Reading Reflection No. 3

Berry Gordy - To Be Loved; The Music, The Magic, The Memories of Motown

1. I think the thing that surprised me the most about Berry Gordy was his rising from nothing. This surprised me and didn’t surprise me at the same time. Many stories of fame come from humble beginnings. Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say… He was impoverished and was raised at the poorest time in our Nation’s history. He had a large family, but they made it work.

The thing that I admire the most about him is that he kept all the values that his mother and father instilled at him from an early age. He was humble and often humbled by his peers in the later years of Motown. He kept that sense about him even though those values may have been misplaced at times. As with most entrepreneurs, he has an amazing story, but there are also things lacking. His familial relationships suffered from the relentless pursuit of his dream. After reading this and Coco Chanel, I am seeing this theme of these major players in entrepreneurship losing spouses or never having spouses due to their pursuits. If there is anything to not admire about them, it would be that.

Berry Gordy did experience adversity and failure. He came from the poorest of circumstances, but learned at an early age to use what you have and keep going. He learned not to give up. I think that seeing his “Pop” do what it took to take care of the family, always picking up odd jobs and making decisions with the family in mind taught him to do the same in a way. He knew that there was better out there and come hell or high water he wasn’t going to let people tell him that he can’t do it.

He was incredibly driven and resourceful. He was a teacher. He learned and educated so many others on every aspect of music from writing to producing to mixing, singing and performing. He seemed to be able to do it all, and was not hesitant to learn from others along the way to be able to teach so many.  

2. I felt that this book was pretty straight forward. Nothing really stood out as confusing to me, other than keeping all the children straight.

3. If I were able to ask 2 questions I would ask how it feels to be part of such a profound movement, how does it feel to be a part of or the one who brought African-American music into pop-culture?  And my other question would be to ask if it was worth it. Were all the years and struggles and frustrations worth going through to have been a part of Motown. I have a feeling that they answer to that would be an astounding yes, but a follow up to that would be to ask what he would have done different, what were the parts that weren’t worth it.

   

4. In this book, Berry Gordy said that his Pop was his hero. I think that Pop showed him what it was like to be a hardworking man from the time that he could understand what it was that he was doing. I believe that his view of hard work is doing what you can, whatever you can to make it work, to make your dream come true no matter what that dream is. And my honest answer to this is while I do share this opinion in my head, it is easier to think it than act on it. I do work hard for what I want, but there is a point where I draw the line and I think that is the difference between true entrepreneurs and myself.