My Five

My wife and I play a game. When we have to travel anywhere for longer than four hours, we have to come up with the “Top Five” for something by the time the trip ends.

Something like “What are the top five cities we would live in for the rest of our lives if we had to choose?” or “If we could only eat five meals for the rest of our lives, what would those five be?”

You get it.

So here are my top five for the following question:

“If you had to be on an island, all alone, for the rest of your life, and could have ALL the albums of any five bands (or singers), what five bands music (and all their albums), would you want to have?”

Here are mine — which makes my wife throw-up in her mouth when she hears it.

1. Phil Collins — even the Disney songs
2. Boston — I could listen to Long Time at least 10 times a day
3. Queen — Freddy Mercury kept me entertained for almost a decade, and I would expect them to keep me entertained on an island for the rest of my life
4. The Eagles — I’ve taken four cross-country trips where I only listened to their albums — made the time fly!
5. Shania Twain — Gotta have some country (maybe Garth here instead)

Honorable Mentions:

1. Prince — His early stuff (the not mainstream real famous stuff) was brilliant and fun, but I would get it all on the island
2. Journey — getting a theme now, aren’t you? Yes, a child of the 1970’s and 1980's
3. Above & Beyond — okay, way more recent, but all of their music, and concerts, and mixes, and remixes
4. Meat Loaf — the stories that are told in each song — something that is not there today
5. U2 — Just because

It’s tough. Every generation always has one or two of their favorite bands.

I play this with my staff. But I ask “What are the top five traits you want in a boss?” or “Who were your worst bosses throughout your career and I must be on the list?” (almost always I am placed at #5, but have had a few #4’s because, you know, there are some bosses who just can never be knocked off that pedestal that we all have for the “best boss”).

What’s funny is that I have used the “Top 5” throughout my career.

When I was choosing a new agency (PR, Marketing, Promotions, etc.), I would always rank them. And would force the other decision makers to do the same (and then average them all out to get a mean). Didn’t mean that we used that to make the decision, but it definitely influenced it.

Just last month, we were discussing a new cyber-security product landing page and everyone was bringing up different things about what they liked/disliked. In other words, the cats were running all over the barn and there was no way to corral them.

“Let’s list, individually, the top 3 things we like and top 3 things we dislike. You have five minutes.” I shortened it from 5 to 3, but, doesn’t matter. If there are 5 people giving the feedback, the potential of 15 different “likes” could really derail the process (and if it was list 5, it went up to 25 — nope, keep it simple and quick).

Within 15 minutes, we knew what we needed to keep, discard, and what to do next.

If the company asks to gain consensus, input, advice, suggestions, and research before the hammer has to be laid down (by the dictator (leader))— the hammer won’t be needed if everyone is given the opportunity to give input and come to a general agreement.

Okay, now for the social media closing that we all use.

“Who are your favorite bands? List in the comments below and be sure to subscribe!” Ugh, I hate reading or hearing that every freaking time I interact with something of interest.