I just wrote and recorded a song about the economy entitled "FISCAL CLIFF" - Fiscal Cliff tells the story of a broker who reflects upon his life of spreads, swaps, junk bonds etc. and decides to end it all by jumping the Fiscal Cliff! He seeks help with his condition in the form of a consultation with “The God of Economics” who reads him a prayer, which changes his mind. Finally, he pulls back from jumping the cliff and repents, becoming a sustainable business person! It seems that this story has been key in engaging people with the song. It's an unusual twist on the recession, which is partly matched by reality. The Independent recently reported nearly a 10% rise in suicides in the recession, with 85% of cases involving men.
The HR story of how we hired the band and got them to peak performance in under two weeks is interesting and nobody jumped the cliff in the process. I knew I would need great people to make this song and the accompanying film, so I concentrated on hiring the right people to perform on the song. The hiring process was more like that in the famous film "The Blues Brothers" than anything that the CIPD would recognise! It turned out to be very effective. I needed a banker, a rock star and some great musicians, so I set about moulding a motley crew of disparate individuals into a rock band.
I first called my friend Bernie Tormé, ace rock guitarist, who has played with Ozzy Osbourne and Ian Gillan. I asked if he wanted to get involved with a Spinal Tapesque song about macro-economics. He sounded unmoved down the telephone. I pointed out that I would have to hire his studio and he may have to personally smash a monument of The Bank of England / Stonehenge with a burning guitar and he replied "I'm in".
HR Selection Lesson : Find out what motivates people and give it to them
I then needed a banker who could sing. I have a good friend who is a Swiss banker and who is something of a poet, so I gave him a call. Trouble was that he had never sung in a band, but he was immediately up for it. Turned out that he thought of a great melody for the song. More importantly he brought attitude.
HR Selection Lesson : Attitude often outweighs skill
I wanted half the band to be female for balance. I had lined up my good friend Vicky, the drummer from my spoof hard rock band "Genital Sparrow". Unfortunately her boss at the O2 shop said she had to work on the day of the recording so I lost her from the band! Shame on O2 – they could have had a hit! But where would I get a cool female bass player from? I put an ad up on Facebook that read:
"Desperately seeking female bass player for recording of a rock song about the economy to be broadcast on the BBC. Full details supplied on application"
Just 30 minutes later I had a reply from someone I did not know, but which proved she had read the 'job spec' accurately:
"Hi there. I have tits and play bass, upright and electric if you're looking for someone. My biog is on my bands' site scarlettraeband.co.uk Regards Andee"
I immediately checked the website and found an extremely professional musician who also proved to be a very capable musical director.
HR Selection Lesson : Read the brief and respond to it quickly and clearly!
Teamwork was much easier than it should have been. The 'band' came together in Folkestone for a one hour practice, two weeks before the recording session, during which time we played the song in several different 'genres' including a rockabilly and country and western version! Andee the bass player had not met any of us. The singer and drummer only knew me. None of them knew Bernie Tormé. The rehearsal took place in the entrance hall of Andee's house, with the drummer jammed into a music room and the rest of us standing around in the entrance to her house. On the day, it went like a dream. It's really all down to selecting people with attitude and talent and letting them do the rest. I could not have wished for a better result from the team. The whole experience was an object lesson in teamwork.
HR Teamwork Lesson : Select the right people and engage them with the work and the teamwork takes care of itself
We had to fit the recording of the song and the making of the video into one short day, starting at 10 am and finishing at 4.45pm. This was some going. We also had to take the "Stonehenge" monument I made to a churchyard, set light to it and smash it with a burning guitar. It's the usual stunt for an economics song in my experience! We only had one chance to get this right on film. I was helped out by Val and Errol Whitter of i54newmedia who are consummate professionals in making the film. Check the results out at Slideshare – Fiscal Cliff. This includes the movie and Simon Heath's superb illustrations, who I'm taking to New York shortly on a corporate innovation summit.
And finally, a word from Dr Andrew Sentance. Andrew is a former member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee who played the song at his recent garden party. He commented:
"Fiscal Cliff follows in the tradition of other rock songs inspired by the economy, like "Money" by Pink Floyd and "Selling England by the Pound" by Genesis. But it's the first rock song I've heard mentioning Quantitative Easing and John Maynard Keynes!"
About the Blogger: Peter Cook leads The Academy of Rock - Keynote events with a difference and Human Dynamics - Business and organisation development, training and coaching. Contact via peter@humdyn.co.uk His latest book "The Music of Business" is available direct or in the usual places.
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