Articles

Always Meet Your Heroes

That picture above was take in 1991 (that’s me sandwiched between Eddie and Mike).

29 years ago.
This was one of the handful of times in my life that I got to tell someone (in this case, Eddie Van Halen) who had a massive influence on me two very important words…

Thank You.

In 1983, my older brother (and a guitar player) introduced me to the world of hard rock via the US Festival.
That one show made a dent in my universe.
I saw music differently.
I felt something inside that connected to me.
With every band… for different reasons…
Quiet Riot.
Motley Crue.
Ozzy Osbourne.
Judas Priest.
Triumph.
Scorpions.
Van Halen.

Who would guess that a few short years later, this dorky teenager would be interviewing these bands (and countless others)?

But Van Halen.

Van Halen was my The Beatles.
Van Halen was my Led Zeppelin.
Van Halen was my The Rolling Stones.
Van Halen was my Pink Floyd.
Van Halen was my Black Sabbath.

All rolled up into one.

Van Halen was my Patient Zero.

When Eddie Van Halen played, you knew exactly who it was.
When Eddie Van Halen played, everything about guitar playing changed from that moment forward.
When Eddie Van Halen played, everything that happened before became something different.

I’ve changed a lot since those days.

But I think about those days as I get older.
I think about those day a lot.
Nostalgia will do that to you.
It was an amazing time to be alive.
It was an amazing time to be a fan of rock music.

And, as each day passes, we get further and further away from those impactful moments.

Those musicians that rocked our world, wind up leaving our world.
I still can’t believe that I’m living in a world without Eddie Van Halen.
I still can’t believe how lucky I was to live in a world with Eddie Van Halen.

They say that you should never meet your heroes.

That’s not true.
If you can, meet your heroes.
They might not remember you, but you will get the chance to say to them those two most important words…

Thank you.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.