IAM334- Music School Founder Helps Individual Tap Into Their Creative Side Through Art

For 20 years, Matt was an executive in the radio industry, before becoming an investor and the founding CEO for the School of Rock. In five years, Matt grew that franchise from five locations to 55 schools – the largest of music schools in the world. In 2012, he opened the first One River School of Art + Design in Englewood, NJ. He franchised the concept in 2017 and currently has 12 locations, with up to five more expected to open this year.

• CEO Hack: Counting on the power of people through hiring and mentoring
• CEO Nugget: Listen a bit longer and ask more questions
• CEO Defined: Facilitating best practices around people

Website: http://oneriverschool.com/franchise

Facebook: facebook.com/oneriverschool
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oneriverschool/?hl=en
Twitter: https://twitter.com/oneriverschool?lang=en

Full Interview

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Transcription

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Matt Ross of the Juan River School of Art and Design. Matt, are you ready to speak to the community?

Matt Ross 0:39

Yes, I am.

Gresham Harkless 0:40

Awesome, super excited to have you on what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Matt so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. And for 20 years, Matt was an executive in the radio industry, before becoming an investor and the founding CEO of the School of Rock. In five years, Matt grew that franchise from five locations to 55 schools – the largest music schools in the world. In 2012, he opened the first One River School of Art + Design in Englewood, NJ. He franchised the concept in 2017 and currently has 12 locations, with up to five more expected to open this year. Matt, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

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Matt Ross 1:16

Yes, I am.

Gresham Harkless 1:17

Awesome. Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. And what led you to start your business?

Matt Ross 1:23

Yes. So I spent 20 years in the radio business. I was in traditional media. But I was that guy as I got into management that always got the assignment to fix the broken radio stations, moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, Atlanta, and I was sort of handed keys. And he would say, we're losing money there, do whatever you got to do I change the format and fix it does that.

So as time moved on, I realized that there were a lot of parallels between that intrapreneurship and building a business, the only difference was having a concept. After I left radio and was involved with the school Rock, which was not my concept. I built this fundamental appreciation for creative education, the value of learning music, and how important it is for people's development and fun and really just to complete people who have an interest in it.

And I simply ask the question, How come there are no cool art schools in my community? I grew up in the city, where in New York, there's anything you want or need of any kind, particularly the arts and culture. So we're one river from New York City and have virtually no culture. And that's probably indicative of suburbia everywhere. Kids here lack a lot of things. And so we built a school in Englewood, New Jersey, sort of to create a really cool, current experience that's fun and compelling. And here we are now with 12 schools and opening a lot more.

Gresham Harkless 2:56

Nice. So I definitely appreciate you for doing that. Because a lot of times people have ideas, or they don't see something and then they pretty much just sit on it. They don't do anything with it. But in true entrepreneurial form, you've decided to create something and build something for the betterment of society, I think.

Matt Ross 3:12

Yeah, I feel that way. It's become my mission in life. I think people, of all ages need to do things to tap into their creative side. And it makes us better, smarter and prepares us to problem solve. And at the same time, it's just fun. I mean, I play the guitar. I'm not on tour, but I play the guitar for me. And it makes me feel good when I do.

Gresham Harkless 3:32

Exactly, exactly. And I think there's a lot to be said too, on how really therapeutic to some degree that music can be and how music is something a form of expression that we can use, whether we're listening to it, or whether we're playing it if we can play it or singing it, even if we can't see it. Sometimes it's still a form of expression.

Matt Ross 3:52

No doubt. I have this saying that I tell people, my kids come out of their mom's womb in effect, there are a few things that they connect with, they connect with mom's face. Obviously, they need food and all those things. But very quickly, it's the sound of mom's voice, the written flavor, and the heartbeat. So music is rooted in a beat. And I think it's rooted in us when we're literally in utero, were developing and we play music to mom's bellies now, and they have all that. But then when kids become little, they also scribble and draw. And they're making art, and then we take it away from them because we tell them there's nothing valuable because it's not practical. You need to study math and science.

