Business Lessons from The Beastie Boys

A shout out to the best business book I've read in years

This year, I’m determined to read more books. I’m trying to read 25 pages a day. It’s a small incremental goal but soon enough I’ll have some books done and be a richer person as a result.

One of my absolute favorite autobiographies in recent years is The Beastie Boys book. I grew up with their music but I actually love it for the business lessons I’ve learned.

The Beastie Boys Book for business? You heard me right. I learned so many lessons from this book that if I had the time, I would teach a college course about it. Just think about how fun that class would be.

I can share more than a dozen lessons with you from this book but in the spirit of this newsletter and brevity, I’ll share three and encourage you to read and learn the rest.

Never Be Afraid of Change - The Beastie Boys started out as a punk band but quickly fell in love with the hip hop scene. Abandoning their early success and taking on this risk, they soon became one of the most influential hip hop bands in recent history.

Change can be a great thing whether you succeed or fail. Regardless, you grow.

Learn to Evolve - After the success of Licensed to Ill, they could have continued to produce this type of rap music but soon realized it did not accurately reflect who they were becoming as they matured.

Keep your eyes wide open and always learn - you never know what you’ll pick up along the way.

Take Risks - Artist Adam Yauch was never short of genius ideas or taking risks. Whether it was recording drums backward on ‘Paul Revere’ or creating crazy loops on tape from Led Zeppelin songs.

You never shoot the shots you don’t take - take risks. You may fail but they will be your best lessons along the way.

I’d love to hear what lessons you learn from this book. Here is a link. Or get the audiobook where you’ll have audio contributors such as Kim Gordon, Snoop Dogg, Ben Stiller, Chloë Sevigny, John Stewart, Nas, Steve Buscemi and more. (Full disclosure, I do not make any affiliate money from this link)

ENJOY.