The World Tour – Leadership lessons from failure
How do you plan and organise the greatest Rock’n’Roll tour on the planet when you have a £250 000 hole in your budget, a ‘reliable track record of failure’, only two hits to your name in 25 years and a cult following that barely stretches beyond the UK? Well it all comes down to the same things that you need to do in business:
- Have a very clear vision and spread this to your stakeholders
- Surround yourself with people who can and will do whatever it takes to succeed
- Engage, excite, motivate, recognise and reward them along the way
- Execute the project meticulously – all the small things as well as the big picture
This is exactly what English eccentric cult punk rocker John Otway attempted to do...
You’ve probably seen or heard of Dragons Den? This is the live and
dangerous story of how the greatest Rock'n'Roll tour in the world failed
with transferable lessons for businesses, entrepreneurs and people trying
to make new things happen.
Peter and John, busking and playing at corporate leadership events at Pfizer and Brands Hatch
We chartered an A340 Airbus, tried to fill it with 300 people, to play the greatest rock venues on the planet, taking in Liverpool’s Cavern, New York Central Park and The Carnegie Hall, Las Vegas, Tahiti, Sydney Opera House, Shanghai, Dubai and London on a record breaking tour that would see a birth, death, marriage and a car crash, although not necessarily in that order…. This was a massive undertaking which eventually failed in a comedy of errors on the same scale as classic spoof rockumentaries 'This is Spinal Tap' and 'The Blues Brothers'. However this monumental cock-up contains valuable lessons that are directly transferable to most company’s experience of leading and managing projects. Indeed, sometimes failure teaches us more potent lessons about success than best practice! Some of the remarkable things that happened on the tour include:
- How and why John Otway turned down much needed assistance
from Sir Bob Geldof
- How the team hired a jet that was too big to
take off from the airport, creating the ‘un-Rock’n’Roll
itinerary’ John Lennon Airport – Rotherham – JFK
- How we got a prime time slot on BBC Radio 2 and then failed to sell the ultimate Rock’n’Roll fantasy
experience to 11 million listeners
- How we booked the Sydney Opera House for a punk
rock concert, having been turned down by the Carnegie Hall, Madison Square
Gardens and CBGB’s
- How the President of Tahiti was to host an official welcome
to an ex-dustman from Aylesbury
Listen to a Mini Audio Overview of this extraordinary project.
We offer engaging events that explore the front of house and backstage lessons of this tour with transferable lessons in business strategy, marketing, HR, teamwork, psychology, finance, PR, project management, creativity and innovation and so on. Just consider what your company could gain from this:
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Practical lessons about project execution from the greatest Rock’n’Roll failure on the planet
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How you can lead your projects successfully as a result of this
- Greater levels innovation and entrepreneurship in your company
- How to build winning teams and motivate them to succeed
- Sales, marketing and PR skills
We’ll show you how we did this and relate the lessons to your people in ways that will engage, inspire and call them to action. We have delivered events to several business schools, Pfizer, The CIPD, Chartered Management Institute and Chartered Institute of Marketing.
View the Pfizer Aftershow - A cameo performance delivered after the keynote inputs - Not quite the same as a Prince concert as the lighting was rather less awe inspiring! Nevertheless, it was judged to be the best event in a month long run of events. Read what Pfizer thought of this.
Read the underground story of the World Tour - hear how John Otway refused to partner with Sir Bob Geldof, how the travel agent lost 30% of existing paid up seat sales and other astonishing events that led to project meltdown: THE UNDERGROUND STORY
See the moment when John Otway became successful, due to falling on to an amplifier, injuring vital parts, on the Old Grey Whistle Test
