WHAT DID DAVID FOSTER TEACH ME?

Last night I watched a documentary with my beautiful bride about David Foster. I’ve known of him since my dad is a huge Foster fan, however, I’d never gotten to know the man. As we watched the documentary, I was not only captivated but also inspired. I absolutely loved the success he had. I identified with his temperament and attitude and was completely energized. I wasn’t quite as energized as I am after a cycle, but I was pretty damn close.

Foster was very unique. As a boy he was a musical virtuoso. I can’t in any way relate to that but I do admire that he still put in the work. He traveled and had early aspirations to follow in the Beatles steps. When he was younger was stuck out to me was that he knew what he wanted. His goal when he was young was to be a studio musician. That was the goal and he went after it like a missle. He eventually landed a job which opened his eyes to his next goal.

As a studio musican, he was exposed to what he called “the guys behind the glass.” What he was referring to was the “producers.” He watched how they put together the songs, talked to the artists and basically created these musical works of art. He was hooked, he wanted more and that’s exactly what he went after.

It wasn’t long till he was producing. While I do love all of his accomplishments, and they are crazy amazing, what sticks out to me the most was a conversation Foster had with Quincy Jones. David wanted to show him what he was working on and gave him a tape but then told him, “track 4 is rough, skip that one. Track 7 isn’t mixed well, skip that one. Track 12 is rough but could be good.” Quincy stopped him talking and said, “David, when you hand somebody something with your name on it, it better best represent you, period.”

David walked away from that conversation understanding that when you deliver a product, it better be ready to represent you. You better be proud of it because your name is on it.

This conversation was huge for me. I feel many times for me I want to get to the finished product instead of creating something I’m truly proud of. I think what happens for me is that I want to please people and make it easy. What happens when you do that is you create mediocre work and no gets inspired by mediocrity.

I finished watching that documentary with a feeling of, “I’ve missed it so many times.” I know that I’m good at finishing projects and task. I’m happy to see it to the end. I don’t like to start something I can’t finish. However, life is more than just finishing. I want my life and work to be inspiring. Which means, I need to push back more, I need to get the best out of people more. I need to “produce” better. I need to be confident in the work that I can see. I need to be open and put in the work to know what is going to work.

I feel I made myself 1% better if not more by watching the David Foster story. I do believe greatness awaits me and I reckon, looking back, this idea of putting out a great product is going to resonate more than I realize.

Now, let’s go make something great.