Your Rejection Is Your Redirection

A note to young leaders.

Feeling boxed in?

Box your way out.

Bruno Mars – born Peter Hernandez – signed with Motown Records in 2004, the same legendary label that helped launch Michael Jackson.

But the Motown deal collapsed in under a year, with no releases. Music executives were baffled by Mars’ multiracial identity and eclectic sound:

“It’s like, ‘You’re not black enough. You’re not white enough. You’ve got a Latin last name but you don’t speak Spanish. Your music is all over the place, and we don’t know who to sell it to. Pick a lane and come back to us.’”

But Mars refused to narrow himself. Instead, he did something counterintuitive – he put his ego aside, and poured his energy into writing catchy tunes for other artists.

The hits started to pile up: “Lost” for Menudo; then Flo Rida’s “Right Round” which topped Billboard charts for six weeks; followed by “Wavin’ Flag” (K’naan) which Coca-Cola adopted as its anthem for the FIFA World Cup.

He had proven the critics wrong. By the time Atlantic Records offered Mars a deal in 2009, he could swim in and out of any lane he liked: R&B, pop, rock, reggae and funk.

Don’t let people tell you what you can or can’t do.

If the world won’t let you succeed under your own name – make a name for yourself under someone else’s.