CORE VALUES. It's what every successful company or team falls back on when making difficult decisions. Those amazing foundational elements are the north stars that guide businesses forward.
Here’s something interesting: In preparing for an event in Florida for Covanta, we realized that your core values that make Covanta a winning organization are the SAME core values that make any high functioning rock band have.
There are some incredible parallels between Covanta and rock bands. Things like Collaboration, Respect, Integrity, Customer Focus and Innovation…these are elements that rock bands MUST have in order to be successful. Great bands celebrate diversity and equity, practice physical safety and accountability, and rely on a lean mindset in order to make a career in the ever changing landscape of the music industry.
One of my favorite core values from Covana is Accountability and Respect. Musicians like myself get hired to serve the song and we have to know all aspects of the song: structure, lyrics, EVERYTHING. Because of this, musicians and drummers like all of you today, are the ultimate silo busters! But for these same reasons, we musicians can hold each other accountable.
When a band member doesn’t understand all the aspects of the music and have a 360° view, the whole song can come crumbling down! But when the band works together and doesn’t only focus on his or her parts alone, we can all be there to support each other during a performance.
Without musical accountability, some band members might slack off in their practicing, which will detail the entire show! The best bands keep each other accountable both ON and OFF the stage.
When we break free of silos and boundaries to work together and respectfully collaborate, and keep each other accountable, the greater the end product will be, whether it’s music, services, or physical product!
Celebrate YOUR company's core values, and rest assured that your favorite rock band has similar core values (whether they know it or not!).
