April 24th was a big day for me and my wife Samantha. We love concerts and theatre and on this particular Sunday night, we saw Van Morrison in concert. Van, a well-deserved member of the Rock Hall of Fame, was in great voice and brought a high energy and fun show to Alpharetta Georgia, one of only 3 concerts that he did in the U.S. this year. As he is the absolute favorite artist of Samantha’s, it was a bucket list item for her, so I ponied up the aftermarket excessive price for tickets up close.
So many of the classic rock acts are no longer able to re-produce the sounds (or energy) that they did in the 60s and 70s but Van was certainly not in that category. After about 80 minutes of nearly continuous music (he doesn’t say much, one song immediately after another), he launched into G-L-O-R-I-A, a rock staple. He was playing a harmonica with a hand-held microphone and just sort of drifted off the back of the stage. Meanwhile, the band continued playing for another 10 minutes. I figured this was to give Van a rest before the finale; he had yet to play Into the Mystic and Tupelo Honey, two of his biggest hits, so those were certainly the big finish. The band finished G-L-O-R-I-A with a flourish and then left the stage. Ah, this is where they wait for us to cheer and bring them back for an encore. But I noticed that they had walked off with their music sheets and instrument cases. Hmmm, that would seem to indicate they were done. And in fact, they were. By the time the band finished that last song, Van had already left the venue. I later learned that this was common for him; leaving his fans wanting more.
So I was thinking, as business professionals, should we leave everything on the stage? Play every hit, sing two encores? Or is there a strategic advantage to holding something back? After processing this for several weeks, I came to this conclusion; if you are engaged to provide a service and there are elements of a job you are performing that are critical to the success of those hiring you, you leave nothing out. If you are asked a question, you provide all relevant information or wisdom that you have on that topic. But while you should always provide all relevant information, you don’t have to go around dispersing that in situations where it’s not called for. If you are called on to provide some ideas, you don’t have to give up every idea you have. If you are asked for your opinion, you don’t have to share everything you might be thinking.
A Grounded individual will be sure to produce all relevant and critically important facts related to that situation without giving away all of their knowledge and wisdom.