#420:Earth, Wind and Fire, ‘That’s the Way of the World’

COLUMBIA, 1975

My sweet (and also devilish) long-term companion, Rheumatoid Arthritis, is gnawing at my joints making it painful to type. I shall keep this brief brief to save me from unnecessary pain and you, dear reader, from unnecessary words.

This album was originally written as the soundtrack of a movie about a struggling music producer. Earth, Wind & Fire would serve as ‘the band’ being produced. When EWF saw the first cut of the movie, they knew it was going to bomb. Obviously. Watch this trailer: 

**This feels like every job interview I have had this year..love the enthusiasm on the other side.**

BACK TO THE ALBUM: Even though the movie sucked, the soundtrack was good. They pivoted and decided to release the album before the movie. When the movie was released, the album had already reached No.1 on the Billboard 200. The fact that this album served as the soundtrack was received as merely incidental. 

This album is considered one of the best soul albums ever made. It starts with Shining Star and moves fluidly between instrumental funk songs, ballads and soul grooves. One song highlighted is ‘Reasons,’ a song I only know because Will Smith sings it in his drunken and anaphylactic stupor in Hitch. 

 What strikes me as important is that the band knew that the album was good enough to stand on its own even though it was written to be part of that dud of a movie. Earth, Wind and Fire, specifically leader and singer Maurice White, really knew how to pivot. 

Pivoting in business is simply to adjust the strategy without adjusting the vision. It is the ability to change, to re-evaluate and to remain humble when things come up. Pivoting is a creative practice. It requires imagination and curiosity. 

Too often, I spend my time on a project and when the outside details go south (like how it is packaged, who is publishing it, when it will be released), I panic and I don’t white knuckle the ownership over my section to repurpose it or pivot it. 

In my past relationships with friends and romantic partners, I wonder how I have pivoted and have not. In my career, where is my imagination falling short in creating solutions? In my spirituality, am I humble enough to pivot? 

Pivoting is what the people who inspire us those most do. They do it effortlessly making it seem like this was their plan all along. It is why Earth, Wind and Fire still performs today sells out Red Rocks every tour. It is also why people like Questlove take time to make documentaries about them. 

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Top songs: The whole album is worth the listen. ‘Tis only 38 minutes long! You can do it.