If Not You, Then Who?

If you really want something, you'll find a way to do it. If you don't, you'll find an excuse.

It's been quipped, "Radio is a business that eats its young." Today we hear a lot of unproductive talk about the industry's waning star … seriously? Just a month ago we learned radio listenership has reached an all-time high … some "waning."

You read the same stuff we read; this company is on the skids, that company is about to be sold. After a time we have the sense that radio was a great medium but today it's an 'extra small.' Companies, not their employees, have accomplished that dubious benchmark; with some corporate people doing for radio what Queen Elizabeth has done for professional wrestling. So forget about the negative ink about this CEO or that VP and come back to square one: Ours is a high-demand and growing business in spite of the pain inflicted on it. Instead of buying the radio-junk out there in space, bring it back to you, your immediate cohorts, and the opportunities ahead.

• No one ever fails because of who or what they are; they fail because of what they think they can't become.
• The misuse of people is the greatest waste of natural resources. If your company doesn't subscribe to that doctrine find another one.
• No one is perfect on or off-air. I hesitate to admit some of my shows bombed, but on one occasion at least three different terror organizations took credit for it. Cut yourself some slack; listeners don't judge you by the hour or the day. Clients don't judge sellers by a singular spot schedule.
• The most important contribution to a talent is to offer them hope. Help them hear what they don't hear, and how to do it better.
• If you only had a month to live, would you still approach next week the same way? And what would you do differently if you knew you couldn't fail?

Each of us walks our own road. No matter where we start, no matter where we end, the road runs only one way. There's always the temptation to take the cheap detour, but a lesson in life tells us those shortcuts never lead us back.

It's when we fully come to grips with that truth that life's career road gets easier … and then we know we can be better through what we are and what we have become. As we've suggested to clients and their talent: A person cannot tell the difference between that which is real and that which is vividly and repeatedly imagined.