Life Lessons From The Blue Man Group

Back in the late 1980’s, Phil Stanton, Matt Goldman, and Chris Wink formed the Blue Man Group, a high-concept performing trio with cobalt-blue skin, no hair, and an inability to speak.  After kickstarting their careers in New York in 1987, the Blue Man Group has performed thousands of times in five continents.   

When Phil, Matt, and Chris pitched the idea to people, it was viewed as absurd and ridiculous.  Even close, well-meaning friends and family, told them hundreds of reasons why they were crazy.
-It’s not reasonable.
-It’s weird.
-It’s too childish and strange.
-It’s too long.
-People won’t get it.

Here’s how “crazy” they are--the Blue Man Group has been nominated for a Grammy Award and performed live at the Grammy to a standing ovation at the Staples Center.  They have received millions of dollars in donations to help families with AIDS.  They have gone to Washington D.C. to lobby senators and representatives to fund music and arts education in the public school system and started a private elementary school.  They have participated in a panel to find different ways to creative with two Nobel Prize laureates, the Dalai Lama, and a British Knight.   

If someone ever tells you what you can’t do, let those comments fuel your passion and drive.  Allow their words to motivate you to reach your goals that much more.  You can take yourself to higher levels regardless of anyone else’s opinion. 

Blue Man Group co-founder Phil Stanton grew up curious about tinkering and building things.  At the time, Phil had no desire to pursue a career in theatre even though both his mother and father were musicians and singers.  He was a shy child, and suffered from stage fright.  After graduating high school, Phil got a job at a store that sells tons of industrial building materials.  While working there, he became intrigued with gears, nuts, bolts, PVC pipes, and stainless steel.  Eventually, Phil moved on and that job ended.  He went to a liberal arts college and bounced around between several majors before finally settling on acting.  After meeting Chris Wink while working at a waiter in New York.  He met Matt Goldman soon after.  When the threesome was just starting out, all that knowledge about pipe, metal, and building materials from the job at the hardware store 12 years before came flooding back to Phil.  They constructed odd instruments and other mechanical stage sets that eventually became  integral elements to the Blue Man Group experience. 

Had Phil not taken that high school job at the industrial building store, he would not have had the know-how to construct these bizarre, yet potent instruments.  The lesson here is if you pay attention to and learn from every experience life has to offer, you will be able to apply that knowledge in whatever you wind up doing.  There should be an overarching continuity in our lives between different time periods.  It’s not like you become a completely different person when you go off to college.  No matter where you go, you still have sum of your experiences to draw from.