The Eagles were my generation’s Beatles. You might argue the point, but if you look back, both groups started out doing a lot of cover songs, and their real talent emerged in writing and performing their own material. With the Eagles, there were two guys who definitely and unquestionably were the leaders: Don Henley and Glen Frey. With the Beatles: John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Over the years, certain members of the Eagles would wrestle with who were in charge. But the fact remained, and the dissenters always lost the struggle to eventually go their own way.

Now, in 2011, There are several books telling the story of the birth, flight, death, rebirth and continued flight of the Eagles. Folks my age (too young to remember the Beatles on Ed Sullivan but teenagers in the early 70s) would see similarities with the Fab Four. With both groups, the “song” was king and the record production–clean and perfected. Though exuding a casual, laid-back persona as country rockers, the Eagles helped set a high bar for any other group to dare follow. They made enemies early on with east coast rock critics when some members of the Eagles spoke negatively about certain New York bands of the period. The Eagles found disdain by critics for decades but obviously have weathered the storm and have, like the Phoenix, risen out of the ashes to fly again, and again.

A great book by Ben Fong-Torres, “Eagles,” presents a first-hand, “been there” perspective of the band in a well-written, photo-laden, “coffee table worthy” but well-worth-the-read, history. Fong-Torres, a former writer and editor with Rolling Stone magazine, is one of my favorite writers, and he himself interviewed the Eagles back when they were willing to give them. I’ve read most, if not all, of the Eagles books available, including Don Felder’s “Heaven and Hell.” This new offering starts with a baseball game in the late 70s between the Rolling Stone magazine staff and the Eagles (Rolling Stone lost). The Eagles would see their own demise soon after the magazine did an Eagles cover story in 1979. Fong-Torres’ book weaves through all of the phases of the group’s life and line-up through today. I never tire of reading about the Eagles’ fascinating story!

A few interesting facts about the Eagles that may surprise you:

–Their first gig was at Disneyland as a back-up band for Linda Ronstadt. Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon were the more experienced members of the group. But by the second record, Don Henley and Glenn Frey quickly became the front-runners as lead writers and singers.

–Though touted as the embodiment of the southern California country rock sound, none of the original Eagles were from southern California: Don Henley was from Texas; Glenn Frey from Michigan; Randy Meisner from Nebraska; and Bernie Leadon from Minnesota/Florida (Timothy B. Schmidt, a Meisner replacement before “The Long Run” album, was from central California in Sacramento).

–Their first record was completely recorded in England with producer/ engineer Glyn Johns, who had previously worked with the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.

–Before the Eagles, Randy Meisner, the high-singing bass player, auditioned for the group Poco, beating out Timothy B. Schmidt (another high-tenor/ bass picker). When Meisner left Poco, Schmidt took his place. When Meisner left the Eagles, Schmidt replaced him there, too!

Finally, Gary and I have finished mixing “Hope of the World!” This is a Christmas version of the song which will eventually be on our forthcoming 2012 CD, sans the Christmas fade at the end. We have been working on this project for a while now and can’t wait for all of the songs to be totally finished and released.

In the coming weeks, as I wrote here before, we will be going live with our new website where anyone can sign-up for our newsletter and receive a free download of “Hope of the World.” If you make a special request to me personally, I just might get you a lead-sheet with all the chords and lyrics. We will be offering this special promotion through Thanksgiving 2011, then it will be available at all of the download stores like iTunes. I will keep you posted here when we plan release the complete CD in 2012.

Please give a listen to the song on the player below. Tell me what you think. Blessings!

I appreciate my friend John Stanko and his weekly Monday Memo, where today he wrote: “I was wrong.” He went back to an old four-point teaching about failure and realized the last point wasn’t accurate, so he re-wrote it. Maybe he didn’t see the error before, or maybe his views have changed over the years. Whatever the case, he was flexible enough to change his mind.

One of the many things my college experience did for me was to think critically–not with a negative penchant to dominate or prove somebody wrong for the fun of it–but with the intention to research and think through all of the possible angles before giving the statement or belief a hand-stamp of approval. Some bosses, religious leaders and even educators (even though they espouse an open mind) think this critical process is subversive. I believe it is Biblical.

I ran across some faulty business maxims recently that possibly have been taken for granted since many highly regarded authors have either professed or have referred to the following statements as “truth.” While I don’t necessarily endorse Alexander Kjerulf lock, stock and barrel, his challenge to these five top business maxims caught my attention:

Old maxim #1: Failure is not an option

Meaning: We absolutely, positively must succeed.

