I like the reality TV shows that give people a shot they wouldn’t otherwise get.
Now, of course, I would never waste my time watching them, but I do enjoy the short highlight reels.
You see these people, who don’t have the right look or haven’t had the right opportunity, with their phenomenal talent, blow away the audience and the judges.
This way people like Paul Potts and Susan Boyle got attention and got launched.
And these shows have also produced top artists like Carrie Underwood.
I like these shows offer talented people their shot.
Yet, of course, winning a talent show is only the beginning.
There is an enormous difference between being a performer doing other peoples stuff other peoples way, and an artist who creates their own stuff and do it their way.
Say what you will about Kanye West, but he does it his way.
He is a creative genius, and he has created an empire doing it his way.
And it is the artists at the top who set the bar for the aspirants.
The game resets, you are playing on the big stage now, and you are required to do a lot more than just perform.
It is the same in most careers and to an extreme on Wall Street.
You show up at Goldman Sachs and everyone was a 4.0.
You might have been the most accomplished kid in your school or home town or wherever, but now you are employee number xxxxx, just another former 4.0.
The bar has been raised.
It’s not good enough to perform like someone else, it is up to you to build your brand doing it your way.
We all won the genetic lottery and we are lucky we were given a shot.
Yet, like a reality TV star performing for votes, winning the talent show is merely the beginning.
At every point it is up to us to decide whether we settle for being a small-show star, or step up our game.