Creativity Quote by David Rose

“We target people who understand that relationships are the lifeline of a small company” reads like a mission statement with its sleeves rolled up. Coming from a musician, it’s less boardroom doctrine than band logic: you don’t survive on perfect solos; you survive on who shows up, listens, vouches for you, and keeps the whole thing in time.

The intent is practical, almost defensive. Rose isn’t chasing “everyone.” He’s drawing a bright line around a certain kind of customer, collaborator, or hire: the person who gets that in a small operation, every interaction is amplified. One bad fit isn’t a minor inconvenience; it’s a domino. In a small company, there’s no anonymous middle layer to absorb friction, no sprawling bureaucracy to dilute resentment. Relationships aren’t “nice to have,” they’re infrastructure.

The subtext is a quiet critique of transactional culture. “Target” sounds like marketing, but the thing being selected for is empathy and social intelligence. It’s a bid for people who value trust, repeat business, referrals, and the informal labor of goodwill. There’s also a subtle power move: if you don’t “understand,” you’re not just uninformed, you’re disqualified.

Context matters: a musician’s career is basically a startup economy before the word existed. Gigs come through networks, reputations travel faster than recordings, and one burned bridge can shrink a scene overnight. Rose reframes relationship-building not as sentimentality, but as survival strategy - the kind that keeps the lights on when margins are thin and the room is small.