• Entrepreneur.com, Wednesday, August 18, 2010 9:25 AM

I played left field Sunday behind a third baseman sporting a Deadhead T-shirt. He's an airline pilot in real life. Solid citizen that he truly is, I found myself wondering, with no just cause, if I'd want to be on one of his flights to Roma or Paree. Flashbacks and all that. (These thoughts only occur to one when one's team is getting thrashed.)

Anyway, it turns out that the Grateful Dead had two feet solidly planted on the ground, at least when it comes to business, if a new book by marketers David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan is to be believed. In reviewing Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band, Diane Danielson writes: "As a marketing book, I loved it. And it wasn't just the Grateful Dead twist; which, for me as a book reviewer, was a welcome change from the standard business books that hit my desk." It turns out that some of the lessons "validated some recent business moves" Danielson made "or pushed me further in certain directions."

One of the Dead's key lessons was "build a community, but remember it's the community that will define you." Avid members of this community may remember an item a while back about a similarly themed travelling exhibition.  ;

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