What a Long Strategic Trip It's Been . . .

Posted by Jeff "Dire Wolf" Lucas

I would have bet dollars to doughnuts that I would not have a chance to construct a blog post that contained both the phrases "The Grateful Dead" and "The Baldrige Criteria", but I was wrong!

Management Secrets of the Grateful Dead, Story by Joshua Green in this month's Atlantic describes the pending release of the Grateful Dead archives at UC Santa Cruz.  Scholars in fields like musicology, sociology, and popular history have been chomping at the bit to get their hands on this treasure trove, but, according to Barry Barnes, business professor at Nova Southeastern University, management scholars will have plenty to contemplate as well.

I had always heard that the Dead were not only one of the most profitable acts in rock and roll history, but that they were also an incredible marketing machine with business chops that one would not expect from such counter culture icons.  For example, the Dead decided very early on not to crack down on fans taping their shows.  They knew that although they were giving away potential sales, the buzz that would be created by getting their music into many hands through tape sharing would repay them many times over, and besides, anyone engaged enough to want to tape a show was probably going to be spending money on other Dead related products and merchandise -- think an early freemium model.  

What I did not know, however, was that they were early implementers of some of our key Baldrige concepts.  Barnes states that the Dead "were masters of creating and delivering superior customer value". He describes their attention to customer focus as including an intense focus on their most loyal fans; establishing a telephone hotline to alert them to touring opportunities prior to public announcements, and holding some of the best seats for them.  While this now seems commonplace, such attention to customers was not a staple of corporate America in the late 60's and 70's. Barnes terms their attitude one of "strategic improvisation".

I highly recommend this short article (it happens to be in the same issue as Don Peck's chilling take on the recession that everyone is going to be talking about), and would like to hear about other sources of Baldrige-like wisdom from unlikely sources . . . or your favorite Dead performance.  I have to go with "Cassidy" from the 1976 Oakland Coliseum show.

Comments

[Craig Thompson]

Great post Jeff. It's always invigorating to hear stories of Baldrige approaches or business excellence in places where you'd least expect them. Sorry I can't share my favorite Dead performance, I was more of a Pink Floyd guy. I look forward to reading the full article in Atlantic.

[Luis Calingo]

Jeff, the author Tom Peters has a story to tell about one of the Grateful Dead's secrets to customer value. When asked about the early strategy of the Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia said, "We didn't want to be the best at what we did, we wanted to be the only ones who did what we did." Customers will only value your brand story if they believe that you give them something they can't get anywhere else...And my favorite Dead performance is Touch of Grey, from 1987.

[Bryan Zak]

I am not convinced the "Grateful Dead" completely knew what they were doing or if a combination of market conditions created the "perfect storm" for their success.

The link included in the blog post to Don Peck's chilling take on the recession is a must read, perhaps while your listening to some Grateful Dead in the background.

Through the Internet today you can go to a website which will play nothing but the type of music that you request. Which makes me think about the difference between technology today vs. when the Grateful Dead were getting started and what a difference there is.