Embracing Change with David Bowie
David Bowie has appeared all over the press in recent weeks. Every newspaper and media outlet in the country seems to have been celebrating the life of the late singer-songwriter who inspired so many millions of people over the course of his career.
Bowie was one of a kind: a master of reinvention with an unrivalled capacity for change. From Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane to the Thin White Duke, he never stopped moving forward, creating character after character in a trailblazing attempt to share his perspective with the world…
“David Bowie is the Steve Jobs of rock, the Picasso of pop. He synthesises influences past and present, drops them into the Bowie Blender, and serves up something fresh and exciting. Jobs would come up with a new product, Picasso a new style; Bowie launches a new persona.”
Ch-ch-changes
It was the 1971 release, “Changes” which set out the more or less constant impulse underlying his career:
Turn and face the strange
Ch-ch-changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
“I wanted to be the instigator of new ideas,” Bowie later remembered. “I wanted to turn people on to new ideas and new perspectives. And so I had to govern everything around that.”
For the English audiences of the 1970s who witnessed Bowie’s meteoric rise to fame, it would have been alarming to see just how “new” or “different” a man Bowie was. In his iconic 1972 performance of “Starman” for example, he appeared on primetime TV in a multicoloured jumpsuit, draping a promiscuous arm around guitarist Mick Ronson.
Change may create tension, it may shock and surprise those around us – but for David Bowie, as for anyone who wishes to learn from him – there is no other way to be.
Bowie the Business Visionary
Bowie is best known as an artist and musician, but he was also a remarkable businessman in his own right, selling over 150 million records and reaching an estimated net worth of £135 million over the course of his career. In the words of Bloomberg view: “Bowie was a business visionary like the ones who shaped Silicon Valley.”
And at a time when business success is increasingly dependent on branding and invention, when ‘disruption’ is the trendy thing for start-ups and entrepreneurs aiming to create entirely new things, to go ‘from zero to one’, Bowie’s relevance to modern businesses is remarkable.
Training for your people
As a training company, we would even like to suggest that it is possible to link Bowie’s approach to skills training.
Because an investment in training is an investment in change. And whether in leadership, sales, negotiation, or presentation – there are new possibilities waiting to be discovered…
I still don’t know what I was waiting for
And my time was running wild
A million dead-end streets
Bowie has such a wide fan base in part because he showed that it was possible to change, and gave fans the courage to be different…
So how about shaking up your workplace with some bold attitudes and brave new alter egos?
Whether you wish to become an inspirational leader, an engaging public speaker or a first-rate salesperson, don’t just wait for that magic chorus to hit – please get in contact with us today!
Learn more about LDL Sales Training, and Management Training.
