At the Springsteen concert, we were seated furthest away from the stage, and everybody was glued to their seats. With Wrecking Ball, a woman, easily my mother's age, jumped up in excitement. She immediately turned around to apologize for blocking our view. Too late, nobody was sitting anymore!
She was the spark we all needed, and it became the experience of a lifetime #StepUpToTheLine
The song tells the story of hard times, tearing down the presence and the resilience to rebuild again. It sounds a lot like startup life, doesn’t it? Listening to it from a founder’s perspective is a double-edged sword.
As the disruptors, we’re often challenged and even teased by the status quo:
🎸 So if you’ve got the guts mister 🎸 Yeah, if you got the balls 🎸 If you think it’s your time 🎸 Then step to the line 🎸 And bring on your wrecking ball
That is what we are to many businesses: A wrecking ball demolishing the status quo.
On the other hand, our ideas are often the first draft of a bigger change to come. We have our moment in the spotlight just to be swiped away by an even bigger change.
🔥 Now when all this steel and these stories, they drift away to rust 🔥 And all our youth and beauty, it's been given to the dust 🔥 When the game has been decided and we're burning down the clock 🔥 And all our little victories and glories have turned into parking lots 🔥 When your best hopes and desires are scattered through the wind 🔥 And hard times come, and hard times go
Now we are on the receiving end of the wrecking ball.