EGOT, an acronym for those select artists who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony during their career.  A remarkable achievement in television, music, film, and stage.  What makes it more rare is the unpredictability of the marketplace.  What if our box office record breaking film runs into a Citizen Kane?  Or Book of Mormon’s fanatic followers outpace our acclaimed staging of the Presidency of FDR?  Perhaps our genre of music is slightly less popular the year our hit single releases.

Creating art for the awards and celebration is maddening work.  We must get the content right for the marketplace but also anticipate the timing of other works that will overlap with ours.  We can point to Impressionist artists (famous today) who lived anonymous lives and dabbled in poverty.  Their works auction for millions of dollars and are required acquisitions for any national museum.  Yet, their contributions went unheralded during the award shows of their time, if they could even get placed in the show.

An EGOT artists is part superior artistic talent and part coincidence of events.  Akin to spotting a shooting star in the night sky.  If we aspire to win we need a different mindset than if we aim to inspire, transform, and engage.  Being clear about our intention is crucial.