Culture is a Magnet

When considering the concept of culture, I like to think of it as a powerful magnet. For a teams, workplaces and companies, one designs a magnet by establishing strong values, aligning around a common purpose, and driving toward a compelling long term vision and goals. A strong brand powers the magnet too. When these things stir and resonate within someone, whether a customer or a prospective employee, it’s a powerful thing. It’s an x-factor. The best teams and strongest brands have it.

Magnets have a backside too — with an equally powerful repulsion effect. When values, purpose, goals and brand don’t connect, it can push people away — clients, staff, community and others. The push of a magnet can be equally as impactful as it’s pull.

How have companies and brands magnets pulled you in or perhaps pushed you away?

It’s important to design a magnet to cut through the noise of a homogenous industry or marketplace. It’s easy for folks to get lost or feel apathetic when everyone is positioned similarly, sending similar messaging (ie: high quality, strong relationships, fast, flexible) — especially in a competitive marketplace. Culture as a magnet is a wonderful opportunity to create contrast and broadcast a distinctly unique signal — one that cuts through the noise and pulls-in those with shared values and beliefs.

At my company, Marmoset, our magnet is best expressed in how we live our purpose and values. We’re the first in the industry to invest 10% of profits into community partners… more than half a million dollars and counting supporting social justice, access to education, houselessness, music and arts advocacy, equity and inclusion, civil rights and more. We’re the only Certified B Corp in our space and also the only one to issue an Annual Transparency Report. Since our inception, we’ve paid more than $25 million in royalties to hard working, blue collar artists — and Marmoset offers the best, most supportive employee benefits package available in our industry (see inside the Transparency Report).

Do you feel the push or pull of the magnet? Does something stir inside of you?

Marmoset’s purpose is to Be Community and the long term vision is to be THE positive disruptor in our space, in terms of equity and access to opportunities — similarly to how Patagonia disrupted their industry for the environment and social justice. If you chat up our team at Marmoset, or the artists we partner with, and many of the clients we serve — they’ll all tell you the same thing. They’re here because they feel the undeniable pull of the magnet.

What’s your magnet?

To my fellow leaders, culture keepers and thinkers out there: What’s your magnet? How is your magnet different from others? What are you inviting people to connect with and feel part of? How can you be methodical and strategic in designing your magnet? Are you comfortable with your magnet pushing some folks away?

We borrowed a tool from Netflix’s “culture deck” concept for prospective new hires to deep dive our magnet before taking the plunge with us. It’s a no frills, exhaustive 92-slide powerpoint deck that goes down all of the rabbit holes about who we are, what we believe and why. By the time you’re done reading, it’s nearly impossible to not have a strong reaction to it — that powerful push or pull of the magnet. It’s been a transformational tool in attracting and retaining All-Stars to our team -- where a third of our staff has more than seven years of tenure.

I was once criticized by a former employee for trying to be a cult leader… it’s the downside of anonymous Yelp style reviews for “public figures” and leaders. While I can assure you I’ve never set out to be a cult leader, I do admit to methodically working on our magnet over the the past thirteen years – and that has an impact. In this specific case, I suspect the backside repulsion of the magnet did its job.

Silver lining: there’s tens of thousands of teams, brands, organizations out there in the world, each with its own unique magnet to try on. The goal is to find one that stirs and resonates inside of you.

- RW

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Note: this is essay #1 of a new series I’m writing to gather “50 Things I Didn’t Learn In Business School” (WIP title), which I aim to package and release in some form or fashion in 2024.

Better Is Always Better Than More

Better is always better than more. 

In a marketplace where music licensing companies boast an unfathomable number of tracks, it may seem crazy to launch a new alternative, based on the belief that less is more. But that’s exactly what we’re doing with Track Club, powered by Marmoset.

Apparently APM Music has nearly 1 million tracks. Other companies, Audio Network and Megatrax, both boast more than 200,000 tracks. Newer entries to the marketplace seem to have somewhere around 40k to 50k tracks, right out of the gate. By the way, who names these places anyways?

Using basic math, if you divide 50k tracks by the average size of a traditional studio album (10-12 songs), that’s the equivalent of having around 5000 vinyl records. That’s almost double the physical records my friends, Michael and Maya Gersten of Speck’s Records & Tapes, have available in their record store on any given day. It’s a smaller-sized shop, but you get the idea. Bottom line, it’s a ton of music!

