Endangered Songbirds in Australia, a Teen Race Car Driver, and Scrambled Eggs: How Being Unique Is Often Better Than Being the Best
The 3-word quote: “Different is Desirable”
1.
2022 was Adele’s year.
If you are a music lover, you know her latest album took over the airwaves and became the year's best-selling album.
Her release, titled 30, reached number 1 in 36 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
And if you scrolled down Australia’s music charts at the time, you’d find some familiar names - obviously Adele, then you’d see Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, and even ABBA.
Perennial sellers, all of them.
But squeezed between Ed Sheeran and topping Taylor Swift and ABBA was an album called Songs of Disappearance by a group of newcomers to the music scene.
This newcomer's first release surprisingly out-charted Taylor Swift, outsold Mariah Carey, and topped ABBA’s comeback tunes.
Incredible for these rookies.
What is more impressive and unusual is Songs of Disappearance is an album made up entirely of endangered Australian songbird calls.
Let that sink in…an album of endangered Australian songbird calls outperformed some of the best-selling music acts of all time.
Fifty-three threatened species are represented on the album, with most tracks clocking in under 30 seconds. Much like the birds, their calls vary widely, some more beautiful than others.
The album was the brainchild of Anthony Albrecht, a musician and Ph.D candidate at Charles Darwin University. He approached his advisor Stephen Garnett with the bird song project idea.
An NPR article about the album quotes Albrecht:
“I know it was an ambitious thing to suggest and - I don’t know. Stephen’s a little bit crazy like me, and he said, let’s do it.”
So they did.
The album has reached as high as number two on the charts.
Proceeds from sales benefited Birdlife Australia. A deluxe follow-up album is in the works - this time, the liner notes are scheduled to include drawings of the birds by Australian artists.
Looks like their follow-up record is destined to be a hit too. And an album of Australian frog calls in in the works too.
2.
James Altucher’s daughter was having trouble getting into college; she had been rejected by several of her top choices.
For James, this wasn’t a problem - he had been trying to discourage his daughter from enrolling at all - he felt that college was no longer a wise investment, despite himself being a college graduate, author, and businessman.
But his daughter really wanted to go.
Altucher’s oppositions to college were numerous. In his blog, he even questioned the college admission process believing that most candidates were not that much different.
He wrote:
“Nobody can tell the difference. All of these applicants look the same. They are photocopies of each other. They are clones begging to be selected by the casino of college admissions.”
And if colleges used the SAT to decide between applicants, he wondered what the difference was between a student who scored 1300 and one who scored 1400.
But his daughter still wanted to go to college. And like any good dad, he decided he would help.
So he gave her advice.
It wasn't to study harder; it wasn’t to enroll in more AP courses; it wasn’t to retake the SAT.
He told her to go be a race car driver.
Actually, she was already interested in this, but he supported and encouraged her and signed her up for lessons. Soon she became certified and began racing.
And she was successful.
She placed second in her first Formula 2 race and continued racing.
A year later, she reapplied to the same colleges that had previously rejected her.
And this time, the teen Formula 2 driver was accepted…into all of them.
3.
A 2020 New York Times profile called him “...one of the most versatile, ingenious, and adventurous chefs in the history of American cuisine.”
The article later said, “No chef working in America is quite his equal.”
French-trained Jean-Georges Vongerichten operates dozens of restaurants located across the world and is truly considered one of the world’s best chefs.
Known to blend unique ingredients and use spices from around the world, his upscale restaurants are famous for providing complex flavors.
He had prepared nearly every dish imaginable throughout his career.
But it was an order of scrambled eggs that Vongerichten prepared several years ago that many of the chefs studying under him remembered.
When a tourist stumbled into one of his New York restaurants, he seemed unaware that he was in one of the finest dining spots in the city.
The customer sat down, ignored the menu and asked the waiter for a simple order of scrambled eggs.
And it thrilled Chef Vongerichten.
Vongerichten took over the kitchen from the other chefs under him and decided to make the order himself.
As Christopher Cox describes the story in The Deadline Effect
The master chef, “made the best scrambled eggs of his life and then topped it off with caviar, creme fraiche, and chives.”
One of the younger chefs said it was the moment he learned the most from Vongerichten.
The takeaway:
So what does an album of endangered songbirds, a teen Formula 2 driver, and a master chef making scrambled eggs have in common?
They all are examples of how being unique in a field is often better than being the best.
Is Songs of Disappearance better music than Adele? Or Taylor Swift? Debatable. Musically, most would prefer Swift and Adele.
But the uniqueness of the songbird project disrupted the Australian charts, and that originality stood out.
Customers craved it.
Was James Altucher’s daughter suddenly more brilliant a year later - when she was admitted into all of the colleges that previously rejected her?
No, but being a smart, female, teenager, who was also a Formula 2 race car driver was unique; stood out from the crowd.
Her new skill likely jumped off the page and made her application different from the others.
She wasn’t the best applicant, but she was undoubtedly one of the most unique applicants.
The college admission officers rewarded her.
And were scrambled eggs Vongerichten’s best dish? Hardly.
But the simple request of scrambled eggs was so unusual that it ripped the chef out of his fine dining rut - even if just for a moment. The simplicity jolted his attention and allowed him to prepare a simple meal.
And the famous chef loved it.
A younger chef watching him prepare the eggs said he learned no matter how great you were, it is always about your customer.
Instead of being angry about the simple order, the young chef watched Vongericheten try to please the tourist. “It was about what the customer wanted.”
***
Being the best is often reserved for one individual; striving to be better in careers and in life is always an ongoing goal. There is no doubt that being skilled is critical for success.
But at times, the customers and audiences are hungry not just for good work but are often starving for something wildly different.
It's why being unique is often better than being the best, no matter the field.
We aim to create quality work, yes. But also aim to create something that stands out; it will pay off.
Different is desirable.
3 things before you go:
song: Quiet Town by The Killers - moody, atmospheric, rock storytelling with major Bruce Springsteen vibes
article: Britain’s Most Remote Mainland Pub by Daniel Stables (BBC.com) - a small town’s lone pub, so isolated you can only get there by sea ferry or a two-day hike; fun travel article
video: Sportscaster goes viral when asked to do weather - still humorous
watch here