While there's truth math and science is where a lot of folks need to go but not everyone. Sometimes just pure art making and being good at spatial things. Thinking and abstract thinking is going to help you be a good marketer or other things in life that help you solve problems. And so there's vocational benefits also, of being good at being creative. Yeah, I'm one of those guys. And I acted when I was a kid, I didn't use it and other things. My dad was into sports. So I dropped off creative stuff because I had to do what my dad was meant to. And I wish he was fed more to me as a kid. So I've come back to that reason.

Gresham Harkless 5:29

Well, definitely, I appreciate you for doing that. Because it's funny, I was at some networking event, and there was an engineer there. And he was talking about how much design thinking is becoming a part of engineering, they're not two separate things anymore. So you have to have both sides to some degree. So like he was saying that the crackdown on not having art, design, music, all those things, is now really starting to come to head because now it's starting to become such an integral part of everything that we do. So I appreciate you for supporting that and continuing with what your goal and your passion is. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper. Here is a little bit more about the school and what you feel kind of is like your secret sauce, and what makes you unique.

Matt Ross 6:11

It's a really good question. So one of the things, when I did research one idea, was, hey, is there an opportunity to build a cool art school? What is cool means, to me meant not studying stuff that was 200 years old. Now, it's amazing Van Gogh, maybe the most compelling painter ever. But who's making art today? And how come we can name three living artists, most people, and one day, I'm gonna take a camera into Time Square, I'm going to ask people to name three living artists, to 95% pass that. So I started to ask if there was a way to create a context for living artists.

So we combined art, and we build a curriculum that really teaches the art of today, celebrating artists of today. And we built a curriculum that's constantly changing, so object-based, and every month you focus on new projects, and new so in our core product, which is called Art Shuffle.

For Kids and adults, to spend a month working on a project it might be drawing, it might be a figurative drawing project of a Balata cart based upon some current artists, then we might do a sculptural project, or we might do a painting project or use watercolor, so we're constantly shuffling the medium, the reference artists. And it will mean fun, as opposed to boring, if you just take a 16-week drawing class, after eight weeks, you might get done with this may be not. But I think people need variety. It's one of my, it might have to do with the fact that my attention span is sometimes a little shorter than most.

And I want to bite off a little piece of every Apple rather than just eat that one apple. And I think it's so it may be it's fueled a little bit from the way I looked through the lens I looked through a little bit, but the art Shuffle is a curriculum we built and trademarked. And this is a project-based curriculum that's constantly changing.

Gresham Harkless 8:10

Nice, I appreciate that. And it might be a little bit more on the prism I'm looking through as well because I always like to have variety and things to change as well. So I'm also of the same ilk, and then cut from the same cloth, it sounds like so what I wanted to do is switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app or book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient,

Matt Ross 8:33

So effective and efficient. Some of them I look at through two different lenses because my effectiveness is not always efficient. So what makes me one of the things I do as a relates to being effective is I empower people. I give people a lot of room, I really focus on really hiring great people, and really mentoring them. It sounds like old hat and textbook stuff. But most people really don't coach. Most people really don't make the people around them better. They give them a task, and they hold them accountable to work. I'm 58 I've been around the block, and I've learned a lot. I have an MBA, I've studied dope businesses, and I've really focused on mentoring a lot.

So if you come to work for me, I may not be able to do what other folks do well as a CEO, but I spend my time giving my ear, my time, and real serious commitment to making the people better around me, challenging them, not just challenging them to get the project done on time, but challenging them to understand themselves and how to grow it would be if you were a golf coach or someone else I view myself as the person whose primary job is to hire great people and make them better that creates a more self-sustaining sort of business and it gives me actually, it serves me because then it lets me get in my box and do the things I need to do and really rely on my folks to do what they do well.

Gresham Harkless 10:11

Right, that makes perfect sense. And so I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Or if you can happen to be a time machine and talk to your younger business self, what would you tell yourself?