Michael and Maya could choose to run a giant-sized record store if they wanted. But they too believe less is more. And it’s working. Visit them sometime at 8216 N Denver Ave, Portland, Oregon to see for yourself. The magic is real at Speck’s Records & Tapes. 

Michael, Maya, Miles and Mo Gersten at Speck’s Records & Tapes in Portland, Oregon

Why do most music companies seem to think bigger is better? 

Talk with APM customers and you’ll hear the same thing over and over. They’ll tell you the catalog is full of very average, so-so quality production music. Hundreds of thousands of mostly uninspiring production tracks. You know the music I speak of.  But if you listen closely, APM customers will also tell you that if you know where to dig, and if you dig long enough, you’ll find some real gems. 

My question is this: who wants to spend hours of their precious time digging through thousands of losers, just to find one gem? 

At both Marmoset, and our soon-to-launch subscription brand, Track Club, we spend significant internal time and resources twice a year doing something we call “The 10% Curation Event.” In this, we carefully evaluate the performance of every song in our catalog, removing the worst performing 10%. That’s right -- we strategically reduce the size of our catalog twice a year, purely to make it a better experience for our clients. (It’s a lot of work too.)

Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. 

With Track Club, we’ve designed the app to feature a better catalog of music, not the biggest one. In fact, we invite you to take the challenge yourself: strap on your headphones and spend 5 minutes on Track Club... and then go spend 5 minutes with the competition. It shouldn’t take too long. 

If that isn’t good enough for you, know this: Track Club is the first ever music licensing app on the planet that features 100% customizable songs. If there’s a song you like, but perhaps the drums are a bit too loud, or the guitar is too distracting -- you can edit the song yourself, all in the app.  You can easily mute, solo, or adjust the volume of the instruments and vocals in the song, until it meets your exact vision for your project. Or if you prefer to do the editing with your own preferred software or app on your own computer or console, you can easily download all the stems too. The choice is yours.

Our thesis is this: a meticulously curated, perpetually refined, small-batch catalog of the highest quality, that you can easily customize (in the app) to meet the specific needs of your project, is always better than any “mega” catalog out there. 

Better is always better than more. 

RW

PS: Sign up to be the one of the first invited at www.trackclub.com

Learn more about Track Club, and sign up for the beta program from the link in our Journal Post: https://lnkd.in/ggTS76hR

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#musiclicensing #creatoreconomy #musicpublishing #musiclicensingApp #musicproducer #musicapp #musicindustry #musicindustrynews #musicbiz #musicbusiness #musictech #musictechnology #bcorp #bcorps #bcorpcertified #streaming #musicrights #community #marmoset #music

A DEI Playbook for Leaders: What I’ve Learned Leading Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at My Company

Note: A short version of this essay was originally published on December 29, 2020 by The Portland Business Journal.

Amid today’s rapidly shifting societal landscape, leaders are scrambling to navigate the waters of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). I started doing the work to build a more equitable and diverse company five years ago, when 13 of my 18 staff members were male and only one was BIPOC (black, Indigenous and people of color). In a rare epiphany, I realized workplace homogeneity was a problem and I committed to addressing it. This was us in 2015:

Marmoset staff, November 2015.

My business is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, where about 73% of the population identifies as white. Statistics in Portland’s business community are more staggering, where higher paying and more sought after roles lack diversity. A cliche excuse I often hear expressed by local business leaders is applicant pools are mostly white. My answer: Yes, status quos (and systemic power structures) are hard to break.  

After five years, Marmoset is now 61% non-male and 34% BIPOC, with even greater diversity in leadership and highest paid positions. While systemic white power structures run deep in Portland, my story is proof that a diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce is possible. 

I’ve learned some lessons along the way. And I hope by sharing them here, framed within my own journey, it might help other leaders find their way. 

Lesson #1: Know why you’re doing the work. 

Why do you want to do DEI work? What does it mean to you and what are you looking to achieve? While it can evolve over time, first and foremost always know why you’re doing the work.  

My why is I love my community and I’m committed to making it better. I’m here to change the way the Portland business community shows up, change the way it looks and feels, and how it’s experienced by all. 

My why is to dismantle systemic racism and destroy a 2000+ year patriarchy that’s holding back our community, our industry, and so much more. I’m committed to leveling the playing field and creating more equitable opportunities at my company and in my industry. 

