The record companies, collectively known as the recording industry (or RIAA aka Recording Industry Associaion Of America), have been making some very big, very public mistakes in the last few years… things such as suing the fans that they sell music too, using shady tactics to try to keep you from sharing music, and, of course, for a much longer time they have been giving the artists who actually create the music a ridiculously small share of the revenue from selling CD’s.

What does that have to do with self development?  It provides some easy examples that you can learn from, rather than having to make the mistakes yourself first and suffer the consequences that come with having made them yourself.

Here are 5 personal lessons you can learn from the record companies’ (hereafter referred to as the RIAA) mistakes:

1. Circumstances Change

   The one constant throughout the world is the circumstances change.  You may be on top of the world, with everything going great, and then have that yanked out from under you by something around you, something you can’t control, changing.  For the RIAA this was the massive distribution power of the internet loosening and now starting to actually break their stranglehold on distribution.

   For you, it may be layoffs at your company, or the sudden and unexpected death of a loved one.  It could also be what seems like a positive change… winning the lottery often leaves people worse off in the long run.  Regardless of what the change is, your ability to adapt  is directly related to the amount you suffer.  If you’re very good at adapting you can even take something that seems to have no upside and still make something positive come out of it.

2. What You Do Is Not Who You Are

   What you do is not who you are… this is hard for many people and companies to understand.  The RIAA, for example, sells plastic discs.  That’s what they do, and it appears to be who they think they are, too.  It would be much closer to the truth to say that they are in the business of providing a musical experience… and if they realize that, they will most likely see a lot more opportunities around them.

   The same thing holds true for individuals… who you are is not determined by what you do.  Many people, especially men, identify with their job.  Identifying with your job can cause you to miss out on other possibilities that open up around you, possibilities that could bring you to entirely new places in your life… higher income, more job satisfaction, or even new relationships.

3. Trust Is Important

   Many members of the RIAA have done some shady things lately, trying to be able to keep the same business model in spite of the changing circumstances.  This has made many people, both customers and bands, distrust the record companies.  This distrust costs the companies opportunities and accelerates the process of people wanting to get away from them completely.

   A lack of trust can cost individuals, too.  You, too, can lose out on opportunities because someone doesn’t trust you enough to offer them to you.  You can lose existing relationships and miss out on forming new ones.  And trust, once lost, is much harder to recover than it was to initially build.

4. Reacting Defensively Can Hurt You

   One of the most well-known things the RIAA has done, of course, is suing people for file sharing.  This includes people who only downloaded a few files, grandmothers, and other sympathetic figures… the goodwill lost from these lawsuits costs far more than the minimal amount of money they get from settlements.  They also ignore the promotional benefits of more people hearing their music because they never get past the initial defensive reaction of “You’re taking something away from me!  I’m going to get you!”

   Reacting defensively can do serious damage to individuals, too.  It can cause you to do or say things that cause you more harm than good, and sometimes bring no good at all, not even fleeting satisfaction.  This can ruin relationships, whether romantic, platonic, or business, thus bringing hurt into your life.

5. Abusing People To Get Ahead Can Come Back To Bite You

   The RIAA has been notorious for years for giving their artists ridiculously small percentages of the money they bring in from selling their CD’s.  This leads to resentment from the very people who they need to generate revenue, and lately the news has shown the response:  several really big name artists have left the RIAA companies altogether.  This is just the start… a trickle that leads to a stream that leads to a river.  If they had treated the artists better, they might have been more likely to stay with the labels because of that.

   This holds true for individuals, too… anyone that you step on as you try to get ahead will remember it, generally much more than anyone you help will remember that.  Anyone that abuse in this way may even go out of their way later to do something just to hurt you.  This is more in terms of business than personal relationships, but it can be true in relationships, as well… there are few worse enemies than a former friend.

Learning from the public mistakes of the record companies can save you headache and heartache.  There are many other examples and lessons you can learn from the recording industry, or from other people who commit very public mistakes, such as certain celebrities (I’m quite certain you can think of several celebrities who have made very public mistakes lately) without having to make those mistakes yourself.

If you have any particularly good ones you would like to add, feel free in the comments.