Circling Back to "Motivational Business Music"

Nothing says Rock 'n' Roll quite like business executives leaning into their creative sides... which is exactly what Andrew Mason—founder of Groupon—did after being fired from his CEO position.

Known for his "goofball antics" (as CNBC's Herb Greenberg described after naming Mason "Worst CEO of 2012"), Mason leaned into his prior musical experience—having worked for Steve Albini of the recording studio Electrical Audio—and produced a seven-song album of "motivational business music targeted at people newly entering the workforce." In this linked blog post, Mason also validated the necessity of this with empirical evidence, stating:

I managed over 12,000 people at Groupon, most under the age of 25.  One thing that surprised me was that many would arrive at orientation with minimal understanding of basic business wisdom.  "Haven't you read any business books?  Good to Great? Winning? The One Minute Manager?" I'd ask.  "Business books? Not really our thing," was the typical response. I came to realize that there was a real need to present business wisdom in a format that is more accessible to the younger generation.

You might be thinking—is this all just a bit? Can we take any of this seriously? Well, that's difficult to say considering his eccentric track record:

• Uploading videos of himself doing yoga... only in his underwear... in front of his Christmas tree... to YouTube
• Fabricating lies about himself to sound more lame, like owning 20 cats
• Hosting a company-wide town hall meeting that involved him drinking beer and burping
• Announcing Grouspawn, "a social dating and scholarship service" that "would set aside $60,000 a year for two babies born to parents who went on their first date using a Groupon"
• Going an entire week exclusively eating pizza and wearing shoes without soles
• Hiring a male performance artist to walk around the Groupon office, wearing a tutu and not talking

It's this exact level of shenanigans that is difficult to interpret because it either comes from a natural (albeit perverse), candid state or a state of highly disciplined tomfoolery.

In any case, I decided to put my headphones on, fix my necktie, and listen to his record, once and for all, to see whether it holds up and can be enjoyed unironically. In this article, I will provide a musical breakdown, highlight notable lyrics, and assess the professional advice of each song. By the end, I will decide whether I can recommend this to a fresh-faced college graduate.