Lesson #2: There are no shortcuts. DEI work takes time.

There have been moments I wanted to do all the work as quickly as possible. It’s uncomfortable having so many eyes on me, wondering why the leadership team is so white and what’s taking so long. Thankfully, I’ve learned from more experienced folks to take the long road to get it right. Doing the work takes a long-term vision, discipline, and more time than you’d think. 

Lesson #3: Assemble a trusted team of advisors.

Five years ago I sought out two people to help me start learning and developing my long-term vision on DEI. One is a business leader who started his equity work a few years prior. Thank you, Ryan Buchanan. The other is a leading DEI expert whose candor, brutal honesty, and unparalleled professional experience has given me more understanding than I’ve found anywhere else. Thank you, Serilda Summers-McGee. I’ve added more peer mentors and experts along the way. 

Having a qualified, trusted team to advise and walk alongside you is especially helpful when the work gets hard and uncomfortable. Peer mentors are there to guide you, pick you up, and help you remember why you’re doing the work in the first place. And it’s critically important to differentiate between who’s actually doing the work with you vs. who’s throwing criticism down on you from the cheap seats. The “Man in the Arena” speech can be helpful in these moments.  

Lesson #4: Develop a long-term roadmap and define success. 

There’s no finish line with DEI work. There’s no consultant or workshop that checks all the boxes. It’s a never-ending commitment to learning, transformation, and impact. It requires a long-term vision and plan, similar to that of a business strategy. 

Start by selecting a date 3-5 years out. Paint the picture of what success looks like. The best goals are set to a timeline with specific milestones along the way. Make your plan SMART.

Working with Serilida back in 2015, these were the long-term goals we set:  

• Achieve diversity representation better than the demographics of our city/community. Knowing Portland is about 27% non-white, we had to do better than that. This was our first major milepost. And to maximize impact, I wanted that representation to be true at every level of my organization, especially the most sought after roles: creative roles and leadership roles. 

• Increase the diversity (race and gender) of the artists and the music we represent.

• Work with more BIPOC and women owned businesses for projects and work where we enlist contractors, advisors, vendors and consultants. 

• Provide ongoing training and education for leaders and all staff. 

Reflecting back on these now, I wish I would’ve made the goals smarter, more measurable and timeline-based. The best goals are always SMART ones. 

Once long-term goals are set, work backwards, cutting it up into smaller chunks -- similar to how you might approach a business strategic plan.

Lesson #5: You will fail. And you absolutely must keep going. 

This may be the most important lesson of all. This work is hard, and without exception, everyone will misstep and fail from time to time. There’s no avoiding it. 

While it pains me to admit, I too have failed. People have suffered systemic racism, bias, and discrimination at my company too. No doubt about it, we have failed some of our people along the way. And despite our failures, we are committed to learning from our mistakes, and getting better as we go. 

I also accept the fact that I too have exhibited racist and patricarchical behaviors, and at times I have been part of the problem. I’m working on myself -- working to learn about and process the dark parts of our communities and of our history. It’s impossible to do this kind of work if I’m unable to wrestle with my own identity and dissect my own ego.  As they say, acceptance is the first step of recovery.

Lesson #6: Stay focused. 

You’re held to higher standards when you commit to doing this work, and will therefore receive more scrutiny and criticism. Learn to receive it. And say thank you.  

That said, it’s unfortunate society has devolved to cancel culture, where anonymous critics and disingenuous bystanders so quickly tear people down in a public setting. While I support increased accountability, we can do better than drive-by Yelp reviews for humans. 

All the more reason to stay focused on the work. Don’t get distracted by critics, cynics and trolls working against you. If your values, track record and reputation are strong, your community will know that, no matter what’s said about you. 

Blind spots

It’s recently come to my attention that communication has been a blind spot for me. To be vulnerable here, talking about DEI within my own company is something I’ve struggled with at times. At my core, I’m a “talk is cheap” sorta person. So until we’ve achieved some pretty big, meaningful results, I wasn’t too keen on talking about it. I never wanted to be the CIS white, privileged CEO guy standing up in front of a bunch of people (smart people!), talking about all of the diversity work I’m doing. So I put my head down and did most of the work solo or alongside just a couple of my colleagues and advisors, mostly working behind the scenes.

