Edwyn Collins is one of my all-time favourite musicians. You might know him from his worldwide hit, A Girl Like You, but he was also the singer, songwriter and driving force behind the band Orange Juice, who had a hit called Rip It Up in the dim and distant past, as well as many other less-successful songs that I love.
Twenty years ago, however, Edwyn suffered two brain haemorrhages in the space of a week. The haemorrhages left him with aphasia, a condition that impairs a person’s ability to understand or formulate language. As a result, he had significant difficulties with his speech and, for a while, could only use four phrases: “Yes”, “No”, “Grace Maxwell” (his wife’s name) and “The possibilities are endless”.
No-one, not even Edwyn, knows where this last phrase came from, but it perfectly encapsulates his optimistic, can-do attitude to life. The road back to good health has been long and hard for him – he still can’t use his right side very well and has difficulties with his speech – but he has continued to make music from his studio in Scotland.
This week, Edywn announced that he has a new LP coming out in March and intends to tour later in the year. I’m in for both, of course.
It can be easy in business to focus on the problems and the frustrations and the issues and the reasons why things won’t work out. It can feel safer to try to minimise the downsides, rather than to go for the big wins.
But as one successful CEO once told me, there are no ex-growth businesses, only ex-growth managers. Growth only happens, though, if, like Edwyn Collins, you start with a genuine belief that the possibilities are endless.
Off The Record: Falling and Laughing by Orange Juice
They say that there’s a thousand like you,
Well, maybe that’s true,
I fell for you and nobody else.
So, I’m standing here so lonesome,
What can I do?
But to learn to laugh at myself.
By the way, I’ve now created a Spotify list of all the songs that have featured in Business Rocks to date, including this week’s track. It’s handily titled, Stuart’s Business Rocks Playlist. Please feel free to add it to your playlists library so that you can get some musical inspiration whenever you need it. The link is here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7xGVaJSHxzqgQX9IAfmkTA?si=bdb8673e11e74381
Thanks for all your support and encouragement!