“HAVE YOU ATTAINED FAME BASED ON WORK YOU KNOW TO BE ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS?”

PROFESSIONAL REFLECTIONS
After reading the quote in my previous blog, how are your tracks? Shaking? Quaking? Mine are blown away. Don’t you wish you could write like that? What are your thoughts? WAIT! Don’t tell me yet. Hold them until the end.

There are at least 2 parts to the quote I want to address: (1) fame based on work you know to be absolutely worthless, and (2) being regarded as distinguished by people incapable of distinguishing.

IS THERE ANY INTEGRITY TO ATTAINING FAME?
Do you know anyone who has attained fame and recognition without earning it the ole’ fashioned way? Of course you do. Just consider the celebrities who grab the headlines or write books they didn’t write that immediately become best-sellers. If you create the right YouTube video and, if it goes viral, you can have fame thrust upon you.

Are these famous people a flash in the pan or for real? Many don’t care, because how ever they achieved fame didn’t matter; they’re already laughing on each trip to the bank! Reputation, character, and integrity are of lesser importance than "fame" and money.

How does this happen? It’s an artifact of our culture. Celebrity worship is deeply ingrained. And, unfortunately, this artifact has infected the workplace, regardless of your profession. But there have always been cases where colleagues are recognized or promoted or have otherwise attained fame without truly deserving it.

So what? Were Salieri’s words on target? Kinda. But his work wasn't totally worthless. It is still being played on YouTube videos, as Julia Petrakis brought to my attention:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_Q3dlQZt_E&feature=player_embedded# !

So where’s the integrity in fame? As a professional, it seems clear that there are those who earn it and those who don’t? Which course have you followed in the past? More important, which one do you choose to follow in the future?

After all, whose work survived and, in fact, flourished? Whose contributions to music stood the test of time? Salieri’s or Mozart’s? Well, both are on YouTube! What do you want your legacy or epitaph to be?

Now what thoughts are racing through your brain? Have you observed evidence of Salieri’s words in your profession or elsewhere? What course should you follow?

COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC