What Do Mad Dogs and Conscious Capitalism® Have In Common?

In this article:

Why psychological safety and genuine care are the mechanism behind sustained business success, not soft ideals.

Drawing on experience as both a drummer and entrepreneur, this piece reveals the surprising connection between legendary rock bands and high-performing businesses.

Core Insights:

The best teams (bands or businesses) aren't built on control - they're built on care, trust and

shared purpose. When people feel safe, we see extraordinary results in both music and business. Google's Project Aristotle can tell us a lot about high-performing teams, and it's clear to see why companies that embrace Conscious Capitalism® achieve superior long-term returns.

Key Takeaways:

• - Business isn't a zero-sum game - the best businesses create value for everyone.

• - Psychological safety is the foundation of high-performing teams

• - The Quadruple Bottom Line is key: Purpose, People, Planet, Profit

• - Sustained success comes from creating conditions where people flourish

• 
  

Who This Is For:

Leaders, entrepreneurs, and anyone building teams who want to understand what makes

some groups transcend while others merely function.

Sometimes life hands you unexpected convergences that illuminate truths you’ve been living without fully recognising them.

That happened to me recently while reading Raj Sisodia and John Mackey’s remarkable book Conscious Capitalism®, alongside discovering the documentary Learning to Live Together: The Return of Mad Dogs & Englishmen.

Both experiences moved me deeply, at times to tears, because they helped me see

something I’ve been carrying my entire life: a set of values passed down by my late father, long before I had language for it.

There’s another reason these convergences hit so hard.

I’ve lived both sides of this story.

Before I built businesses, I tried very hard to become a rock star as the drummer with Titus Oats. When that didn’t work, I spent many years in the professional audio industry working with world-famous artists. I know what it feels like when a band truly clicks, and when it doesn’t.

I understand the magic that happens when musicians create genuine togetherness.

And I know the hollow emptiness when ego, mistrust, or unspoken tension poisons the room.

What I later realised is this: the same dynamics play out in business,  just with different instruments.

The Family I Didn’t Know I Was Building

My father died in 1981 at just 65 years old, when I was 26.

As I read about Conscious Capitalism’s principles — stakeholder orientation, higher

purpose, conscious leadership — I realised I’d absorbed them from him as naturally as breathing.

He was a highly successful entrepreneur who built his businesses on principles I now

recognise clearly:

• Treating all stakeholders well

• Creating win-win-win relationships

• His unwavering honesty and integrity

• Adding value in every interaction

• Building for long-term sustainability rather than just short-term extraction

He believed something fundamental: business isn’t a zero-sum game. The best businesses create value for everyone: Employees, customers, suppliers, communities, and yes, shareholders too.

When Musicians Become Family

This is where the Mad Dogs enter the picture.

The original 1970 Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour brought together Joe Cocker, Leon Russell, and an extraordinary collection of musicians — 42 people in total, including singers, musicians, family members, roadies, and even a dog named Canina.

Pierre Adidge, director of the original documentary, captured it perfectly:

“They brought together the finest musicians in Hollywood, who all went because they wanted to go, because they wanted to be a part of this whole giant effort. They wanted to be together through their music.”

Joe Cocker reflected on those early days:

“At first it was a family thing. We were all shacking up in cheap motels; we had a cheap bus and a cheap plane.”

Before fame fractured things. Before the chaos of touring took its toll. There was simply the joy of creating together.

In 2015, the Tedeschi Trucks Band recreated that magic at the Lockn’ Festival, bringing together 12 original Mad Dogs with their own 12-piece band.

What struck Leon Russell most wasn’t the music — it was the longevity.

As Susan Tedeschi recalled:

“Leon was shocked by how long we’ve been together. He said, ‘How do you keep 12 people together this long?’ They did it for a year and they all had to take time off.”

The Tedeschi Trucks Band shows what sustainable togetherness looks like. They are

musicians “connected by birth or by choice and time… who have been living together on tour for long enough that they count as relatives.”

Their bus driver, Bobby Bolton, has driven them over 1.3 million miles.

That’s not just employment. That’s belonging.

The Common Thread: Psychological Safety and Human Flourishing

The parallel between the Mad Dogs’ musical family and Conscious Capitalism® isn’t

superficial.

Both understand something many leaders still miss: Extraordinary results come from

environments where people feel safe enough to bring their full selves.

I’ve experienced this truth both behind a drum kit and behind a CEO’s desk. The dynamics are remarkably similar.

In both bands and businesses, the real question isn’t whether you have talented people. It’s whether you’ve created conditions where that talent can flourish collectively.

Research such as Google’s Project Aristotle confirmed what great ensembles and conscious businesses have long known: Psychological safety — an environment in which you can take risks without fear of humiliation or punishment — is the foundation of high-performing teams.

When people feel valued, when trust is real, when purpose outweighs ego, they create something far greater than the sum of their individual contributions.

This is the essence of The Quadruple Bottom Line (a concept that Raj Sisoda also named): Sustained, highest impact success is measured not only by Profit, but also by Purpose, People, and Planet.

It’s the same principle my father lived by,  and the same principle that made the Mad Dogs magical.

Conscious Capitalism® in Practice

In Firms of Endearment (FoE) and Conscious Capitalism® (CC), Raj Sisodia and his co-

authors identified companies that embody these principles in the real world.

Examples include Patagonia putting environmental and social purpose ahead of profit, Southwest Airlines building culture by putting employees first, and Whole Foods pioneering stakeholder consciousness in retail.

These companies aren’t sacrificing returns for values.

They achieve superior long-term returns because of their values.

Just as the Mad Dogs created transcendent music because of their family-like bonds, FoE and CC companies outperform their competitors because they take all stakeholders seriously.

The Music We Make Together

Whether you’re building a business, leading a team, or making music, the fundamental question is the same:

What conditions are you creating, and what do those conditions make possible?

My father understood this intuitively.

The Mad Dogs lived it in cheap motels and shared purpose.

The thorough data-led research covered in FoE and CC proves it works at scale.

And I’ve lived it in both worlds: Feeling it as a drummer when a band was truly together, and experiencing it as an entrepreneur when a leadership team operates with genuine mutual respect and shared purpose.

The most powerful teams, bands or businesses, aren’t built on control, fear, or extraction.

They’re built on care, trust, and the belief that when everyone wins, everyone wins bigger.

That’s what Conscious Capitalism® and Mad Dogs have in common.

They both understand that the most beautiful things we create in this world, we create together.

If this has stirred anything for you, about your business, your team, or the conditions you’re creating, let me know. I’d love to hear what it brought up for you.

Conscious Capitalism® is a registered trademark of Conscious Capitalism, Inc., a non-profit organisation.