Because of my own discomfort in talking more openly about it, I now see and realize I’ve missed some meaningful opportunities for broader dialog, engagement and alignment within my company. The downside of working quietly behind the scenes is my staff didn’t always know what I was upto. It’s possible some didn’t know if our progress was happening by accident or on purpose. Moving forward, I’m learning to embrace the notion that our staff wants to know what I’m upto -- especially on topics of DEI. And ultimately, they need to hear their CEO and leaders are all-in, leading the way. 

Impact

Five years into the work, Marmoset’s staff demographics are better than Portland’s by every metric. Eight of our top ten highest paid employees are women. Five out of the top six are BIPOC women. There are no pay gaps at my company. Full stop. And the good news: if we can do this in Portland, Oregon, anyone can do it. 

For the people in the back: If we can do this in Portland, Oregon -- anyone can do it.

And for any business leaders out there who may be wondering how DEI impacts the bottom line, know this: Marmoset as a business has never been stronger or healthier than it is today. We’re at our peak right now in nearly every imaginable business metric: cash, resources, profitability, sales, expenses, people, morale and vibes, brand, innovation, momentum and upward trajectory. That said, I buried this fact a little bit because it could be a distracting headline. Doing DEI work to boost the bottom line is shitty… or disingenuous at best. Do it for the right reasons and you can rest assured, the results will follow. Research supports this.

What’s Next? 

Because the work is never done, we continue to raise the bar with our long-term goals and plans. Our staff and Marmoset’s DiversiTeam have gradually taken on more of the work, and have developed several new goals and strategies spanning all teams and functions. For instance, we’ve made good strides in terms of the diversity of the artist roster we represent. Currently, one of our goals is improving the diversity (race and gender) of our top royalty earners. 

Another important long-term goal for me is to one day replace myself or split my role with someone who doesn’t look like me or think like me. Someone who can bring new ideas, with new expertise and experiences, to help take the company to another place. 

I am so grateful our staff has stepped up in big ways over the past couple of years, now much more invested in helping carry the responsibility of DEI with me. I am especially thankful for my colleagues, Nicole Hooper and Jené Etheridge, Marmoset’s DiversiTeam, and many others, for their collaboration and commitment in doing this work. 

The work is endless. And yes, it’s all worth it. 

RW

Note: An condensed version of this essay was originally published on December 29, 2020 by The Portland Business Journal.

*This is yet another essay in-part inspired by my friends Mario and Chris — please check out their work too. We believe the process of public writing helps us learn, grow and improves our lives too. We call ourselves the Western Writers League and someday we might make hats with a cool logo.

Get out of your head. How to separate facts from fiction to make better decisions.

A version of this essay was originally published by Forbes.com on May 4th, 2020.

Storytelling

I’ve become increasingly aware of a challenge facing leaders today: storytelling. And I’m not talking about the kind of storytelling families and cultures use to pass down history and traditions -- nor do I mean storytelling contemporary creatives use to cultivate connection and meaning for brands. I'm talking about internal storytelling — the unconscious fiction humans make up when faced with challenges, conflict and important matters. 

A tell-tale sign is seeing someone stuck in “analysis paralysis” — a term you’re surely familiar with. Observing closely, you’ll notice their time is spent worrying about the many ways things could go wrong. These internal stories are typically grounded in what-if’s and hypotheticals and future possibilities, rather than present facts. In these moments, humans get stuck in their limbic system, the part of the brain that runs on emotions and survival instincts, rather than the neocortex, where logic, rational decision-making, focus, and emotional control originates. 

Researcher and author Brené Brown coined a concept for this: “Shitty First Draft.”  She explains when something triggers our emotions, our unconscious brains tend to manufacture internal stories -- our brain’s instinctual attempt to process what’s happening. These stories are often one-sided worst-case scenarios and seldom contain the full truth. Brown suggests, in the absence of having a crystal ball, we make up stories to anticipate how things might go.

It all stems from a self-protective survival instinct our caveman ancestors relied on to avoid being eaten by sabertooth-tigers. These instincts rarely serve us today, yet our brains still make-up stories that magnify our fears and anxieties, contributing to our own dysfunction.  Brené Brown has popularized a reality checking tool, using the phrase “the story I’m telling myself…” to check one’s assumptions by practicing personal curiosity and reflection. 

Observation vs Evaluation

Another helpful tool is by psychologist, Marshall Rosenburg, who created a brilliant framework in the 1960’s known as, Nonviolent Communication, which is based on learning "to clarify what we are observing, what emotions we are feeling, what values we want to live by, and what we want to ask of ourselves and others."

