Feist: A beautiful voice and an oblivious tribe leader?
I’ve been spending some time listening to the audiobook version of Tribes: We Need You To Lead by Seth Godin. In the book, Godin talks about how people inside organizations and around the world are all connected, and need to be connected by tribes. These tribes are the cirlces of people centred around a leader – someone who is creative, confident and who the members of the tribe look up to, follow and emulate.
Godin cites The Grateful Dead as a key example of how a tribe can lead to success in any industry. The Dead didn’t rise to fame by climbing to the top of the charts with a hit single. They relied on the Deadheads, their legion of unwavering fans, to see their live shows and buy their albums. They were a tribe who helped the band be successful by loyally attending shows and honestly spreading their love of the band among their friends. This, says Godin, is the power of tribes and the mark of leaders – people who see value in something and want to share it in an unselfish way.
Feist, despite her mainstream success with 1-2-3-4, also depends on her loyal fans to keep things active in her career. She rewards fans by sharing personal anecdotes at shows and other gestures that tell fans “hey, I know you, I know where you’re from and I care about things you care about.” By rights, she’s an accessible star.
She has a significant amount of influence as the leader of her own tribe. But when that power is taken for granted, as it was the night of her show in Winnipeg, it can really reflect poorly on her. Let me explain. During “Secret Heart”, Feist had her camera operator put the camera on the floor, pointed at the back of her shoes. She then lifted each sole to reveal the words “THE PYRAMID” written on two small pieces of paper, taped to her soles.
My immediate inference was that the “secret” she was “dying to reveal” was that she was having an after-show party at The Pyramid (a popular music venue in downtown Winnipeg). Two hundred, yes, 200, other people thought exactly the same thing, and marched straight down to the Pyramid after the show.
Meanwhile, Dave McKeegan, the proprietor of said venue, was enjoying his night off by having a few beers with his friends and watching Monday Night Football. The one staff member actually at the venue called him in a panic when people began to line up outside, abuzz with chatter of when their precious tribe leader would make her appearance.
McKeegan begrudgingly made his way down to work as the fervent Feist fans poured into the Pyramid, waiting patiently for the maiden of the eve to arrive. The two staff members served drinks to fans and the ebb of conversations continued to move from hope to disbelief to anger and back again. But she did not show. Nor apparently did she intend on ever doing so.
According to a sound engineer who spoke with the artist shortly after her concert’s end, her intent was to give a shout-out to one of her favourite venues in the city. She had an early flight the next morning to skirt off to Regina to prepare for her next show. However, rumors of her appearance at The Pyramid were going around before her show commenced, so her intent is muddled in the sea of speculation. It’s possible she at one point intended on showing up and then decided against it after an energetic but tiring performance. Touring takes a lot out of artists. I will give her that.
But her failure as a tribe leader is her apparent broken promise to her loyal fans, who were eager to make a connection. Successful tribe leaders, as Godin says, are people who are willing to converse with the tribe, share ideas and give of themselves as members of that tribe.
At the very least, if she felt unwell or too exhausted to make an appearance at The Pyramid, she could have sent someone to inform people at the venue she wasn’t going to be there.
I think this is where common courtesy meets the mark of a leader. The more we all understand the influence we have on people as leaders of our own tribes, the better leaders we will become and the more successful we will be.
I think I’m going to send Feist a copy of Dale Carnegie’s How To Win Friends and Influence People. Just for kicks.
Not sure what this post has to do with anything. You should probably stop writing.
Thanks for your input – but I think your comment only motivates me to keep writing until you do get it.
Cheers,
Doug
I agree with dontgetit. I don’t get it. Please don’t keep writing. People still won’t get it.
I don’t blame her. I would want to get out of Winnipeg as quick as possible even if it meant going to Regina.
i dont get what a creative guise even is. if you can’t offer anything useful instead of your opinion you should stop blogging.
/girl from winnipeg
You have cut me deep, anonymous girl from Calgary (via Winnipeg). I am shutting down my pointless blog.
Wait a minute. Aren’t blogs just everyone in the world’s opinions? Aren’t I entitled to that? This is the Internet, after all. If I wanted to make a blog about rainbows and unicorns, who would stop me?
This blog needs more pictures of Paris Hilton’s vagina.
Just saying: Paris Hilton’s Vagina = hits.
It’s clear that the mixup was not her fault, as her intentions were clear and genuine from the explanation, and fans just jumped the gun.
At the show I saw she had mom and dad written on the bottom of her shoes. What was I supposed to take this to mean? As a rational individual I took it to mean ‘hey mom and dad’ or ‘thanks mom and dad’. Not ‘my mom and dad have secrets to tell everyone, go rush their house’.
You can’t seriously be mad at Feist that 200 people over reacted in a blind fervor can you? It’s unfortunate for those who thought something was going to happen, but from all accounts, it’s not even implied that she was thinking of showing up there.
I’m not a moron and I understand your point and it’s well thought out and might make more sense had there been any sort of backing for Feist actually making the trip.
Gord, you’re right. I went back to Feist’s site the other day and I read the post on her tour blog about the Winnipeg show. Whoever is writing entries in there (and I do think they should identify themselves, I hate faceless entities) apologized for misleading people into thinking something was happening at the Pyramid. The point of my post remains, though, that people with that kind of influence should be careful of the messages they are sending out to their followers.
Sa’ll good. I wasn’t looking for a retraction or anything, just appropriate blame. And while I love Feist, I’d be the first in line to complain right along with you. Though as I said above, some people just take things the wrong way sometimes, and so it serves these people right for taking cues where there were none.
Anywhosit, interesting little blog, look forward to future entries.
I am a huge Feist fan and think this story is interesting – I think so celebs/artist forget the power they have with a microphone and camera. I’m sure she was just trying to make a statement or reference, but still, when you have thousands of adoring fans watching your every move with interest you need to think out the various interpretations of that message. Ah well, she is still fabulous and I’m sure her loyal fans will forgive her, her music and spirit are too good to punish for long!