Rock stars

Every once in a while I get tagged with the name "rock star". In many cases it's meant to be a compliment. After all,  rock stars get in front of lots of people and share something they are interested in. They perform with passion, and always leave the audience satisfied but wanting just a bit more. And all of us are at least a bit selfish and vain enough to want to know that people like and appreciate us and what we do. 


But there's a down side to being considered a rock star. After all, rock stars are also famous. They are unapproachable. They don't remember who "the little people" are. And they are notoriously difficult to work with. Let me tackle each of these. 

• They are famous. Well, I suppose so - but I put on my pants, drink my beer, and brush my teeth the exact same way you do. If lots of people know my name and what I do, that's nice, but I don't know that that fact by itself does anything for me, and it certainly doesn't do anything for anyone else. 
• They are unapproachable. This one is always interesting to me - because so many of us are rock stars in different arenas, and I suspect that most of us react the same way in those arenas: "Who, me? No, I just saw something that needed doing and I'm doing it." Someone who is on the ARMA Board is doing the exact same thing that someone on the local chapter board is doing - and if you don't think (or act like) you're a rock star to your local chapter, why would you think I'm a rock star or expect me to behave like one?
• They don't remember the "little people." This one has some merit. I think the problem for most of us is that if I speak to an audience of 300, or serve on the Board for an association of 11,000, I have to remember 300 or 11,000 names while you only have to remember one. That's certainly not an excuse, but it makes it more difficult. I do better at remembering names of folks with whom I've interacted more meaningfully - send me an email and I'm much more likely to remember that, and by extension, you. 
• They are difficult to work with. The most famous example of this is Van Halen's notorious request for a bowl of M&M's with the brown ones removed (see http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/vanhalen.asp). The reason for that was that rock shows are complicated to stage and involve tons of equipment, lighting, etc. It was meant to demonstrate that the local production crew had actually read the entire technical rider to the contract. If there were brown M&Ms, the odds were that something else had been missed and the entire contract rider would need to be reviewed line by line to ensure that the floor load limit could handle the weight of the show, etc. Now, if you *are* working with someone who is difficult or "high-maintenance", my question to you is, why? There is nobody so good at anything that you should need to put up with "rock-star-itis". 

This is exacerbated at things like large conferences, when some rock stars are running around with their hair on fire, going from board meeting - to six different social events - to speak - to six more events - to receive an award - etc. etc. etc. And you see us with a badge chock full o' ribbons, pins, and other shiny flashy things and you may think, "I wouldn't dream of taking their important time up with my trivial little question or comment." I say to you, balderdash. 

Again, there is nothing so important at a conference or for anyone at a conference that we can't take a minute to chat. I do try to be on time for the various events, and if I'm speaking at a session I hope you will respect others' time and let me discuss your issue with you after the session. But other than that, don't let the suit or the badge ribbons fool you. If you are a chapter officer, you're every bit as busy at a chapter meeting as I am at conference and yet you probably don't consider yourself a rock star (I hope!). Even if you aren't, you're that busy, that important, and that engaged somewhere else. 

So to conclude this long post, I hope you don't consider me a rock star: unapproachable, arrogant, and aloof. That's not why I do all I do for ARMA, AIIM, etc.; I do those things because they need doing and someone somewhere has graciously allowed me the opportunity to try to provide some small measure of value. If you ever do see me acting like a rock star, I hope you'll call me out on it. I still pay my chapter and association dues every year the same as you do.