Dave Heroux, Paula and Jim Cathcart performing in Thousand Oaks, CA
Last week Paula and I went to a wonderful concert by Desert Highway, a great Eagles tribute band. The large audience was on their feet, singing along, dancing and having a blast! This music is definitely not obsolete! Our colleague Joseph, age 28, joined us. We asked about his favorite Eagles tunes and he replied sheepishly, “I don’t know the Eagles.”
Wait a minute, “The Eagles”, the band that recently appeared in Vegas at The Sphere! The Hotel California, Take It Easy, Desperado…Eagles! You don’t know them!!? That was our reaction. How can that be? Tequila Sunrise, Heartache Tonight, Peaceful Easy Feeling, Witchy Woman…those Eagles. This is great music, how can anyone not know them?
Well, they can and they do, not know the Eagles that is. It’s a generation or more since they were top of the charts. They were big when my son was young. Yes, their music endures (and the concert was wonderful!) but that’s not the point. The point is; everything becomes obsolete or “old school” sooner or later. My son told me that a few years ago in his role as HR director, while interviewing a job applicant, he mentioned The Beatles. The applicant didn’t know who they were. To that applicant The Beach Boys, Beatles, Eagles, Rolling Stones, E Street Band, Aerosmith, all are groups that the old folks enjoyed. Wow.
Let’s bring this to work. In your office or day to day communications, how are you obsolete? All of us know and are skilled at some things that no longer matter very much. I used to be good at doing slide presentations with a carousel slide projector. (Google it.) I was also good with overhead projectors. Now I just hand my audio visual tech a USB with my images on it and they make it happen. But that’s for live performances. When doing a video call or Zoom webinar I follow a different process.
The Covid shutdown forced the business and educational worlds to learn new skills. Kids “went to school” from a laptop. Mom and Dad telecommuted to work. The car sat idle. Cell phones and laptops became the center of our social universe. Movie theaters and restaurants shut down. And some of our social skills atrophied from lack of use. We were pretty good online but not so good in person. In the meantime Skype has gone away. A video conference mainstay has silently drifted away. Zoom has gone ballistic but even Zoom will surely be overshadowed before long.
The technology graveyard is filled with entities that were once Mammoths. Fax Machines, Physical Files, Desk Calendars, Physical Spreadsheets, Pay Telephones on every corner, America Online, MySpace, Clubhouse, Snapchat, iPods, Palm Pilot, Blackberry, Sony Treo, FlipVideo recorders, DVDs & Blueray discs, the list is endless. If you were really good with them, sorry no prize. It’s useless now.
A. I. is getting smarter and more capable every day. Are you? If not, then soon A.I. will easily replace you.
In World War II my dad carried a Japanese/English translation handbook. When I travel in China I carry a digital translator with a dozen languages in it. It has audio included. My cell phone now has more apps than my entire office had in technology a few years ago. No more Rolodex, no answering machine, no typewriter, no postage machine, no literal “cut and paste” for artwork, no phone directory, no Thesaurus for words, and I could go on for pages. We all need to stay tuned in and re-skilled every few months just to survive in the marketplace.
More significantly, all of the companies and suppliers connected to those obsolete technologies have also either evolved or gone away. Warehouses full of obsolete equipment abound.
Thankfully, unlike technology, music can live on. The music of The Eagles is just as infectious and joyful today as it was in the 1970s. But the marketplace has changed and what hooks the young fans isn’t what hooked us older fans. Nor do they buy records. We need new ways to reach people in every profession. Even Desert Highway now has a great website with lots of video clips, an active social media marketing campaign, regular communication with their fan base and postings of the upcoming concerts with preregistration links. Their music may have a history but they operate in the present quite well.
Don’t Try To Change Yourself, Evolve! Become more and better at being you. Hone your “super powers”, the skills that come easily to you and have value to others. Go deep on what you’re suited for. In that field you will be hard to replace. At the same time, constantly learn something new.
A quick and easy way to continually evolve is simply to make it a habit to “sample” new ways. Go to the mall or a business expo and browse. Ask for free trials or demos. Just like tasting new food, try out the newest and most amazing things in your world. Become a habitual micro explorer. Say this often, “What is that? Can I try it?
Welcome change, don’t resist it.
But, don’t you dare ask me “Who’s Elvis?”
PS: Joseph is now an Eagles fan like me.
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