Hello, friends! Gorick here. 

After playing a few too many hours of white noise on Spotify for my toddler’s naptime lately, I decided to blast some old favorites.

After listening to “I Want It That Way” by Backstreet Boys, “It's My Life” by Bon Jovi, and “Last Friday Night” by Katy Perry, I pulled a Gorick and looked up the origins of the songs.

To my surprise, despite the singers being different (and some way past their glory days), the songs themselves were all written by a single person who has outlasted all of them: Max Martin.

Welcome to this week’s story!

TODAY’S TAKEAWAY

Let failure redirect you.

Failure is the universe’s way of guiding you to what you should be doing instead.

THE STORY

A Swedish singer with a career that was going nowhere

It was 1993—6 years since Max Martin had dropped out of high school to join a glam-style metal band called It's Alive as its lead vocalist.

The band had just released its second album, Earthquake Visions, across 30 countries… only to sell a disappointing 30,000 copies.

(For comparison, at the top of the charts at the time was Mariah Carey’s Music Box, which sold 30,000,000 copies in 1993.)

Martin had 3 realizations after Earthquake Vision’s failure:

1. He was “press shy” and “would rather not” be in the spotlight
   

2. He loved the “melodic math” of creating a catchy tune
   

3. He had found a mentor in music producer Denniz Pop, who even offered him a job in his studio

Within 2 years, Martin had ditched the performer path and embraced the music ghostwriter path.

Then, 3 pivotal moments happened in Martin’s new career.

1. First, the company he had joined, Cheiron Studios, was hired to work on the Backstreet Boys’ debut album (Backstreet Boys, 1996).
   

2. Next, he worked with Britney Spears on her debut single (“…Baby One More Time”, 1998). His musical signatures in Spears’ single became known as “the de facto sound of modern teen pop.”
   

3. Then, in 1999, he helped Celine Dion write “That’s the Way It Is.”

Fast forward to 2025 (30 years since that pivotal decision to ditch performing), and Martin now has 492 songs to his name on Spotify (see the link at the very bottom of this email).

Some names you might recognize include, but are not limited to:

NSYNC, Usher, Avril Lavigne, Christina Aguilera, Justin Bieber, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Ellie Goulding, Demi Lovato, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Pink, Kelly Clarkson, Snoop Dogg, Kanye West, Maroon 5, Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, Justin Timberlake, Ariana Grande, Coldplay, BTS, Lizzo, and more.

THE UNSPOKEN RULE

Let failure redirect you

We’ve all heard the saying, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” 

It’s true, especially in a career context. 

Unless you literally die from your failure, you’re walking away with something priceless: a lesson.

You’re getting a lesson on what you like and don’t like, what you’re good at and not good at, and what works and doesn’t work for you.

“Fail” (and, more importantly, learn) enough times and you might just stumble upon that mythical intersection of what you like, what you’re good at, and what works for you.

Go ahead and think back to the last time you were rejected, overlooked, embarrassed, or felt like you wasted your time.

Now, ask yourself:

1. “What does this say about what I’m good at… and not good at?”
   

2. “What does this say about what gives me energy… and what doesn’t give me energy?”
   

3. “What does this say about what I should do next time a similar situation comes up?”

Answer these questions and you might just uncover what you were meant to do.

And perhaps like Martin, you might also uncover a career that’s more enduring than whatever you were doing previously.

(After all, his career has so far outlasted every more famous person he’s stood behind—and he probably has an easier lifestyle away from the paparazzi too.)

See you next Tuesday for our next story and unspoken rule!

—Gorick

PS: This is not a story about giving up at the first sign of struggle, to be clear! After all, I believe in The Ten Year Rule—the idea that overnight success does not exist and that it takes about a decade to start feeling the wind at your back. The idea isn’t to quit. It’s to learn, to redirect, but to still keep going.

WHAT I’M READING

Here are 3 articles that I found interesting recently (no paywalls, although it may depend on your cookies):

1. “Daylight saving time: Where states stand on making it permanent” (Axios)

2. “12 fast-growing, entry-level careers that are at low risk of being replaced by AI, says new report: They ‘still require that human judgment’” (CNBC)

3. “How to survive winter by hacking your light habits” (Stockholm University)

MORE OF MY WORK

Every newsletter is free and a fraction of my work. Here are 3 of my paid offerings that may interest you:

1. Keynote speaking​​: If your organization is looking for speakers for your internship program, new hire orientation, new student orientation, manager training, all-hands meetings, recruiting season, year-end performance evaluation season, or something else, let's chat!

2. How to Say It: Flashcards that teach you to know what to say in every high-stakes professional setting via hundreds of fill-in-the-blank scripts (just like the examples above). Free shipping on all orders over $40.

3. The Unspoken Rules​: My Wall Street Journal Bestseller that Arianna Huffington calls “a blueprint for anyone starting their career, entering a new role, or wanting to get unstuck.” Used by top companies and MBA programs.

Gorick Ng
[email protected]​
Harvard career advisor | WSJ bestselling author | Fortune 500 keynote speaker | First-gen

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STORY SOURCES

1. Max Martin and Britney Spears, 1998.

2. Earthquake Visions

3. “press shy”

4. “would rather not”

5. “melodic math”

6. Denniz Pop

7. “the de facto sound of modern teen pop.”

8. 493 songs to his name on Spotify

9. Max Martin, Taylor Swift, and Shellback