Tina Turner’s important lessons for business leaders
Dr Jana Matthews | 3 minute read | Tina Turner’s important lessons for business leaders.
What love’s got to do with it?
Tina Turner was 83 when she passed away. She was a bona fide legend in the music industry, with millions of fans. When she and Ike Turner split, she was 38 and had to go on food stamps while trying to establish herself as a solo performer in her own right. Despite all these challenges, she became one of the best-selling recording artists of all times, sold more than 150 million records and received 12 Grammy Awards. Two years ago, she sold her music catalogue, name, and image for $50M and was reported to be worth $250M when she died.
How did she do this? Quite simply, at 38 Tina decided she wanted to be a rock and roll singer and pack out stadiums, like the Rolling Stones were doing. Business leadership expert Jim Collins would call that a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal): a middle-aged woman singing Rock and Roll who was so popular that fans would buy all the tickets to the stadium, just to hear her sing.
Tina Turner got a manager who believed in her and went to work finding bookings. Tina and her band played 167 concerts in 12 months – everything from small towns to several weeks in Vegas. She did lots of radio interviews and TV guest appearances, a book, a hit album that sold over 20 million copies, and a #1 hit record What’s Love Got To Do With It. In the end she achieved her vision – she packed out stadiums night after night – performing to as many as 182,000 fans in Rio.
So – what has love got to do with it? Frankly, everything!
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Tina Turner was successful because:
She followed her passion.
Tina did what she loved – and she loved what she did – sing Rock and Roll to people who wanted to be with her while she sang, who enjoyed her shows, and were willing to pay to participate in the Tina entertainment experience.
She knew she couldn’t do it alone.
Tina got the best manager, band, and back-up singers she could find and then kept pushing them re gigs, records, bigger bookings, better shows – and they delivered because they believed in her because she always delivered.
She never wavered in her vision.
When Tina Turner was interviewing her manager, he asked her what she wanted; she said she wanted to sing rock and roll and pack out the stadiums. Later in life she noted that she loved stepping on stage and seeing all those fans – and creating something special with them. It was not the money but the opportunity to create with and for her fans that kept her going so long; she did 11 tours and 1052 concerts, the last when she was 69!
She had to play a lot of venues, but she never compromised on her definition of success: singing rock and roll to a sold-out stadium of fans. Other people might define success in terms of money, or record hits, or numbers of shows. It doesn’t matter what your vision is as long as it’s something YOU want and are willing to work hard to achieve.
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Thank you Tina Turner!
So, thanks Tina for reminding us to believe in ourselves despite the adversity we have experienced, to set big goals, to recruit people who will enable us to achieve our goals – and finally to do what we love – and love what we do – with and for our customers.