 

Guess what: No matter how many times you repeat this maxim, failure remains an option. Closing your eyes to this fact only makes you more likely to fail. Putting pressure on people to always succeed makes mistakes more likely because:

• People who work under pressure are less effective
• People resist reporting bad news
• People close their eyes to signs of trouble

New maxim: Failure happens. Deal with it.

 

Old maxim #2: The customer is always right

Meaning: The customer is king. We satisfy our customers’ every need.

 

No. No, no, no. This tired business maxim often means that loyal hardworking employees are scorned in favor of unreasonable customers. It also, ironically, results in bad customer service.

New maxim: Happy employees means happy customers.

 

Old maxim #3: Never be satisfied

Meaning: You can never be satisified and complacent in business. You’ve always gotta want more.

This is a bad mistake which rests on a very fundamental misconception, namely that being satisfied means that you stop acting. That satisfaction breeds complacency and therefore that a happy, satisfied company will be passive. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, a constant sense of dissatisfaction in an organization sends one powerful message: We’re not good enough! The irony is that this results in worse performance.

This is not about closing your eyes and pretending things are great if they’re not. It’s about appreciating the fact that people in constant states of dissatisfaction erode an organization’s will and ability to act. The trick is to appreciate what you have and still aim for more.

New maxim: Always be appreciative but never complacent.

 

Old maxim #4: Nice guys finish last

Meaning: We can’t be too nice in business. In fact, being nice may hinder your career and impede results.

That’s just not true, of course we should be nice at work. This doesn’t mean that you have to be nice to all of the people all of the time, but it means that you absolutely can be a nice person and succeed in business. Unpleasant people hurt the bottom line. In a networked world reputation matters, and it’s more important to be generous and likeable than to be ruthless and efficient.

New maxim: Nice guys get the job done.

 

Old maxim #5: Grow or die

Meaning: A business is either growing or dying. A business can’t be successful if it’s not growing.

Sometimes a business might be better off spending a quarter or a year not growing but simply consolidating existing business. Consequently not growing or even shrinking does not automatically represent business failure.

New maxim: Grow when you gotta.

When I mentioned “Biblical” earlier, I was referring to Acts 17:11 and what the Apostle Paul said about some of his students: “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true (NIV).”

Even if you don’t agree with my philosophy, the Apostle Paul, or even Alexander Kjerulf’s revised maxims, it is noble to scrutinize what people say and make a solid examination before laying our lives down on a doctrine, opinion or a theory. I am impressed when someone does find error, especially in a teaching they themselves taught. It’s okay to change your mind. That’s called true repentance!

(The “Top 5 Business Maxims That Need to Go” article by Alexander Kjerulf is borrowed from the website, Chief Happiness Officer.)

No, my daughter Betsy isn’t pregnant, nor is Josh’s wife, Amber. Brenda just called me “grandpa” last night as we were scanning the TV for something to watch. Her nickname is given in reference to some of the shows I tend to like. As we were looking through the Thursday night lineup after our beloved The Office and Parks and Recreation were finished, I thumbed through the DVR list and found a fresh episode of the local PBS station’s Tennessee Crossroads. Each episode, as they tell it. “…travels the highways and byways of Tennessee, highlighting the personalities, crafts, places, foods and events that make Tennessee special and its character unique.” I pushed play and the first thing Brenda did was look in my direction to say, “You’re gonna watch one of your ‘grandpa’ shows again.”

She says the same when I watch an episode of the Lawrence Welk Show. I know it sounds silly, but I love to go back in time, listen to the old songs, make fun of the outrageous costumes and styles, and mock Bobby, along with his dancing partner of the week. But generally, I sink into the cozy armchair that is my memory of growing up in the 60s and 70s, during family gatherings and holidays.

There’s another show I watch on RFD-TV (what they themselves call Rural America’s Most Important Network). It’s Larry’s Country Diner. The show is taped here in Nashville from a fake diner, hosted by Larry Black and his cast of small-town characters, along with a sheriff and my favorite gossip, Nadine. She always breaks into the diner unannounced and humorously ruminates on the days doings in a “Church Lady-meets-Minnie Pearl” sort of way. I love the corny humor. Again, it’s probably me reaching back to a simple, less-complicated time in life. Brenda automatically leaves the room when I am watching any these shows.

I have been sampling some of the new fall TV offerings and, frankly, many of them are a bit crass for my taste. I can’t believe I’m casting judgement like an old man sitting on a park bench. To be fair, there are a lot of great shows on, and I gobble them up weekly via my trusted DVR. But I will continue to watch my “old guy” shows, even if I’m all alone. Grandpa fits me pretty well–I guess I’ll be a real one soon enough, anyway!