Monday, July 18, 2016

Sometimes a Johnny is better than a Bobby....

New Edition is touring right now.  Here’s why that’s significant. I have been in love with New Edition since I was 13 years old. I was one of their original “Candy Girls.”  I will be 45 this year, they are still touring and I am just as excited about them as I was when I was a child. This is impactful because, as many of us “Candy Girls” know; New Edition has not had an easy time of it. The group they started with, which included Bobby Brown, did not consistently have Bobby Brown in it.  Bobby Brown was the disgruntled, uncooperative employee that many people have to re-evaluate. So what did they do? They hired someone new. It was a big change. You usually don’t want to change your crew, particularly if you grew up with them. However, when they hired Johnny Gill, a seasoned professional, he raised their stock in a major way. He literally took them, from “Boys to Men”, his signature song, which also inspired an entirely new group, by that name, that went on to HUGE success. Over the years, New Edition changed their format. They have broken off. Ralph, the lead singer, went solo. Johnny went off and became a part of LSG. Ricky, Mike, and Ronnie went off and formed BBD.  The lead singers even formed a group called, “Heads of State.” They all had great success. They have now since come back together and when they perform, it’s a beautiful collaboration of “Original” New Edition, “Johnny Gill” New Edition, “Johnny Gill plus Bobby has gotten his life together” New Edition, “BBD serving that Poison” New Edition, “Ralph telling you how sensitive he is while also letting you know that he’s got to do what he’s got to and let you go” New Edition, “Johnny is encouraging you to put on that red dress and slip on those high heels” New Edition. It is an amazing thing that they’ve been able to do.


The lesson here for all of us, whether you own a business or not, is that we must adapt to what life serves us. We have to adjust when things change.  Look at what happened when they made the BIG change of replacing Bobby with Johnny; the group was better. The group was stronger. The group was able to tour in 2016 when they had begun touring in the very early 80s. Don’t be afraid of change or of changing your entire format. Don’t fear what could happen wrong because SO much can happen right.

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