The Personal Pain of Country Music - HARDY - #1051

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
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Work hard and be nice. Is that basically your career philosophy?

**HARDY** (0:47)
Yeah. Have I said that exactly before? I feel like I have. I feel like that's like the number one.
You know, honestly, if I put them in order, it would be be nice first and work hard second. Not like, you know, don't dismiss working hard, but man, being a good hangar, just being somebody that somebody wants in the room will take you so far, I feel like, in any sort of any job atmosphere at all.

**Chris Williamson** (1:17)
Why? I would have assumed, especially in music, if you're some virtuoso guitarist.

**HARDY** (1:23)
Nobody likes an asshole, dude. It doesn't matter how good you are or something. I just, nobody wants that person in the room, I feel like. And I just, how many times, I cannot tell you how many times I've done podcasts or we've gotten a VIP tour of something, or we had a driver, you know, in LA or in New York. And then we've been like, you ever had anybody that was just terrible to work with? And people just remember that, man. And it's a lot of times it's people that are like, really famous and really successful and very talented.
And there's just, I know that people like drivers and, you know, people that give Disney World tours and stuff like that are not people that are going to help advance your career. But I think that transcends stuff like that. And just being nice to people and making sure everybody is appreciated and feels comfortable around you. And I just think it's important.

**Chris Williamson** (2:16)
There's a guy called Paul Graham, who's an investor and writer from the UK. He lives in the UK now. He's got this great idea. Famous jerks are not role models. Some talented people are jerks. And this sometimes makes it seem to the inexperienced that being a jerk is part of being talented. It isn't. Being talented is merely how they get away with being a jerk.

**HARDY** (2:36)
Wow. That's really good.

**Chris Williamson** (2:37)
I think it's true.

**HARDY** (2:38)
Yeah, totally.

**Chris Williamson** (2:38)
100%. The success is not because of them being an asshole. The fact that they are successful is how they get away with being an asshole.

**HARDY** (2:46)
Yeah. 100%. Would you call it a paradox?

**Chris Williamson** (2:51)
A little bit.
It's certainly surprising because it gives people this idea that ego is where the success has been cultivated from as opposed to the fact that the success gave them this buffer zone where people are, I can't be too mean to Hardy because look at all the songs he does and stuff. He's a bit of a dick, you know, whatever. So, I mean, it's kind of surprising because I think a lot of people in jobs, they see it as being transactional, that if you are good at X, you will get Y. But there's the packaging that your talent comes in, which is like, well, you were good hang. How are you on the bus? What's your morale like when you've done three shows in three days and everybody's tired? It's like, are you the one that brings everybody up or are you the one that's like, ah, dude, this is so tough. This is so hard. I'm missing the, it's like everyone's doing that.

**HARDY** (3:40)
Yeah. Yeah, no, it's very true, man. And it's just, I've always just kind of thought that it's like, it takes way more effort to be, you know, like an asshole than just to be nice. And there's, I mean, I've had my moments. I mean, for sure, where I just, I'm exhausted or mentally drained or my meter is at all times zero.
And those are moments where I feel like I just get more quiet more than anything. But man, it's just so much easier to be just nice to people. And just keep a smile on your face and keep it light and just do what you got to do. And even if it's something you don't want to do, you do it anyway and have fun with it. And I don't know, it just seems way less effort to do that.