Breakfast of Champions (The 2018 NAMM Show): Joe Lamond, Intro
The 2018 NAMM Show kicked off with “Breakfast of Champions,” featuring a series of up-close interviews with industry thought leaders. This NAMM U Breakfast Session covered the importance of taking risks and began with its host, NAMM President and CEO Joe Lamond, discussing the critical role of risk-taking in advancing the music products industry.
“At some point, you gambled on a new idea, product or service, and that’s why you’re here,” Lamond said. “You had to ask yourself some really tough questions: what products to bet the farm on, how much to invest in that new business or when to undergo an expansion.
“It seems to me there’s a new seismic shift in business pretty much all the time now. So how do we approach the subject of risk as individuals, as companies and maybe even as an industry?
“I often think of Leo Fender who began as a radio repairman, only to take a chance on the electric guitar. Or Mr. Kakehashi of Roland, who came from the humblest of beginnings and single-handedly changed the world with his risk-taking. More recently, someone like our friend Chuck Surack, who not too long ago was driving around in a Volkswagen van, launching his fledgling business, Sweetwater.
“Now, in hindsight, their stories all seem so neat and orderly, don’t they? But just think of the risks. Think of the sleepless nights and the long odds that they faced, just like so many others who went on to change the industry. These are people just like you and me, and now, we know them as icons. They took the bet. They took the chance, with absolutely no assurance of success.
“And still, I don’t know about you, but it seems so easy to leave here and get focused on the urgent, not the important, when we get back next week to the day to day. It’s easy to forget that we need to keep taking chances to grow our businesses and to grow the industry. And more than anything else, it’s easy to forget that the most successful businesses got where they are by making some tough bets, even against uncertain odds.”
Watch the interviews:
Pat Quilter and John Andrews, QSC