The Importance of Meeting People Where They Are

L.A. Reid: A Case Study

L.A. Reid is a very successful talent manager and record label manager, the one who discovered Pink, Rihanna, Justin Beiber, and many others. He made his own record label and has since managed several others, an amazing feat for anyone.

However, Reid was not always successful in his actions, and most of that boils down to a lack of understanding of other people’s abilities, knowledge, and social relationships.

The first event that demonstrates this tendency is when Reid and his songwriter left to start their own record label. They were previously very successful, writing and producing songs that remain famous to this day. They had their first band signed up, they gave them material that had seen a lot of people become very famous, and their first album flopped. While they originally blamed their distributor, they realized that their talent wasn’t up to performing their songs at the level they were expecting. 

The second demonstrative event was when Reid wanted to have his record company record a movie soundtrack. He didn’t know anyone in the industry and relied on the connections of someone he had contacted to smooth over the deal. He said that his attitude toward contacting people in charge of movie deals was essentially “You should be glad that I’m contacting you.” While this seems arrogant, it also demonstrates a lack of understanding that the people in charge of making movie soundtracks were not going to recognize the producers’ names, especially if they were under a new company name.

The third demonstrative event was when Arista Records agreed to buy his company in exchange for supplanting his mentor Clide Davis, who helped him get the movie soundtrack deal that helped his company immensely. 

A lot of people in the industry were very resentful of the change in leadership, and Reid has said that he realized that he made a horrible mistake with the way that he went about things. This entire situation happened because he failed to consider the social consequences of such an abrupt change in leadership, especially with someone that he had such a close relationship with. He believed that people would be happy about a new person being in charge, without considering that people had relationships and attachments to Davis, and so they would be upset at such a rapid and unexpected change.

Being aware of others’ capabilities, knowledge, and feelings are very important for those looking to start their own businesses. This awareness will help avoid relationship-ruining behavior and tailor your plans based on what is happening.