Sometimes Endings Can Be Beginnings

“Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. It comes into us clean at midnight, and it’s perfect when it arrives. It puts itself in our hands and wonders if we’ve learned anything from yesterday,” said film legend John Wayne. History records “The Duke” offered that thought during a television interview in the waning days before cancer stole his life. “You could have heard a pin drop on that set” the producer recalled.

Not all that long ago, on coming across that quote I had a mind-flash: just how did I start the day this morning? What we do as programming consultants spans a wide horizon-line: designing music format strategies, coordinating research, coaching talent, and interacting with radio leadership from local managers to group executives. And that consistently brings us back to a universal proposition: if we don’t invest ourselves to our capacity, then defeat wouldn’t bother us, winning wouldn’t be very exciting. And who wants to live there?

Sometimes endings become beginnings, even if you have to walk away or shut down a project. It’s only when someone lacks the intensity to perform do they surrender; and the time will come when winter will ask, “what were you doing all summer?”

One of my favorite offerings comes from Grand Prix master-classman Mario Andretti who put it this way—“if everything seems under control, you’re not driving fast enough!”

Also worth consideration…

“Go as far as you can see. When you get there, you’ll be able to see farther.” Thomas Carlyle

“When someone tells me ‘no’ it doesn’t mean I can’t do it, it means I can do it with them.” Karen Miller

“The question isn’t who’s going to let me? It’s who’s going to stop me?” Ayn Rand

“Someday isn’t a day of the week.” Jan Dailey

“Faster…faster until the thrill of speed overcomes your fear of death.” Hunter Thompson

“Approach your work as if you don’t care about the money.” My Grandfather

Even before the pandemic, national group attrition was a headline; today it’s a daily broken record. But it was always true that in a performance-measured business like ours no one can exist without exhilarating challenges and gritty disappointments. Even in the best organizations in or outside radio, without the heights and depths, where would we be?

And possibly, the most relevant question? “What would this be like if it were easy?”