Everyone has a different passion. Tai Tai’s is shopping and hanging out with the girls. Mine is investing in wine, drinking some fine whisky, and bragging about my vast banking experience and career to anyone who will listen.
And then there are others like David Solomon, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, who has DJ’d in front of thousands at concerts, released music under his own name, and even performed under his stage name DJ D-Sol for a while.
His latest stunt? Posting a shot of his September gig at BottleRock music festival in Napa Valley, California, on Instagram over the weekend.
While an impressive feat, I can’t help but view the episode with some irony.
BottleRock did not require a proof of vaccination to attend the music festival, but just proof of a negative Covid-19 test (although apparently about 96% of the 40,000 attendees said they had been jabbed). But the event did come in the middle of a surge in cases of the virus in the US — and just days after Goldman instituted a new Covid policy. Its policy says that anyone even entering the Goldman offices in the US must be fully vaccinated.
That obviously didn’t apply to the roughly 1,600 music fans who watched Solomon live in action.
I don’t begrudge him his moment in the spotlight, of course. But it did get me thinking on how I could hone my passions into something more worthwhile. If anyone wants me to kick off a whisky tasting (and drinking) series of events, I’m just a phone call away.