From Rooftops to Stadiums: Bruno Mars and the Formula for Resilience

A note to young leaders.

“This too shall soon come to pass” – is the mantra from which all hope and resilience spring.

I recently watched a 60 Minutes interview with Bruno Mars.

Mars’ parents divorced when he was 12, ending the family band and plunging his family into financial crisis. He, his brother and father lived in cars, on rooftops and inside a Hawaii bird sanctuary where his father once worked.

Mars took journalist Lara Logan back to his childhood home: a crumbling, roofless, one-room structure in Paradise Park. It had no toilet either – if they needed one at night, they had to walk across the park to another building.

When Logan marvelled that what Mars recalled was not the struggle but the adventure, he said something very telling:

“We had it all. We had each other and it never felt like it was the end of the world.

‘It’s alright we don’t have electricity today. It’s alright. It’s temporary.’

Maybe that’s why I have this mentality when it comes to the music. ‘Cause I know I’m gonna figure it out, just give me some time.”

I love that line – I’m gonna figure it out, just give me some time.

Mars saw adversity as passing, relationships as permanent – together with his self-belief, that was a mighty powerful formula.