This guest post comes from Ethan Kaplan who blogs at blackrimglasses.com.
Last night at an event I had to introduce myself to a few people and as I’ve been doing since I left WMG, it goes something like:
“I worked as the head of technology at Warner Bros. Records and Warner Music Group until I left in January”
That is a pedigree origin story.
A friend who I was with admonished me however: “Tell the real story!”
Now, the real story I’ve always been a bit embarrassed by, and proud of.
“I ran a fan site for R.E.M. since I was 16, and started working at their label in 2005.”
That is the passion origin story.
This begs the question: what matters most, pedigree or passion? Is it better to be defined by what you did, or why you did it?
I don’t have the answer to that.
But I suppose I’ll have to get used to answering the question of “what do you do?” with “well, when I was 16, I was really bored one evening….”
