Data Governance Matters

The Elevator Speech and Motown Records

Guest Host: Darwin

It may surprise people who know me to discover I like Motown music. My tastes generally run a little more to the esoteric side; the psychedelic innovators I grew up jamming with and listening to, obscure jazz, classical music, acoustic folk, but there is something infectious about the sing-a-long finger-snapping Motown sound.

The reason I mention this is because I just had a revelation while in the process of helping a colleague ‘hone’ a new elevator speech. I’ve always been considered a good communicator, the go-to guy for these sort of little tasks. It was after 5 o’clock, we had adjourned to one of my favorite places, the not-too-noisy one with the comfortable chairs, great food and classic rock tunes playing in the background. My colleague had just finished reading me his ‘first draft’ which was a 5 minute technical dissertation on his latest project. During that pause after he finished, while I was formulating my reply, I noticed we were both tapping our fingers on the tabletop in time with the background music, that great Smoky Robinson and the Miracles classic, ‘Tracks of My Tears.’

“That song was 3 minutes of music from Motown Records,” I mentioned. “The companies founder and president, Berry Gordy, had a very ‘hands on’ management style. He had many artists under contract, vocalists with tremendous range and technique, and writers of incredible talent. His message to each never varied. ‘Keep every song simple, singable by the average person, and get right to the Hook, the most memorable part of the song.’ Vocalists with over three octave ranges were always complaining his music did not challenge them, yet, he was the most successful independent record label of all time, and an astonishing percentage of his records remain classics today.”

“You need the Motown Sound and a ‘Hook.’ I continued. “When your project is implemented, what will the end benefit be for the Enterprise?” He told me, we had a Hook, and a very short time later we had a 30 second powerful and memorable message.

Our IT department needs a Berry Gordy.

I wonder if he consults…

Kumbaya, Darwin