Jun 04 Coming together, right now, over you

I am very seldom asked what sport I played in college. I like to use that information for a trivia question with the Boy Scouts as I get a kick out of the answers they come up with. No one ever guesses that I fenced at Georgia State University.

Most of my collegiate exercise came from the Georgia Tech marching band. I started playing the trumpet in seventh grade, and thanks to the patience of band directors Walter Burns, Walter Partlow and Floyd Stevens, I played trumpet for six years in the Tupelo Public School District.

A band is an interesting animal. Players work as individuals to master their craft, then instruments cluster together – trumpets, trombones, flutes, clarinets, etc. – all with their own personalities, and the band is still subdivided by brass, woodwind and percussion before it forms a whole unit.

I received some good advice by being a band member, and I’m not ashamed to admit that it makes more sense today than it did at the time.

“Your best performance will never be as good as your best practice.” True. I’ve found that’s why practice is so important, particularly when giving a speech or making a pitch. I remember the high school competitions we had and the nervousness before we began. Once we were out on the field, it was like autopilot took over. That’s what it is like giving a talk. Do I make mistakes? Sure. But, I play through them and keep them in mind so that I don’t make the same mistakes later.

“Never assume anything!” OK, Mr. Stevens. You said that to us almost daily. I’ve now turned it into how I check facts before making statements. I may not have an immediate answer, but I know where to find it. This helps me to keep from jumping to conclusions, and it also helps me from spreading incorrect information.

After spending six years in band, I was hesitant to get involved in a college band. I took a recruitment letter I received from the band captain at Georgia Tech and met with Walter Burns at his office at Milam Junior High School. Mr. Burns said, “Try it. You won’t know if you like it until you do. And, if you don’t, you don’t have to continue.” I accepted his advice, and I have lifelong friendships from Georgia Tech only because I was in the band.

Yes, this is a marketing column. And, yes, I do have a point.

“Your best performance will never be as good as your best practice” has kept me on my toes to learn as much as I can about my craft so that I can stay relevant in the business. We rarely performed the same marching band show twice. It was similar, but the show evolved over the course of a season. As does business. Yours and mine. Do you remember your business without the use of a cellphone? Do you remember the last operating system for your computer? Things change. We all have to adapt to stay relevant. We don’t want our audience getting bored.

“Never assume anything!” I’d rather tell you that I don’t know than make up something that I have to amend later. I check facts. Did I write the phone number down correctly? Forgive me for asking you to spell your name, John Smith, but John Smythe pronounces his the same way. And, the mayor of Norcross, Georgia, may be the Honorable James G. Johnson, but when I was at Georgia Tech he was a band director named Bucky Johnson.

And, Mr. Burns’s advice about trying reminds me of “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Sometimes opportunity knocks softly. Sometimes I have to chase opportunity down.

And, what advice did I get from Walter Partlow? Mr. Partlow didn’t tell us – he showed us that with any good job, you need to have fun.

For a band to assemble its parts and perform, the goal is to entertain the audience. We all have our individual parts to play. Marketing is just one part of the band. Without it, the band doesn’t have the rich full sound it should. And, all the players get a kick out of it too. This is no different from a business. We all have parts to play to satisfy the customer, and if we follow Mr. Partlow’s example, we have fun while we do it.

Originally published in the June, 2016 issue of the Northeast Mississippi Business Journal in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.