Today on The Hardcore Humanism Podcast we are talking with the musician, singer-songwriter, entrepreneur and philanthropist Linda Perry. Now many of you know Linda as the leader of the band Four Non-Blondes and their big hit “What’s Up.” And for years, Linda has also been a prolific songwriter for other artists, writing hit songs like “Get The Party Started,” which was performed by Pink and “Beautiful” performed by Christina Aguilera. Linda has been such an accomplished songwriter that in 2015 she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Most recently, Linda has partnered with the Repost by SoundCloud marketing and distribution platform to develop independent artists. And she just helped curate the Rock and Relief concert series to raise money for CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort), a non-profit organization dedicated to crisis response, including providing access to COVID vaccines and testing during the pandemic.
Now I don’t know about you, but over the years, as I heard about everything Linda is doing as an artist, entrepeneur and philanthropist, the word that always came to my mind was empowerment. It was always so impressive to recognize that she just kept working and in so many different ways, on so many different levels. And in the Hardcore Humanism therapy and coaching program, our goal is to empower you to find your purpose, and work hard to achieve that purpose so that you can lead a fulfilling and authentic life. And when I hear about someone like Linda, I think, that’s exactly the type of person we want on The Hardcore Humanism Podcast, so we can learn some of the nuances of how someone like Linda is able to be so consistently be productive and purpose-driven over the course of decades in her career.
There’s so much that we can take away from the conversation with Linda, but there are three major things I wanted to highlight. The first is that Linda describes how regardless of whatever barrier she faces, she is determined to keep going. And she discusses some tough issues she’s faced over the course of her life, including having an alcoholic parent and facing significant medical issues in her life. But she always keeps going and fighting for what she wants. And this is so important when we are pursuing a purpose-driven life. The results we want may or may not always happen, but we have to keep putting in the effort to give ourselves the best chance to achieve our goals. Actually, in line with that concept, we actually recorded the podcast while Linda was working with her staff to set up for The Rock and Relief concert. So it was kind of cool to get a chance to see and hear Linda at work, as she multi-tasked and spoke with me as she was doing her philanthropic work.
Second, we talk about how even though Linda is a hard charger, and really kicks ass in her career, she tries not to lose sight of one of the most important things that drives an artist and philanthropist, which is empathy. And she talks about how she is empathic with and sensitive towards the feelings and needs of other people even when they don’t behave in the best ways. And this is particularly important for us as we become goal oriented and purpose driven. It becomes natural as we self-actualize and lead authentic and fulfilling lives to feel good and powerful. But we have to make sure that we don’t lose sight of the fact that not everyone will feel empowered. And so, we hope that as people become the Hardcore Humans they want to be, they are understanding and empathic rather than critical and judgmental of others wherever they are on their journey.
And finally, and perhaps relatedly, Linda talks about one of the unfortunate downsides of being a driven and high achieving person. As we push ourselves to succeed, we can run the risk of that enthusiasm and drive turning into self-criticism and despair if we don’t achieve our goals. And hey, this is a natural thing to occur as we really go after our purpose-driven life. But we hope that just as you are understanding and empathic with others, you are similarly gentle and kind with yourself as you pursue your life goals.
And so as we build our own purpose-driven lives, we can learn from Linda and try to emulate her hard work and empathy, while being careful that as we are empowering others, that we make sure to be empathic to ourselves.
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