Small Talk

June 15, 2011 »

The Power of Music

It was an exciting day today for the owners of Pandora, the widely used personalized internet service, as they ventured out to the public markets.  Investors jumped on newly issued shares, and their highly anticipated IPO has earned them a $3 billion market valuation.  These funds will enable the company to offer new and distinctive services for its current registered user base of more than 90 million people. 

Music lovers like me rejoice with this news.  The influx of capital should secure the company’s existence for some time, giving it enough runway to figure out the business model that can support its operations.

As readers of this blog may know, I’ve spent a lot of time worrying about HealthTalker’s runway over the years.  The challenges of growing organically, adding clients, managing staff, and producing results is an even scarier endeavor when you always have an eye on a diminishing bank account!  Fortunately, we’ve pushed through many of those issues, and I know that we’re here to stay for a while. 

Pandora’s IPO puts music in a new context for me.  Over the last five years, I’ve logged thousands of road miles driving from Boston through the pharmaceutical corridor and back.  And I realize that music has been my steady companion, and it has provided me with inspiration, motivation and perspective, both about my business and personal life.

So in honor of Pandora’s IPO, I felt compelled to highlight how music - and in particular, Bruce Springsteen’s music - has made a difference for me in running HealthTalker.  I could list dozens of songs, but here are just a few that are most meaningful to me, and the words that deliver on that inspiration:

Badlands  (a solid description of what it’s been like!)
Talk about a dream, try to make it real, you wake up in the night, with a fear so real, you spend your life waiting for a moment that just don’t come, well don’t waste your time waiting!

The Promised Land (a classic, all about keeping the faith)
I’ve done my best to live the right way, I get up every morning and go to work each day, but your eyes go blind, your blood runs cold, sometimes I feel so weak I just want to explode….but I believe in the promised land

We Shall Overcome (keeping the faith, day after day)
Darlin’ here in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome, some day

Working on a Dream (four words say it all)
I’m working on a dream, though sometimes it feels so far away, I’m working on a dream, and how it will be mine someday

Land of Hope and Dreams (one of my all-time favorites, totally inspiring with themes of faith and reward)
Tomorrow there’ll be sunshine, and all this darkness past, big wheels roll through fields where sunlight streams, meet me in the land of hope and dreams

So what kind of music inspires you?  Which artists - or which songs - have pulled you through? 

Now go crank up your favorite Pandora station, and make it happen!

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