As promised, now available for your streaming pleasure (on iTunes, Spotify, and a few other services) is Hardly Workin’, ex-Groupon CEO Andrew Mason’s album of what he calls “motivational business music.”
It’s a seven-track album that runs just a little over 23 minutes, featuring songs like “My Door Is Always Open,” “Risin’ Above the Pack,” and “K.I.S.S.”
“This album pulls some of the most important learnings from my years at the helm of one of the fastest growing businesses in history, and packages them as music. Executives, mid-level management, and front-line employees are all sure to find valuable takeaways. I’ve probably listened to the album over a dozen times now, and with each spin I feel like I learn something,” says Mason on his blog.
The album begins with “Look No Further,” a Jack Johnson-inspired acoustic guitar riff front the lyrics “If you’re seeking business wisdom / You don’t need no MBA.”
A sax outro takes us into “The Way to Work,” an alt-country tune that seemingly turns into a power ballad from 20+ years ago – aching guitar solo and all.
Making your way through the album you’ll find an exploration of additional music styles like the 70’s nightclub funk of “Stretch” or the mid-90s teen drama urgency of “It’s Up to Us.” In the end, Hardly Workin‘ is musically competent, but I doubt you’re going to be rocking it on your next road trip.
Mason has some advice for how management could deploy his new album:
“Context is king. Sure, you can just leave copies of Hardly Workin’ on your employees’ desks and achieve an incremental increase in productivity and morale (productivity is a function of morale, people!), but I wrote this album as someone someone who believes that messages mean different things depending on the time and place they’re delivered. Try ending your next all-hands meeting with ‘It’s Up to Us,’ for example. Or, having trouble communicating with a low-per/hi-po employee? A ‘Thinkin’ of You’ note attached to a flash drive preloaded with ‘My Door is Always Open’ might be the catalyst you need for that transformational breakthrough.”