There is a story behind this little inspirational poster, the second in my series (and free to share).

Twenty years ago, I wrote a song called “Goin’ to the Top”, dedicated to the people of New Orleans. I had hoped (and in fact had been promised) that Aaron Neville would perform the song at a big event that I organized there, working with local business leaders on their long-term development plan. In the end, Aaron Neville was not available, so I performed the song myself, with a band hired in for the occasion.

Then the song sat on a shelf, for a long time.

Finally in 2014, I recorded and released the song on my album “American Troubadour” (with some great guitar help from Torbjörn Fall, an excellent Swedish studio band, and Andreas Bauman’s expert production). You can find it on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube etc.

I do love this song. It is pure pop, I admit, but also pure optimism, which is what we felt for New Orleans at that time. It’s a song about promise, potential, aiming high. We certainly need that now, across every dimension of global sustainability.

This poster is just one line from the song, perhaps the line that resonates with me most. It’s not about “going your own way”. It’s about creating the path you need, to get where you have to go.