NASHVILLE, TN – June 2: Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead performs with Midnight North… [+] EXIT/IN on June 2, 2021 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Keith Greiner/Getty Images)
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Phil Lesh, the Grateful Dead’s most iconic and beloved bassist, passed away last week at the age of 84. He was a beautiful musician, a wonderful person, and a kind soul. He also embodied more than just music through his apparently unique approach to his instrument and how it became integral to the band’s creative development.
And the lessons we learned from him, and the boys, are more applicable to business than ever before. The most timely one is by Phil, expressed in his book Searching for the Sound (2005).
“Infinite variability…”
The essence of the Grateful Dead, he explained, is “the infinite mutability of our music.”
If anything personifies the dead, and if there’s anything that explains their longevity up until and since Jerry Garcia’s untimely and shocking death in 1995, it’s infinite mutability. It was. My personal library contains about 40 books about, about, and by the dead, but I can’t point out anything more essential or more compelling. You can’t hold it and express it. It’s infinite variability. And if there’s one thing that dictates the survival imperative of business in today’s fast-paced world, it’s infinite mutability.
CEO’s main responsibilities: Change.
Call it the Phil way, call it adaptability, call it change across the board, call it innovative or flexible, but Phil nailed it. Successful CEOs would be the first to agree.
From the time I attended my first Grateful Dead show at New York’s legendary Fillmore East around late 1968 or early 1969 (I can’t remember exactly, but it was typical of old Deadheads like me). That’s, hehehe, someone who went to live shows around 120 years old (total number of their concerts – this is also a close enough estimate), I realized that about them. Every time they take to the stage, they’re a vibrant experiment in creativity, unafraid to branch out and break new ground with songs like “Dark Star,” “Goin’ Down the Road,” and “Morning Dew.” Anything was possible. So for the 30 years between their birth and Jerry’s death, and the 29 years since, they have remained fresh, new, fearless and always innovative.
And who taught us this lesson? Phil is a quiet, unassuming bassist who usually stands close to the stage, away from the glare of the spotlight, while Jerry and Bobby take the vocal and instrumental lead, while Mickey and Billy take the unique position. It was interwoven with an unparalleled integrated drum partnership. All the while. There was Phil, the most innovative bassist I’ve ever seen, laying the foundation that supported the Dead’s endless variability, sometimes pulsing and powerful, sometimes like Jerry Garcia’s leads. It was lyrical. For a mere mortal bassist, it wasn’t a realistic idea or even a remote possibility.
For Phil, it was a way of life.
Make no mistake about this, each of the boys, and later Donna Jean, were integral to creating one of the most unique bands in history. So this is easy to understand. Without Phil, the Grateful Dead, as talented as they were, would not have become the band we know.
With that in mind, we see Phil approach the Pearly Gates, and St. Peter, recognizing his special newcomer, turns to the others already there and declares, “Okay, guys.” You can adjust it now. Phil is here. ”
As always, it is infinitely modifiable. Forever.
