Reading Reflection #1

1) You read about an entrepreneur:

To Be Loved was not only about the rise of Motown, but also included Berry Gordy’s whole life, even the parts that didn’t seem to affect his business story, like when he lost his virginity. To be honest, I don’t really admire that about him: Gordy had many wives and was in his own way a player but never felt much remorse for the string of broken relationships he left behind. I do admire the fact he used all of the connections he could think of to make his numerous record labels successful. He was also able to delegate his responsibilities seamlessly, which is often a roadblock for independent, often stubborn leaders. I think the key here was that he valued Motown and the music he was writing, producing, and often marketing more than getting all the credit for everything in the end. Gordy definitely suffered adversity and failure. He ran out of money numerous times and had to humble himself to get money out of the family trust as well as convince his family that he and his company were worth it. Several singers that worked under him like Mary Wells left for something better and other trusted employees had to be replaced by people who in the end did him wrong, like Brian and Eddie Holland. I’m not sure if he did a whole lot about it because he had no other choice but to make it work and further his labels.

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? 

As mentioned before, Gordy was phenomenal at networking. From the start, he had steady, strong people surrounding him that bought into his dream and worked hard to make it a reality. He was also very good at identifying his own weaknesses and bringing in the best of the best to fill in the gaps. Although at the start he didn’t know a lot about producing music and managing a music label, he learned quickly and used the resources he had until he had enough money to get something better.

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

This whole book covered a lot of events that happen in the music industry, one I’m not very familiar with. There were a lot of words I didn’t know in regards to records like “acetate”, “mixing”, “a-sides and b-sides”, etc. as well as the complicated process of setting up a gig, knowing what the right feel should be for a song, how to tell if one will be a hit or not, and I had no idea the depth of research that goes into producing music.

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

I guess I’d ask him how through all of the turns that his company took, how many of his decisions were lucky and how many he had a gut feeling about or had a solid foundation to be good. Decision-making is not my strong suit and I would appreciate the perspective of someone for whom decision-making is life. I’d also ask what advice he’d give to any entrepreneurs of today when the popular way to get ahead is in finding the loopholes and making people who can’t afford it to pay. Gordy rejected this when he was selling pots and pans and his father didn’t approve of what he was doing to these poor people, but as a person in the modern age of “good guys finish last” and conniving to become a successful business, it’s hard to go the honest way and become big still.

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

It’s interesting this question was thrown in because at the very beginning, he describes his desire to make it big without doing the hard, back-breaking work his father did long before him. His opinion of hard work is finding the best way to do things efficiently, without a lot of sweat, and still become successful in business. I definitely support efficiency over plain hard work, though I’d prefer the two combined and in time Gordy did just that.