Three topics principally occupy my attention. One is the financial markets because it is the field in which I work. The second is health because it is fundamental to my sense of well-being and sanity. The third is psychology because I am fascinated by human behaviour. That is why my blog is also mainly centered around these three topics.
However, I have many other interests as well in my personal life. Among these is music.
One person in the field of music that I am particularly fascinated by is Rick Rubin. Rubin is a nine-time Grammy-winning producer and was named in 2007 as Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world.
He has worked with a dizzying array of music artists in diverse genres. A few of these are Tom Petty, Adele, Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Slayer, Kanye West, Metallica, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Santana, Josh Groban, Eminem, Ed Sheeran, Linkin Park, Kendrick Lamar, and others. The list goes on and on.
This post is a tribute to this man who works in a field apparently distant from my principal concerns but whose words of wisdom have had an impact on my life.
Although Rubin’s real-life experience is in his own field of music, his thoughts and ideas are applicable across all domains.
In this post, I only aim to showcase a sampling of Rubin’s thoughts on creativity culled from various sources and the invaluable lessons they impart. These lessons continuously enrich my life and my work.
Inspiration can hit you out of nowhere.
I have put the parts that are not actual quotations into square brackets [ ] to distinguish them from the actual quotations which are mentioned in inverted commas.
Rick’s Interview with Tim Ferriss in the book, Tools of Titans
“The head comes in after, to look at what the heart has presented and to organize it. But the initial inspiration comes from a different place, and it’s not the head, and it’s not an intellectual activity”
“People want things that one is really passionate about, and often the best version they could be is not for everybody. The best art divides the audience. "If you put out a record, and half the people who hear it absolutely love it, and half the people who hear absolutely hate it, you’ve done well. You're pushing boundaries”
“Strip down things to their essence”
“Call me a reducer rather than a producer because a music producer's job is to refine. My job is to just let the artists be themselves”. [On the first album he produced, Rubin took the credit, “reduced by Rick Rubin,” not, “produced by”]
My Learnings
Drawing from Rick's analogy of a "producer", a manager can be seen as the producer while their subordinate is the artist. It is the responsibility of the manager to refine and elevate the work of their subordinate to deliver something exceptional. This is a dynamic that I have observed in my own work experience with my superiors as well as my subordinates.
Regarding “the ‘best art dividing the audience”: This applies very much to my field of investment management where views about buying or selling a stock are always contentious. The important thing is to have a strong conviction about the validity of one's own research-based conclusions but at the same time not be stubborn about them. Be open to critical feedback. When you are wrong, accept your mistake. Always remember that investing is more an art than a science.
Strip things down to the bare minimum for the reader to understand
Rick’s interview with Kendrick Lamar on GQ:
In this incredibly engaging conversation between Rick Rubin and Kendrick Lamar, Rubin skillfully draws out some profound moments by asking the right questions.
“Even if you disagree with what someone is saying but when they are saying it and you know that they believe it, you resonate with it on some level”
[When Kendrick mentions his process of how he connects the dots and creates his art, Rubin goes on to tell him that this is what the audience loves. The audience loves your connection to the art and that is infectious]
[Citing an example of Kendrick loving jazz]- “Most of your fans would not love jazz but they would be inspired by your connection to jazz and that would make them love that thing”
My Learnings
When being creative, people will be more invested in your passion for the subject so don’t try to change the way you present things just to please others. People will enjoy more of the work that involves you being yourself.
Some golden nuggets from his book- The Creative Act: A Way of Being
Those who do not engage in the traditional arts might be wary of calling themselves artists. They might perceive creativity as something extraordinary or beyond their capabilities. A calling for the special few who are born with these gifts”
“What you make doesn’t have to be witnessed, recorded, sold or encased in a glass for it to be a work of art. Through the ordinary state of being, we’re already creators in the most profound way, creating our experience of the world and composing the world we perceive”
“Hagia Sophia, The Sphinx, the space shuttle, the Autobahn, the Colosseum in Rome. Look around you: there are so many remarkable accomplishments to appreciate. Each of these is humanity being true to itself, as a hummingbird being true to itself by building a nest, a peach tree by bearing fruit, and a nimbus cloud by producing rain.”
“No matter what tools you use to create, the true instrument is you. And through you, the universe that surrounds all comes into focus.”
“It’s not unusual for science to catch up to art, eventually. Nor is it unusual for art to catch up to the spiritual.”
“Look for what you notice, but no one else sees”
My Learnings:
The term "art" can be applied to anything in life, as it embodies the beauty of the creative process. Everyone has the potential to be an artist in their own unique way. There is no single definition of "art." It can be found and expressed in a multitude of different ways.
The purpose of creating something is not always to showcase it to others. Often, the driving force behind the creative process is the internal curiosity and desire to bring an idea to life. The act of creating something can be an immensely fulfilling and satisfying experience in and of itself, regardless of whether or not it is shared with others.
The fact that something does not fit within society's predefined standards does not necessarily mean it is incorrect or invalid. Often, people are quick to judge or dismiss things that fall outside of their expectations or norms, but it is essential to recognize that there are many valid and valuable perspectives and ways of approaching things beyond what society considers "normal" or "acceptable."
