On this episode of Where Do We Go From Here?, I speak to Barry Barnes, Ph.D, an author and professor. I stumbled upon Barry’s book Everything I Know About Business I Learned from the Grateful Dead: The Ten Most Innovative Lessons from a Long Strange Trip by accident. Amazon recommended it because I had bought some other music book or book on business. I can’t really remember the exact sequence, but I’m glad that the all-knowing algorithm led me to Barry.
I am by no means a Deadhead. I’ve barely listened to Grateful Dead. I’ve never been to one of their shows. None of that matters. Barry’s book distilled a set of timeless lessons that resonated deeply with me. We talk about the journey of writing this book, which came out in 2011 and continues to resonate with audiences. We also dive into some of the principles that particularly stuck with me. This was a really special episode for me, a journey into a musical world I’ve rarely visited. It’s also the first time a guest was moved to tears by the weight of a concept we were discussing. I’m grateful Barry wrote this book and even more grateful for the time he spent with me on a Friday afternoon.
A few key takeaways from our conversation…
Lead with joy. Midway through the episode, Barry shared a quote from Jerry Garcia: “I’d really like to see what can be created from joy.” For some, that might seem anodyne or downright absurd in such confusing, grim times. When sarcasm and cynicism become forms of armor, it can be hard to remember that joy is perhaps the most valid reason to do anything that we do. Joy guides so much of our youth. Joy can come from the difficult and the simple. Joy doesn’t mean avoiding the existential questions of our time; it can inform the way we approach them. Joy leads us in our non-work pursuits, so why not let it also lead our labor?
Lesson 1: “Strategic improvisation…is the key to running a great organization.” Or, as my therapist once told me, adaptability is the key to living a happy life.
Lesson 2: “Embrace strong corporate values and socially conscious business practices because it’s the right thing to do—and because it’s more profitable.” This notion has been a core tenet of Where Do We Go From Here?, but nowhere have I seen it argued as directly as in Barry’s book. “Values build loyalty, and loyalty leads to longevity and bigger long term profits. Companies should embrace a broader sense of values, in other words, not only because it’ the right thing to do but because it’s the profitable thing to do.”
Lesson 4: “In creative businesses, familiarity—rather than scarcity—creates value. Share your intellectual property, because the more people who know about your work, the more ways there will be to make money.” While this concept is sacrosanct to Deadheads like Barry (who has recorded 169 Dead shows in his time as a fan), it is just as familiar to hip-hop fans steeped in mixtape culture. I raise the
Lesson 7: “Innovate constantly.” While Barry is not a huge fan of the Dead & Co. experience at The Sphere, we discuss the shows shows as yet another piece of the bands dedication to innovation (even at the expense of potential ridicule and misunderstanding.
Special thanks to Anna Kasper for producing, Will Grogan for providing our music, and Hugh Huntingford for designing the Applied Science logo and podcast cover image (and for the recent facelift to both the site and the pod).
Applied Science is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
