Friday Funk: Shining Star

Welcome loyalists to the first Friday Funk installment since summer began. And if you’re reading for the first time, Friday Funk is where I pick songs to help you get our cool back for the weekend.

I wasn’t craving the Friday Funk sanity check recently because things have been going great.

But this week I realized sanity checks go both ways. And maybe it’s even more important to get your cool back while winning than it is while slogging.

Otherwise you can develop an overinflated view of yourself and your pursuits.

Case in point: WeWork founder Adam Neumann finally stepped down as CEO this week after years of rock star “leadership” was finally revealed as purely selfish profligacy.

You can’t make this stuff up:

– Bringing on Run DMC to play a private show for employees after announcing mass layoffs.

– Buying a $60 million jet “for meetings” and making employees spend days loading jet’s TVs with shows.

– Personally securing “We” related trademarks then selling them back to parent company for millions.

– Regularly evangelizing about becoming the world’s first trillionaire.

Not professional, and definitely not cool.

Of course the best startup and mainstream leaders are shining stars.

It’s ok for them to have a life people dream about.

But only if they got that life by serving their teams and industries before themselves.

This is the guiding light Earth Wind and Fire spoke of when they went from a startup funk and soul band to mainstream with their giant 1975 hit Shining Star:

When you wish upon a star
Your dreams will take you very far
But when you wish upon a dream
Life ain’t always what it seems

Neumann was wishing on dreams of being the biggest star ever.

But he — and all of us — should be wishing on a vision that’s bigger than ourselves.

That’s how you stay cool.

And if you’ve lost it temporarily, here’s Shining Star to help you get your cool back for the weekend.

___
Liner Notes:

-If you like Friday Funk, here’s the full Spotify playlist and full story archives.

-If you don’t like Friday Funk, please consult our music policy.