A LETTER FROM CHRIS SUAREZ

WHAT GOES AROUND/COMES AROUND

This past week we decided to take our girls to see Justin Timberlake here in Seattle.  It was a sold out show in front of 18,000 fans.  And by fans, I mean about 10,000 screaming female teenagers, 5,000 screaming middle aged women, 2,000 screaming men, and 1,000 husbands, fathers, boyfriends, and partners that either showed up or were dragged there in support.  Which one was I?  I’ll tell you at the end of the blog.

To make it short, Justin puts on a great show. He is an incredible performer. He connects with the audience. He keeps the theatrics simple. His voice is impressive. His dance moves are what every high school aged boy and every middle aged club-going man imagines themselves looking like. I said "imagined."

Fun fact: My wife and I met in February of 2004 on Super Bowl Weekend. For two people that are not football fans, I do see both the irony and serendipity of that. The half-time performance that year was delivered by Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson - which ultimately led to the pop culture reference “wardrobe malfunction”. So you could even say that JT has been part of our relationship since day one. 

But let’s get some perspective before I share my concert take-aways. This man has been performing for 30 years. He has connected with two very different generations and stayed incredibly relevant. He started with the Mickey Mouse club alongside fellow performers Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, and Ryan Gosling. Along the way he has collected 10 Grammys, 4 Emmys, 9 Billboard Awards, delivered 5 feature films, sold over 70 million albums as a group, and over 88 million albums as a solo artist.  

Here is what I took away from the Justin Timberlake concert with my family:

Keep it simple…know what you are good at.  Execute.

He keeps the theatrics simple, allowing him to focus on his voice and his dancing - giving the attendees what they came to see. In an industry where concerts are getting more and more theatrical and visually dramatic, Justin kept it surprisingly simple. The visual effects were decent. There were some cool moments with a “floating stage” that added some dimension. But at the end of the day he got up there and gave people what they wanted - some incredible vocals and some shockingly good dance moves.

There is a lesson there for us. We tend to overcomplicate our businesses. We add theatrics to what we do, how we do it. We add seventeen tools to a process that really only needs one or two. Focus on those two or three things you need to be incredibly good at. Leave the rest to the competition. I am not saying that people don’t like theatrics. But you can build a thirty year career on getting incredibly good at just a couple things. 

Love what you do.

There were multiple moments in the show that Justin stopped for a moment to thank the range of fans that had followed and supported him for thirty years, twenty years, ten years, or recently. He recognised that he was able to do what he loved every day because of their support. And that is what it will take to do anything for thirty years, or to build any meaningful career. It will take a love for what you do or for those that you do it for. Find something to love about what you do. 

Be willing to change what needs to be changed.

Justin helped build one of the biggest boy bands in music history. He took a five year break from music to focus on acting and a movie career. He launched a solo recording career and became one of the most successful music artists in history. It was interesting to watch him in concert after seeing him in all of his phases over the past thirty years. He has never been afraid to pivot where and when needed. While staying true to what you are good at and what makes you uniquely special, don’t be afraid to make needed changes and adjust how you have built up to this point. Ask the difficult questions. Remember, it’s harder to make changes when things are going well and you are already successful. 

Be open to do things you don’t do every day.

I didn’t wake up searching for tickets to the Justin Timberlake concert. In fact, I didn’t know he had a new album. I didn’t know he was touring. I didn’t even know my wife had bought tickets, until she did. But it was special standing between my 16 year old and 13 year old daughters for the entire show. Stepping out of my highly routine Thursday night to go to a JT concert isn’t something I would do every day. When we do something we don’t do every day, it allows us to remember that. Regardless of what it is, we learn something about ourselves and those around us. You create and save a block of your memory for that moment. Time slows down when you break routine. It will feel as if you are extending the time you typically have that day or evening as well. Singing with my daughter isn’t an everyday event for me. Perhaps it should be. Surrounding myself with 20,000 screaming humans isn’t an every day event for me. I'm certain it shouldn’t be. But being open to doing things we don’t do every day will always keep us fluid and spontaneous.

Which leads me to which group I fell into at the concert. Remember those 18-24 year old’s in the 90’s that imagined their dance moves were in lock-step with Justin Timberlake? That was me. I said "imagined." That would put me somewhere in the midst of the 2,000 screaming men. But clearly, I was screaming for my daughters. The night ended with my 16 year old laying in bed in our hotel room with my wife saying, “I can’t believe that papa knew every word to every song. And I got it all on video.”  I better stay on her good side.

Chris Suarez