In a past life, we used to do weekly office hours meetings. You would open with a song, and then have a few minutes to deliver a message. This particularly week, the message I wanted to deliver was pretty simple: Even in the middle of Chaos, Talented People can produce Extraordinary Things. 

The song I chose was a cover of “The Chain”, performed by the Highwomen (Amanda Shires, Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, and Natalie Hemby), live in Howard Stern’s studio. It’s a fantastic cover of the Fleetwood Mac original, from the Rumours album. I’ll also give a quick shoutout sound engineer for capturing an exquisite mix. Use your good headphones.

Here’s what I had to say that day:

The song we heard here is a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain,” Performed by the female country act “Highwomen:” Maren Morris, Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires, and Natalie Hemby.  Their entire catalog is worth a listen, and their live act is really good. 

I chose this version of the song, because I think it captures the artistry of the original, while highlighting the technical proficiency of these women.  The shifts in the chorus from the unison voice to the 3 and 4 part harmony (and back) is something that very few groups get right, and serves as the metaphor for story we tell today. 

The real story to be told is that of the entire album, Rumours.  It’s on my top 10 albums of all time list, and if it’s not on yours, then your list is wrong.  

Let’s take a trip back to 1977, look at how this album came to be, and what we can learn from it. 

Fleetwood Mac was formed in 1967, and between ’67 and ’75 they went through varying lineup changes, stylistic changes, and even a few legal disputes.  

In 1975, the lineup that we now know as Fleetwood Mac came together, with Mick Fleetwood anchoring on drums, Husband and Wife team of John and Christine McVie on bass and keyboards, and a boyfriend/girlfriend team of Lindsey Buckingham on guitar and Stevie Nicks on vocals and cocaine. 

In ’75, they released their self-titled album to rousing success. The album reached #1 on the chart, and sold over 7 million copies.  Success brings challenges, though. 

In 1976, the band headed into the studio to record their next album and Fleetwood Mac was in turmoil; their personal and private lives were falling apart.  John and Christine McVie were in the middle of a divorce.  Buckingham and Nicks were breaking up and getting back together and breaking up, and spending all of their time fighting.  Mick Fleetwood was dealing with revelations of his wife’s affair with his best friend.  Oh, and there were drugs.  Lots, and lots of drugs. 

From February to August of ’76, the band recorded their next album, tentatively titled “Yesterday’s Gone.”  The tensions, arguments, new relationships formed (and then broken up again) all made their way into the record. In the ultimate act of petty revenge, Christine McVie wrote the song “You Make Loving Fun” about her new boyfriend and affair, forcing her ex-husband to sing and play it on the album. It became a top-10 hit in its own right. 

The infighting and band troubles weren’t kept quiet. The press and media spent countless hours reporting, speculating, and writing stories about the band, further impacting already strained relationships. The entire situation surrounding the creation of this album was a complete and total disaster. 

And yet, when released in 1977, it was an instant hit. It became the band’s second #1 release and stayed at the top of the charts for 31 weeks. 

The reason I chose this song and this album today, is because I feel there are a lot of similarities to where we stand right now. As a group, we are going through change.  We are going through successes and failures; personal and professional.  We are facing uphill battles, challenges, and there’s probably some infighting too. 

And yet, when I look around, I see the talent.  I see the creativity. I see the individuals and the teams who are putting down work, every single day, and writing their songs. This is what gives me the confidence, and the comfort to show up every single day and do my best.  And you should feel the same way.  

I picked “The Chain,” not just because it’s from this album, but because it’s also the only song from the entire album written by all 5 members. In the middle of all of the chaos in 1976, these 5 people managed to come together and produce an all-time great.   And I think this is our moment to do the same thing. 

We have a common chain that keeps us together. And that’s our OKR process. Every company needs a structure to focus and coordinate their growth, and that’s what the OKR system brings us.   

OKR’s can feel like the chaos around us. There are lofty goals, guiding principles and objectives, and lots and lots and lots of changes happening very quickly. It can be hard for each one of us, in our independent roles, to know what we can do to impact our OKR’s, and how our roles can be changing, evolving, or staying the same, to meet an OKR target.    

It’s our focus as leaders this quarter to help bring clarity to this confusion.  To ensure that every person in our teams understands how the work we need to do contributes to our growth.  

And as a final thought before I transition into our KR discussion: The final decision on the album’s title, Rumours, came to be as the ultimate middle finger to everything surrounding the album’s creation.  From the infighting, to the press speculation, the band decided the best way to say “FU to the haters” was to title the album in reference to all of the falsehoods and lies that showed up during the progress.    

Remember kids, the only rumors worth listening to came out in 1977.  Thank you for your time, and join me next time on “Fireside Chats with Uncle Scott”, where we explore another all time legendary album created and written in total chaos that still sits as the #1 best selling debut album of all time.