It’s really a tie between talent and will. I have seen gifted, gifted artists that are lethargic with respect to— If their audience is 46 people, they’re happy. There’s a place and a great respect for that. That’s an artist of all talent and no will in my view. I don’t mean blind ambition when I say will. I mean will to find out, “OK. I want to have this experience. I want to see where this is going to take me. I want to be open to change. I want to be open to interpretation and input and all those things that go with succeeding.”

So I really do think it’s an even split. If the core gift is not there, all the will in the world can’t do a thing. That’s the frustrating part of our job. I meet human beings who are artists that I absolutely, as people, adore. It tears my heart out sometimes if, for example, we don’t end up doing something together with them. That’s why it’s so important that the gift or the talent is there along with the will.

I think the first thing if you want to succeed in the business of music is to be authentic. If you don’t really feel it, and if it looks like a business where people make lots of money and have fancy cars and big houses, and that’s your reason, it’s not the right one. To get from the mailroom to the CEO’s chair, it’s a combination of business acumen and empathy.

You’re dealing in a commodity that’s not a commodity. You’re actually selling and marketing something, and nurturing something, that’s an intellectual property in a person’s mind and a person’s persona. It’s not a bottle Evian. It’s not a widget. Empathy is extremely important in the business of music to have—for human beings, any human being, particularly for artists, who are fascinating and fun people to deal with.

So will is back again as a word. Empathy is very clear. And an authentic love for the music. The thing I’ll close with on that answer in terms of how you get my job and how do you go after this is to have an end zone in mind. When I was in the mailroom when I was 20 years old, I didn’t say, “I want to be CEO by the time I’m 40.” I didn’t do that. I said, “I want to be the CEO of this company, and I want to run it, because I love it—when I’m ready to.” If someone handed me that at 35, I wouldn’t have had the maturity or the wisdom, and I wouldn’t have been ready. I probably would have screwed it up.

But it’s so interesting that I never set a time limit, and I was actually 40 the year it happened. Things happen in their place and time, but I think you always have to keep the end zone in mind. Along the way, chapters will happen. Always keep one eye on the ball. I’m so happy I’m making a career in music, because I’m in touch with the fact that I wasn’t good enough as a musician to be a rock star. Can I touch, feel, and be connected with music in my life every day? Can I bring the gift of that to my four kids and to my wife, my gift of enthusiasm and love for this? Is it important to me that they see that in their father? Unbelievably so. How blessed is that?

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