Learn Not to Say “No”

Are you old enough to remember how Crosby, Stills and Nash made such a splash?

Critics and other musicians of the time had trouble comparing them to anybody else on the music scene in 1968, and could only refer to them as products of the groups from which they’d come (The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and The Hollies, respectively), and with fond recollections of previous masters of harmony (The Everly Brothers).

Do you have that kind of novelty in your organization these days? How do you keep up with it?

Take a lesson from Bill Halverson, the engineer who worked with Crosby, Stills and Nash, and with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young:

“[I] learned how to record more than one thing without a lot of mikes and tracks. I learned not to say ‘no’ and I learned to try anything and I think that kept me the job with them. I was willing to try and I really encouraged them to try. We rarely said ‘no’ and I think we broke a lot of new ground.”

-From “Long Time Gone”, David Crosby and Carl Gottlieb

It’s bleak days in a lot of companies right now, with much of the focus on survival, but the glory days of novelty and innovation will surely return.

Meanwhile, practice not saying “no”, and keep your eye out for writers who share your courage. You’ll need them to help tell your story when you break new ground.

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