The opener

Most corporate and career mentoring sucks.

I wish it looked more like the music industry.

Earlier this summer my wife and I went to a concert. It was a smaller show (~1,000) and we bought the tickets because we've enjoyed the artist's music for the last 15 years.

But at 7:30 pm when the show was supposed to start, someone else walked on the stage. NOT the musician whose name was on our ticket stub.

It was the opener.

An opener is an earlier career musician - often an up-and-comer. The opener gets less time (about 30 minutes in case) to play a few of their key songs and try to win over some new fans.

Then the opener said "It's so amazing to be on this tour with [Headliner]. I'm a huge fan of his work and he's been a mentor to me since I was 18 years old"

Think about the opportunity an opener gets:

• to play in front of far larger crowds than they could draw themselves.

• night after night watch an established and successful artist perform

• to travel with the headliner and build a personal relationship.

• make money primarily off the reputation of the headliner

No one attending knew this guy. His name wasn't anywhere on the promotional material. No one showed up for him.

The headliner is very generous to his mentee. Sharing his audience and fan base with an unknown artist. Allowing this up-and-comer to tag along on your national tour and give them the experience to play the biggest shows of their career.

Could you imagine what this would look like for you in your career? Having a mentor let you ride their coattails. Allow you to step into rooms and opportunities far bigger than you could handle on your own. Let you watch them work, day in day out, on the road, through a variety of circumstances. All the while giving you to grow your reputation and fan base.

I'd love to see more "Headliner-Opener" relationships in the business world.

Have a great weekend

Sawyer