversation, I remember asking – if you could give me some advice to further my development, what would that advice be?

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The recruiter did not hesitate and almost immediately said, pick up a musical instrument.? I remember being a bit confused, I’m almost 24 and never played an instrument, when I asked why?? She stated, it will unlock your black/white decision-making process and introduce the grey.? I thanked her, and for about 2 months I thought about what/how I could that.

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It was the summer of 2000 and I stumbled into something I had always loved, to play music.? While I had no training, I realized wasn’t Djing playing a musical instrument with records??

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So I began to study how to DJ. Youtube wasn’t a thing just yet, but DJs had started to put out Videos on “how to DJ.”? Counting the beats, counting the Bars, Intros, First Chorus, Scratching on Beat, Beat Matching, Mixing in Key, and a variety of other techniques helped start my “musical” training.

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In the beginning, I was not so sure this “Musical Instrument” thing did nothing more than provided an outlet for myself.? Then about 2 years later, I made a decision to go to DJ school, Scratch DJ Academy, where I officially enrolled for a 2.5 year course in how to become a professional DJ.

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Can I tell you; this school was INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT? As a novice, I may have had the lingo down – but I was so behind on everything else.? To top it all off, the class had all ages, experience, and knowhow.? Naturally, one would expect to struggle in the beginning.

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Flash forward 2.5 years and I had been blessed enough to reach the final class.? See the final class was like no other.? It brought together all the elements of DJing, musicianship, technical mixing, interaction, and professionalism in a live venue.? My final test location was a bar in South Beach which was notorious for being difficult.?

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I accepted my assignment and began to prepare.??

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I visited the Bar, 2 times to see the vibe, take notes – and even watch a DJ get booed off.? This was real, and if I got booed off I would not graduate and worse yet would lose out on the tuition for that class.?

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It was Thursday and there were 3 DJs selected to play for Graduation that night.? We flipped a coin and somehow, I ended up going last. Going last typically was more difficult. DJs had played for a minimum of 45 Minutes each and the last thing you wanted to do was repeat music.?

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Again, I hoped my training had prepared me for this.?

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The first DJ went up and did not do very well.? The crowd now was out for blood.? The 2nd DJ played an ok set – but again not outstanding.? Now, here is my shot at 9:15 PM primetime slot at a bar on South Beach.? I took a deep breath and remembered my DJ Mentor – no matter what OLE.? OLE?? Observe, Listen, and Engage with your audience.? This was it, I remember looking at the bartender as he said Good Luck as some of the patrons seem to find my nervous demeanor comical.

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I can’t really remember my set – but the bar owner asked to keep playing for one more hour.? Needless to say, I had done well, graduated, and understood that DJing was no different than…..a Sales campaign.

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How is that?? Think about it – a DJ on average has 2 Minutes to decide on what song to play next. They are looking at the dance floor (customers) and making ‘grey’ decisions on the inputs received by OLE.? See, when I was told to learn an instrument, this is EXACTLY why black/white turned to greys.?

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I’ve had the opportunity to play thousands of events since that day, and no TWO PLAYLISTS ever play the same way.? People are different, circumstances are different, music just hits differently sometimes.

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Without a doubt, all my experiences DJing has helped my leadership attributes in Corporate America.? It has helped me appreciate to understand what I have observed, listened, and engaged with.? Most importantly it has made me realize that there are no cookie cutter decisions, everything must be vetted and considered, after all – no two songs ever sound identically the same.

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Which takes me back to the very beginning – As you take on your Career as either an Individual Contributor or as a Leader, take the time to look at things from all angles.? Investigate with your peers, discuss with your Senior Leaders, as Ted would say through Walt : “Be Curious Not Judgmental.”?

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It took a life altering event with my dad, to drive me to a comment by a recruiter, that changed my life.? Truly proving that Black, White, and Greys are just some of the colors in the spectrum of decision-making criteria in the world.

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Happy Leading,

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-AL

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