Observations are things you can literally observe, ideally using one or more of your five senses — see, hear, touch, taste, smell. Observations are verifiable facts, and in their purest form, are free of bias, beliefs, judgments or attached meaning. Evaluations are the result of taking our observations and running them through a filter of emotions, feelings and beliefs, experiences, knowledge — essentially running the facts through a person's highly personal, highly individualized CPU (central processing unit).

Evaluations are also what sets human beings apart from virtually every other living thing, giving us the unique ability to understand and think critically, integrating our emotions, feelings, memory and experiences with our thoughts and decision making.

As a leader, I've found I'm at my best when separating observations (facts) from evaluations (stories). For example, you may see a data point in a presentation and quickly jump to analysis, creating stories about it. Not so fast. Wise leaders keep analyses in check, grounding conversations first around the facts, which usually makes buy-in and alignment with colleagues easier. There's always time to seek analysis and opinions later — but first, it's best to get clear and aligned on the facts.

“Wise leaders keep analyses in check, grounding conversations first around the facts, which usually makes buy-in and alignment with colleagues easier. There's always time to seek analysis and opinions later — but first, it's best to get clear and aligned on the facts.”

The Observing Eye vs The Perceiving Eye

“Observation and perception are two separate things; the observing eye is stronger, the perceiving eye is weaker,” said Miyamoto Musashi. Possibly the greatest Japanese Samurai to ever live, he won countless fights against feared opponents, even multiple opponents, in which he was swordless. Born in 1584 and author of The Book of Five Rings, he taught there are two ways to see the world: with the observing eye and the perceiving eye. Observation focuses attention on truth and what is actually happening in the present moment. 

The perceiving eye, however, sees much more than just the facts. Perception dovetails other information with the facts, like experiences, preferences, emotions, personal beliefs and values. The perceiving eye paints the facts with one’s own personal colors, sometimes commingling our fears and worst case scenarios with what’s real. Mark Twain famously said, “Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.”

What is true?

When faced with any challenge, opportunity or important matter, the first step should always be to remove feelings, bias and analysis from the equation. Approach things as if you're running a highly scientific lab experiment where accuracy and fact-finding are paramount. Ask yourself: What is true? What is absolutely true? 

This reminds me of author Byron Katie and her belief that most human suffering comes from believing our own stressful thoughts. She’s found most stress and pain is rooted in the stories we create in our minds -- the fears and hypothetical scenarios we spend so much time spinning out on. What if we spent equal time considering best case scenarios, along with the worst?

“Most human suffering comes from believing our own stressful thoughts.” — Byron Katie

What if there was a way to actually turn off our internal storytelling? What if we could actually turn the storytelling off? I've worked on this within myself and found a daily meditation practice can help turn it off, or at least turn it down. Only when I regularly spent time alone with my thoughts could I truly understand what my thoughts are, where they come from and what they're good for. (Michael Singer’s book, The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself, was helpful too.)

Good? Bad? Who Knows?

It's human nature to unconsciously turn everything into a binary decision: Is it good or bad? But what if everything we encounter didn't have to be evaluated as good or bad? What if we were open to the possibility that any experience could be good, bad or an infinite range of possibilities in between? What if we could all agree that no experience, situation or scenario is all good or all bad?

There's an ancient story of a Chinese farmer that really drives this home. In my peer mentor group of CEOs, we've reflected on this story more frequently over the past few weeks, amid the global crisis. If you have three minutes, watch it here. It may be the best three minutes you spend today.

Spoiler alert: The farmer stays neutral and open. He avoids binary traps and doesn't rush to analysis about whether a current situation is good or bad. Instead, he's open to infinite possibilities, knowing it may take years to truly discern and understand something.

"The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of human intelligence." — Jiddu Krishnamurti 

Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti surmised: "The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of human intelligence." I couldn't agree more. Leaders make better decisions when adept at separating facts from fiction, when we're mindful of internal storytelling, and when we stay grounded, centered and open to infinite possibilities.

RW

A version of this essay was originally published by Forbes.com on May 4th, 2020.

*This is yet another essay in-part inspired by my friends Mario and Chris — please check out their work too. We believe the process of public writing helps us learn, grow and improves our lives too. We call ourselves the Western Writers League and someday we might make hats with a cool logo.