Meeting My Heroes, the introduction
How I came to meet them and what I learned from each
Meeting my Heroes is an occasional essay series from Matt Carmichael.
This newsletter is a series of stories of how I’ve met my heroes over the years and the lessons I’ve learned in the process. And I’m going to give away the end, because it’s so key. The most important thing I’ve learned is this:
Surround yourself with interesting people.
If for no other reason than they tend to inspire, enlighten and entertain. Interesting people tell, and make for, interesting stories. You’ll find life gets pretty boring pretty quickly if you don’t work to make it interesting. Find your people.
I suppose I should introduce myself for the record. I’m Matt Carmichael and I’ve been a journalist covering music, marketing, demographics and the future of things for 30+ years. I’ve met some amazing people along the way. Either because of that or through other means. These are those stories.
Scott Smith (@ourmaninchicago) is one of those interesting people for me. A fellow Chicago journalist, we met through Twitter and eventually I suggested we grab lunch at the legendary journalist hangout, the Billy Goat. We’ve been friends ever since and for a while we were co-hosts of a networking group called Journalist Happy Hour, a torch I picked up from Ted Allen. We had some awesome special guests like John Bracken, John Tolva, Geoffrey Baer and somehow even Edward Tufte. More on that later.
So with this, I’m belatedly adapting (with permission) a newsletter idea from Scott.
That’s the set-up. Here’s the premise.
There’s a line people say sometimes that “you shouldn’t meet your heroes.” They say that because you’ll inevitably be disappointed. The theory goes that way because you expect your heroes to be perfect or to always be in character. That’s why they’re your heroes in the first place, right?
As we put them on their hero pedestal, there’s probably even some unfairness to our expectations. Basically there’s no way they can be all the things you expect of them when you meet them.
Now, I wouldn’t call all of the people I’m going to write about here my “heroes,” but I’ve met or interacted with many, if not most, of the people I truly respect over the years. Getting to meet and talk to interesting people is one of the best perks of being a journalist. In my career I’ve been amazingly fortunate to write about things I love: Popular culture, demographics, music; advertising, futurism, and the design of cities large and small. In short, I write about people and the things they do.
I’m also not above just being a fanboy and going to hear people speak or to a book signing. I like having something of a personal connection – even if just for a moment or two. It usually makes for good stories.
For the most part these are people who are writers or musicians. People who are creative and create. Sometimes there’s a politician thrown in as well. These people create things that I value and that bring me happiness or have some meaning.
With all but one notable exception, I’ve had good experiences and come away with even more respect for the people. I’m going to start this series, for all the reasons, by telling that story first.
It turns out most of the people I most respect are pretty solid humans as well as all of the talented and creative things I respected. Which leads me to the overarching realization that:
If meeting your heroes is disappointing, maybe you need better heroes.
I say all of that because heroes are important. Heroes shouldn’t all be celebrities or comic characters — though hopefully you’ll agree that that can make for some good stories. You also need heroes who can interact with, who inspire you and push you to do the things you want to do, better.
So this is a collection of people I’ve met over the years who have impacted me one way or another. Again, I’m using “hero” loosely here.
I also included some pictures I’ve taken along the way and some of the articles I wrote based on those encounters.
Read. Enjoy. And most of all, as you’ll read later… Listen.
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