The Next Indie Superstar
SteveIn the comments on last weeks' 'HR and Indie Culture' post my friend Kris Dunn and I had an exchange about what was ostensibly a simple question: How do you as a open-networking, tweeting, blogging, cutting-edge type of HR pro keep the 'indie' mindset and streak of rebelliousness once (or perhaps more accurately if), you actually bust into the C-suite, get the big time job, or (please don't brutalize me in the comments), get the 'seat at the table'.
Which on the surface is a decent, if not terribly interesting question. The 'right' answer is pretty obvious, stay true to yourself, keep doing the things you did on the way up, don't sell out, etc. I think when faced with that as a hypothetical question, it is pretty easy to answer it in that way. In the real 
Seger (but you certainly knew that)world it is not always so simple. How many times have we heard individualists and 'rebels' like Bob Seger and John Mellencamp providing the background music for a series of forgettable, (yet I am sure lucrative for them) truck commercials?
When the suits come in waving around the big money and trips on the private jet it has to be pretty tempting to forget about (or at least alter slightly) ideals that made sense to you when you were 22 or 25. Let's go back to Bob Seger. You're getting pitched to have 'Like a Rock' used as the soundtrack to 50 million truck commercials. You have to be thinking, what's the harm really? And if I don't do it they'll just grab Tom Petty or Aerosmith while I get to keep it real and work the state fair circuit for another year or three.
Actually the entire conversation is predictable and kind of boring. Some people will remain true to their Indie roots, some will forget them entirely to get by (and I am NOT judging at all), and most will fall somewhere in-between. Eventually you have to make a living, you make some concessions to fit in, and every once in a while you bust out on the weekend to see the Warped tour in your cargo shorts and golf shirt.
The better question that KD and I kicked around was not just would he, or anyone else stay 'Indie' after they hit the big time, but would they coach, support, and encourage the next generation of indie, even if it meant that the new blood would take indie in a different direction, perhaps one that is better, more imaginative, and perhaps even more 'indie' than you had ever done yourself?
Would you be comfortable enough to see folks on your team actually surpass what you have accomplished?
In indie music the pioneering bands like the Minutemen and Mission of Burma ultimately were seen as extremely influential to scores of bands that followed, but they did not directly 'train' or necessarily mentor any of the acts that came after them. Their influence, and I suppose most kinds of influence, is from observation, anecdote, and to some extent legend. Budding musicians went to their shows, traded bootlegged concert tapes, and tried to mine bits of inspiration from all they saw and heard. It was a passing relationship at best.
But the rest of us are not touring the country playing in a band (or in my personal dream competing on the professional barbecue circuit). We are mostly inside our organizations, leading, collaborating, and yes, influencing the people around us. So maybe some of us are doing amazing things, perhaps a few of us are bringing exciting and innovative ideas and strategies to the table, and we have mastered this whole blog, twitter, unconference game to the point where we have the other folks in the organization scratching their heads at just why the heck we suddenly got so popular. That's awesome and an achievement to be proud of.
So I will leave you with this question: What are you doing to find, support, mentor, and cultivate the next indie superstar?
And if you have someone in mind already - let us know in the comments, you can think about it while you listen to Mellencamp singing about a truck.
Reader Comments (5)
That's easy, I'm bringing the next Indie HR superstar with me to HRevolution....Chris Frede (@HRBuoy). Seriously, great question and I think the message is just to continue to reach out to others and share the spirit, the enthusiasm, and the information of this indie movement. Eventually, in several years, our "emerging" HR ideas will become mainstream. Until then, we have to take the lead in sharing and collaborating.
@Trish - That is a fantastic nomination - I am looking forward to meeting Chris this week for sure. I think you are right, at least I hope you are, that these indie ideas will be mainstream, and really soon.
The thing about this conversation that always makes me nervous is whether or not we are striving to be indie for a reason. Just because a practice is established doesn't make it broken and, on the flip side, everythign edgy is not necessarily good for us. When you've been an indie player throughout your career, it's easy to fall into the "different is always better" trap when sometimes, we need the judgement to determine what needs to be left alone.
In my opinion, if you are accepting a "seat at the table," you are in some regards sacrificing your right to be an indie player in the way you may have earlier in your career. That doesn't mean that you can't continue to press for change and be a voice at the executive table to challenge the status quo, but becoming an executive has added responsiblitiy.
When you are an up and comer, you can be indie because there's someone above you to cover your ass when you make a mess or push too hard. When you get to the big time and earn that seat you've been looking for, you lose that luxury. You are the one who has to cover others asses. To that point, you are absolutely correct in that our course of action needs to be to let go of our own indie status, and use our newly earned power to foster the next generation of indie stars to take up the revolution.
Good stuff as always Steve.
@Jason - Super points and thanks for sharing them here. I think you are right, once you 'make it' to some extent you have to scale back somewhat on the rebel without a cause attitude and make sure you are creating a climated for the next set of 'indie' stars to shine. Roles and situations change over time, but the essence can remain and can be passed down.
I love the whole musical metaphor here, considering I call myself The HRockstar I resonated with your article Steve.
I'd say that I am currently in the indie movement as I am so young and fresh within the HR community and because I am passionate about HR. I aim daily to take risks, strive for innovation within my organisation and community as well as politely assert my resistance to convention.
I have big plans to take my indie roadshow as far as the tourbus will take me and I believe my passion for the indie movement will ensure no big labels snap me up. But in the rare case that a big label does entice me then I'll have written into my contract for 100% creative control.
Keep up the good posts Steve.