Post caption
We’ll revisit Michael many times I imagine. But what pulls Michael over the top was his refusal, liberation focus, and purpose. It drove to catalogue now worth ~$2billion alone.
For you… revisit why you started, revisit what’s fueling you, keep asking why until you get to something beyond you.
Again, Jafaar Jackson, bravo.
Michael is one of the biggest, most powerful, and pluralistic brands of this lifetime.
Follow for more. Want to go deeper on pushing your strategic thinking forward? Comment “Differ”
Until next time…✨🫶🏽
Transcript
In 1984, Time magazine wrote that there is Michael Jackson, and then there is everybody else. But here is how he turned it into a position that no one else has come close to. Number one, refusal. In early nineteen eighty three, MTV refused to play Billie Jean. And then CBS president Better Yetnikov threatened MTV and said, I'm pulling everything we have off the air. MTV played that video by March. But Michael's own refusal ran deeper than Yetnikov's threat. He refused to be average. He refused to stop at his comfort limit. And the refusal worked because the work was top tier excellent. Michael had refined his craft so far past anyone else's level that excluding him made the gatekeepers look broken. The pluralism integrating gospel, funk, rock, r and b all held one body of worse. And it was part of why the work couldn't be ignored. No one else was operating at the highest level across that many traditions at once. Refusal only works when your absence worst gatekeepers more than your presence. The takeaway here for you is are you trying to fit a category or building worse so excellent that excluding you damages the people doing the excluding? And number two, liberation. South African artist Luis Obala said, you either dreamed of being a freedom fighter or you dreamed of being Michael Jackson. It is as simple as that. That has nothing to do with fame. Michael was a freedom fighter himself and pop music was the weapon. He used his platform to name the issues his audiences were living, black or white, they don't care about us, we are the world, heal the world, songs about racial injustice, institutional cruelty, famine relief, and environmental crisis. Michael gave audiences three things, hope, fight, and celebration of self. Hope that the path existed, fight because he was fighting on their behalf, and celebration of self because him standing for them meant they were worth being stood for rank not just extracted from. The deepest loyalty does not come from being entertained. It comes from being represented. The takeaway here for you is are you using your platform to amplify yourself or to amplify the people that your audience doesn't see represented anywhere else? And the final point and probably the most important was purpose. In 1980, Michael said this about his music. It's just good. Just a feeling and good. I'll say mainly god. He truly believed that his gift came from somewhere else outside of him, so he treated it as an obligation. And it is that belief that allowed him to do everything that I've covered here today for thirty years. He gave over $300,000,000 to charity in his lifetime, more than any pop star in history. The category of one is the consequence of purpose. Serving something bigger is always going to build a position that no one else can rebuild. As we complete this short mini series on Michael, it will not be our last. The final takeaway for you is what is bigger than your worse? You find that and you find everything else. There is no one that comes close. See you on the next episode.
