Welcome to Edition #74 of Did You Know? (DYK), the weekly newsletter by Gorick Ng, Harvard career adviser and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of The Unspoken Rules, where we deconstruct the untold story of how someone (or something) became successful—and what you can do to follow in their footsteps.
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Did You Know? Raise your hand!
Your story this week
Did you know? Ramin Djawadi went from being an assistant to composing the Game of Thrones soundtrack.
What do Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, Westworld, Jack Ryan, Pacific Rim, Clash of the Titans, and Iron Man have in common?
They’re all TV series and Hollywood movies with soundtracks composed by the same person: Ramin Djawadi.
How did Djawadi get to this point in his career?
Let’s go back to the year 2000. 26-year-old Djawadi had just graduated from Boston’s Berklee College of Music and was home in Germany having dinner with an old friend.
“So Ramin,” this friend began. “What are you up to and what do you want to do?”
Djawadi shared that he was in a band and was working at a video game company—“but eventually I want to do film music and go to Los Angeles.”
“You know,” Djawadi’s friend replied. “I know somebody that knows somebody that knows Hans Zimmer.”
(In case you didn’t know, Hans Zimmer has composed soundtracks to over 150 films, including The Lion King, Inception, Gladiator, The Dark Knight, Pirates of the Caribbean, Man of Steel, Kung Fu Panda, and Dune.)
Two weeks later—and Djawadi was on a plane to Los Angeles to intern for Zimmer’s production company, Remote Control Productions.
Though cool from the outside, Djawadi’s work was far from glamorous. He worked in the "machine room" and was in charge of making sure that the audio equipment functioned properly.
Fast forward three years to 2003. One evening, while making coffee for the team during a stressful deadline, Djawadi overheard a frustrated Hans Zimmer speaking with the team.
“If you don't get the sword fight with the donkey right, you might as well bury the movie.”
Hans Zimmer was talking about Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Zimmer’s entire team was struggling to find the right music to play during a sword fight between Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom.
Then, Djawadi—who Zimmer didn't even realize played an instrument—did what few assistants dared. He raised his hand from the back of the room and said, “Can I try?”
The team agreed—and, one all-nighter later, Djawadi shared his proposal. The result? "Staggeringly brilliant," according to Zimmer.
Djawadi’s score turned the scene into “a ballet”—and, in doing so, transformed his career from no-name coffee maker to full-time composer with his own office at the studio.
Fast forward, and Djawadi continued to establish himself, both alongside Zimmer and on his own.
After he received a Grammy nomination in 2009 for the Iron Man soundtrack, Djawadi was chosen to score HBO’s Game of Thrones. This 8-season saga put Djawadi on the map as a “magnificent” composer “whose pulsing theme songs set the tone and propel the action forward.”
Two Emmys later, Djawadi is still going strong today.
What does this mean for you? The next time you find yourself looking at your job and feeling like it’s a dead end (or the next time you hum the GOT theme song in the shower), remember Djawadi—who transformed a “dead end” job into a career launchpad.
Image of Ramin Djawadi via Grammy.com.
Your strategy this week
Did you know? Eavesdrop!
Had Djawadi kept to making coffee as an intern, he probably would have stayed as the coffee boy forever. But he didn’t—and it all came down to one thing: eavesdropping.
Not the creepy kind! The observant kind.
The reality is that we’re all a “fly on the wall” (corporate speak for “being in the room as an observer”) in countless situations at work. The key is to listen as Djawadi did—and to pay attention to 2 things:
- Stressors: What’s causing people stress?
- Time wasters: What’s wasting people's time?
Each time you overhear a stressor or a time waster, ask yourself:
A. Do I think I can help?
- I.e., “I have ideas or know how to do this task”
B. Do I have the time to help?
- I.e., “I wouldn’t be neglecting my core responsibilities”
C. Do I want to help?
- I.e., “I want to do more of this type of work”
If you can answer “yes” to all three questions, do what Djawadi and ask, “Do you mind if I have a go at it?” or, simply, “Can I help?”
Not everyone will say yes and not every job well done will be rewarded. But you never know: After all, this was the story of Angela Merkel (former Chancellor of Germany), too!
I know it because I’ve experienced it: When I worked in management consulting, I realized that every car ride with the team to the client’s office was a chance to eavesdrop.
One day, I overheard my manager complaining about not having time to manage a new intern who was about to join the team. “I’m happy to help train him if it’d be helpful!” I remember saying.
Fast forward, and my manager ended up recounting this exact moment in my business school recommendation letter.
Eavesdrop!
Gorick
Sources:
- Let’s go back to the winter of 1999
- “I know somebody that knows somebody that knows Hans Zimmer.”
- composed soundtracks to over 150 films
- "machine room"
- “If you don't get the sword fight with the donkey right, you might as well bury the movie.”
- "Staggeringly brilliant,"
- with his own office at the studio
- a Grammy nomination in 2009
- “whose pulsing theme songs set the tone and propel the action forward.”
- Two Emmys later