Matt Ross 10:24

Well, my younger business self was always struggling with patience. So I was type A aggressive, get it done. But the things that I was just talking about, really have also come with a bit more age and wisdom. And sometimes a little patience and a little more, sort of kick your foot off the gas a minute, pump the brakes for a minute, listen a little bit longer, ask a few more questions, rather than just solving the problem, whether that's for a customer or an employee, or strategy question, and I think inevitably, it's worked for me early on, I didn't do it enough, I had all the answers, I was that Young Turk.

And a lot of bravado grew up on the street in New York, fighting, and not fighting in a bad way. But always sort of trying to go forward fast. And I think as you get older, you'd maybe just modulate that speed a little bit. So I think people who are super smart and aggressive and type A can also modulate that speed by asking questions and not jumping in and asking more questions, and we listen to it.

Gresham Harkless 11:42

Yeah, it goes back to the knowledge of self. Because if you understand that, you can tweak that a little bit and have better results, or maybe the results you want. Or you can just try a different way to get to where you want to be

Matt Ross 11:55

And also gets people bought into it. So it's not always about you being the smartest guy at the table or the guy with all the answers, or it's my way, sometimes you listen a little long, ask a few more questions, and you realize that someone else had the better idea. So I've gotten really good at that, I would say over the last 15 years, it probably took me to 40 to get to all the young folks listening right now, you got some time ahead of you to continue growing your toolkit.

And jump folks don't always want to hear, they don't always want to hear that on that being the old guy saying, Hey, listen to me, I'm the old guy, I'm talking. I'm 58. I'm not that old. But I'm just at that point where I can have 1000s of interactions with employees and people. And for someone like myself, this has been very helpful. And there are a lot of entrepreneurs and a lot of CEOs who are type A driven folks and want to get stuff done fast and best. Sometimes, best doesn't always mean fast.

Gresham Harkless 13:03

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. I appreciate you for sharing that with us. And now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So what does being a CEO mean to you?

Matt Ross 13:17

To me, honestly, I think if you're a CEO, I'm going to separate it from entrepreneur for a minute, because the idea was mine. But I've been a CEO, where the idea wasn't mine, the concept wasn't mine. I think it is an extension of what I just said, which is facilitating the best practices around people, strategy, vision, and culture. Where are we making our bets? And why? What's the pathway to getting there? Who's on the bus? And how do we make the bus a comfortable ride? And that's the culture piece.

Gresham Harkless 13:52

Nice. Well, I definitely appreciate that definition. And I couldn't have told me that was the first time you said it sounded like a TED talk or something. So I appreciate that and appreciate your time, what I want to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you can let our readers and listeners know. And then of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things you're doing.

Matt Ross 14:11

So I mentioned the stuff about Gallup and Clifton before and I really think people should go there. I should get be getting a commission from them, but I'm not going to keep talking about it. There's a thing about Clifton Strengths. Don Clifton, who is basically the founder of Gallup, and his polling company probably built more information about what drives employee engagement. And so is the thing about starting with your strengths. There's a great predictive tool that tells you what your strengths are.

And for those folks who are interested in entrepreneurship, and a lot of folks probably are that listen to you as well. This is another thing book called Born to Build. And those tools that Gallup has really allows you to better understand yourself as CEO, as an operator, what do you do? Well, and probably the most compelling thing is now to cast complementary people around you. And it's a team's right at the end of the day if you're a shooting guard, you need a point guard, if you're a quarterback, you need to have fun. In business, it's the same thing. Whether you're in the restaurant business or you're in the technology business,

Gresham Harkless 15:26

People that want to get a hold of you what's the best way for them?

Matt Ross 15:29

So I put my email out there. It's onewordschool.com. And I'm available there you go to our website at oneriverschool.com.

Gresham Harkless 15:40

Okay, perfect. And we'll have those links.

Matt Ross 15:42

And I've got a cool Instagram page where you can see all the greatest Art in America right now.

Gresham Harkless 15:46

Oh, nice.

Matt Ross 15:47

Artists and Art on Instagram. So which is fun.

Gresham Harkless 15:50

Nice. Oh, definitely make sure to link that as well in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you. But I appreciate your time and appreciate all the awesome things that you're doing. And you did today, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Matt Ross 16:01

Thanks for having me.

Outro 16:03

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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