Rick Rubin on the Founders Podcast
“His artists will write 30 songs. Writing is mundane but the more you write, the better your odds of a great song coming out of the process. It’s like fishing, he says. The more often you go fishing, the better your odds of catching a big fish”
“You have to believe that what you are doing is the most important thing in the world. Your work is a reflection of you”
“Make the thing for you, not the audience. The audience is reading what you want to share. If they want to know something they will go to Google”
[He started Def Jam because he heard what was doing well in the clubs and said why don't we just produce this? Def Jam was more of a way to sort out the hip-hop music process]
[He would tell his artists like Linkin Park, and Lil Yachty to study the history of music to understand from the greats to make better music
Cicero- To be ignorant of what happened before you were born, is to remain always a child]
“All the most interesting things happen when you are making stuff no one else is making. When the album Blood Sugar went on to become a super hit with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, they were not trying to fit in with a genre. They were just focusing on songs and not trying to be part of a genre or cult”
My Learnings:
It's important to recognize that not every joke, piece of work, or writing is going to be a hit. To produce meaningful and impactful work, one must be willing to engage in mundane and repetitive tasks on an ongoing basis. Life is not always going to be filled with exciting or novel experiences. One has to be willing to embrace the day-to-day monotony in order to make progress and achieve one's goals.
It is difficult to sell a product if you are not personally passionate about it. When you are enthusiastic about what you are offering, that passion is often contagious, and it can inspire others to believe in your product as well. Being passionate about your work can also help you stay motivated and committed to delivering high-quality results, even in the face of challenges or setbacks. Ultimately, if you are not passionate about what you are selling, it is challenging to persuade others to believe in it, and the work may feel unfulfilling or unengaging.
Studying history can provide valuable insights into how human beings have achieved success and can help us understand important psychological traits that are fundamental to human behavior. This knowledge can be particularly useful in the field of investing, where understanding the human element of decision-making can be critical for success. By examining historical patterns and behaviors, investors can gain a deeper understanding of the motivations and tendencies that underpin market movements and thereby make more informed decisions. Additionally, studying the history of individual companies and industries can help investors identify patterns and trends that can inform their investment strategies.
Rick Rubin on the Huberman Lab Podcast
[On using creativity as an incentive for teamwork]:
‘Real collaboration is when everyone is working together to generate the best idea. The point is that it does not matter whether it is your idea or the group’s idea, what matters is that the collective idea sits with the objective.”
“When you have an idea and you don’t work on that idea; 6 months later you see that someone else has executed that idea, it does not mean that the person has stolen your idea but rather that the time for that idea has come.”
My Learnings:
The first-mover advantage lies in our ability to execute first. Just because someone else brought that idea we were working on before us does not mean it was copied. It means that it was time for the idea to come to fruition.
Teamwork makes the dream work
In an interview with 60 Minutes
[Rubin was compared to Munger and Buffet] “ Being obsessed with doing something for a highly long time is what propels you to success.”
[Following is a snippet of an interview in which Rubin perhaps unknowingly invokes Munger and Buffet’s idea of the ‘circle of competence’ and says that he is no expert in making music and melody.]
[He says he keeps his Grammies at his parent’s home and no awards anywhere in his studio. According to him says these awards are meaningless vanity markers that could distract and intimidate that artiste working with him.]
My Learnings:
Stick to your circle of competence. Everyone has their own unique set of skills that they can double down on.
In Investing stick to investing into something that you have complete knowledge of to avoid losing sleepless nights.
Your work has to do the talking. Your passion for your work is what matters. Awards and accolades can shore up your vanity but they do not define you or your work.
From Ryan Holiday’s Perennial Seller
[Rubin urges his artists not to think about what’s currently on the airwaves]- “If you listen to the greatest music ever made, that would be a better way” “to find your own voice to matter today than listening to what’s on the radio and thinking: “I want to compete with this” It’s stepping back and looking at a bigger picture than what’s going on at the moment.
“You might be better off finding inspiration from the world’s greatest museums than the billboards”
[When he started working with Slayer, a notoriously heavy metal band- the natural impulse for anyone would be to make their music mainstream and tone it down. Instead through his guidance, they made one of the heaviest albums of all time: Reign in Blood which went to be a roaring hit.]
After Adele finished preparing and writing the demos for the follow-up album to her record-breaking 21, she thought she was ready to begin the final step of recording and went to Rubin. He listened to it quietly and simply said “I don’t believe you” As Adele later told Rolling Stone “When he said it, I couldn’t work out if I was like devastated, going to cry my eyes out. And then I just said, “I don’t really believe myself right now, so I’m not surprised you fucking said that.”
Adele went back to the drawing board for two years of additional work. The tribute to that work played out in two places:
The title changed to 25 instead of 27, even though Adele had planned to name the album after her age when it was released.
The fans paid the ultimate compliment where 3.4 Million copies sold in the first week alone followed by being awarded multiple Grammies
Adele effectively scrapped the first version of her 25-song album based on Rick’s feedback. She went back to the drawing board and the new and improved song became the best-selling album of 2015.
My Learnings
Be ready to accept the sunk cost in certain situations and be willing to let go of a project or situation if you feel you have dragged it along for too long. Have the courage to accept that it’s not been up to the mark and restart.
Ignore the noise and headlines, do your own due diligence for your work
Conclusion
Although Rick Rubin has achieved phenomenal success in a terrain distant from my own, I have been inspired and enriched by his ideas, which I believe are applicable across all domains. I urge you to read – and reread – Rubin’s The Creative Act: A Way of Being. No matter your calling, you will be better for it.
Here is Rick’s discography, a collection of the songs he has produced. It’s an exhaustive 94 hour long playlist: