If Your Job Does Not Excite You, Find a New One
http://www.greatmanagement.org/articles/981/1/If-Your-Job-Does-Not-Excite-You-Find-a-New-One/Page1.html
Simon Fuller
Over the course of twenty years, Simon Fuller has built a long roster
of major recording artists and top international talent, including
Annie Lennox, sports legend David Beckham, Claudia Schiffer, and The
Spice Girls. He has managed the largest-selling music acts in the U.S.
for the last three years, and in May 2008, Billboard Magazine crowned
Fuller the "most successful British music manager of all time," with an
astonishing 116 million units sold in North America alone. By Simon Fuller
Published on 02/27/2009
Fuller was born the son of an RAF pilot who later became
a teacher who was passionately enthusiastic about founding schools. It
was that passion that took the Fuller family to West Africa. Simon,
along with his brothers Kim and Mark, spent much of their childhood
growing up in Ghana, where their father would establish schools.
Fuller was born the son of an RAF
pilot who later became a teacher who was passionately enthusiastic
about founding schools. It was that passion that took the Fuller family
to West Africa. Simon, along with his brothers Kim and Mark, spent much
of their childhood growing up in Ghana, where their father would
establish schools.
“Dad would set up a school in the middle of a field, but built it into the best school in the area,” recalls Fuller. “He did that in Germany and West Africa and then back in Hastings.”
Growing up, Fuller saw the example of his father, of the importance of being passionate about his work. That is why, when Fuller and his family returned to Hastings from Africa, he passed over the idea of going to university. Instead, he decided to run local discos and apply for jobs with local music agencies. It was hardly the example his father had intended to set for his sons.
“It was completely against anything Dad believed in,” recalls Fuller, “but he was forgiving. I was lucky in that. The thing about Dad was that he was an entrepreneur at heart. Even now I feel like I’m doing what he might have wanted to do.”
Fuller had finally found something he could get excited about. It may not have been schools like his father, but it was something. And so his father had no choice but to accept the decision.
To this day, despite his critics, Fuller continues to revel in his work. “My business is creating fame and celebrity, and I’m one of the best in the world,” he says proudly. “I reflect what’s out there, and if there’s demand for something I recognize it. I don’t think I’m crass.”
From his talent shows for wannabe singers, to his promotions of bubblegum pop artists such as Spice Girls or S Club 7, Fuller directs his attention to the young generation of starstruck and impressionable consumers. “I’m about empowering people and making their dreams come true,” he waxes romantically.
Still, however many dreams he helps realize or not, his, he contends, is still coming true. “I’m just like a child,” he says. “I get so enthused.”
Fuller’s artists are short-term fads and he knows it. So how come he has managed to have such long-term staying power as a manager and producer? It has little to do with the artists he creates, but instead with his desire to keep on creating them. Fuller loves what he does, perhaps a little too much. After all, he was sacked as manager of the Spice Girls for being too “controlling.” Still, it is his passion and enthusiasm for creating stars that keeps him going.
His critics call him a cold heart only after a big cash flow. But Fuller is just having fun. He just happens to make millions of dollars in the process, which makes it all the easier to keep the fun going.
“Dad would set up a school in the middle of a field, but built it into the best school in the area,” recalls Fuller. “He did that in Germany and West Africa and then back in Hastings.”
Growing up, Fuller saw the example of his father, of the importance of being passionate about his work. That is why, when Fuller and his family returned to Hastings from Africa, he passed over the idea of going to university. Instead, he decided to run local discos and apply for jobs with local music agencies. It was hardly the example his father had intended to set for his sons.
“It was completely against anything Dad believed in,” recalls Fuller, “but he was forgiving. I was lucky in that. The thing about Dad was that he was an entrepreneur at heart. Even now I feel like I’m doing what he might have wanted to do.”
Fuller had finally found something he could get excited about. It may not have been schools like his father, but it was something. And so his father had no choice but to accept the decision.
To this day, despite his critics, Fuller continues to revel in his work. “My business is creating fame and celebrity, and I’m one of the best in the world,” he says proudly. “I reflect what’s out there, and if there’s demand for something I recognize it. I don’t think I’m crass.”
From his talent shows for wannabe singers, to his promotions of bubblegum pop artists such as Spice Girls or S Club 7, Fuller directs his attention to the young generation of starstruck and impressionable consumers. “I’m about empowering people and making their dreams come true,” he waxes romantically.
Still, however many dreams he helps realize or not, his, he contends, is still coming true. “I’m just like a child,” he says. “I get so enthused.”
Fuller’s artists are short-term fads and he knows it. So how come he has managed to have such long-term staying power as a manager and producer? It has little to do with the artists he creates, but instead with his desire to keep on creating them. Fuller loves what he does, perhaps a little too much. After all, he was sacked as manager of the Spice Girls for being too “controlling.” Still, it is his passion and enthusiasm for creating stars that keeps him going.
His critics call him a cold heart only after a big cash flow. But Fuller is just having fun. He just happens to make millions of dollars in the process, which makes it all the easier to keep the fun going.