For three decades, Lane Baldwin has been known in the music world as Lane on Bass. Now, the veteran bassist can add Lane on Business to his list of nicknames. Baldwin was recently published in The Spirit of Servant-Leadership (256 pp, Paulist Press), the latest in a series of prestigious anthologies on servant-leadership, which many call the foundation of humanistic management principles. Edited by Larry Spears and Shann Ferch, the collection also includes material from many notable management gurus, including Peter Bock, Margaret Wheatley,  George SanFacon, and Maria Ortiz.

Parallel to his decades-long music career, Lane works as a business consultant focusing on training and leadership. Ten years ago, he combined the two careers in his work with David Nordschow (founder of both Eden Electronics, and recently, David Nordschow Amplification), focusing on sales training, customer service, artist support, and community building. Baldwin is now the VP, Sales & Relationships, for DNA.

Servant-leadership teaches that the best leaders focus on serving the needs of those they would lead. Many of the world’s largest and most successful companies are servant-led, and the number continues to grow. Over his career, Baldwin has worked with hundreds of companies and individuals, many of them in the music industry, helping them be more successful. He is now a trustee for the highly-regarded Spears Center for Servant-Leadership, and is working with founder and servant-leadership champion Larry Spears on future essays.

“Larry is one of the world’s foremost authorities on servant-leadership,” Baldwin said, “and it’s an honor to work with him. I’ve learned so much, and I’m still learning.”

In his essay Learning Servant-Leadership from Native America – Again, Lane first examines the similarities between indigenous leadership and servant-leadership, then looks at how native cultures teach their children the philosophy and carry on the servant-to-society tradition, while pointing out lessons we can learn from them.

“This was my first opportunity to write with Larry,” Baldwin said, “and I couldn’t be happier with the results. We now have several more projects in the works, and that’s extremely exciting for me.”

Baldwin walks the servant-leadership talk in his musical career as well. Six years ago, he formed Deeper Blues to perform an extensive catalog of music he’d written over the previous two decades, as well as new material. Lane and his band mates commemorated their first release,  Dig the Hole (Blue Empire Records), by launching Danville Foodstock, “serving food – and hope! – to those in need.” During its three years of operation, the organization served over 5000 free meals, and raised over $20,000 in donations for the local food pantry.

In 2010, Lane helped found Low Notes For Nashville with close friend, bassist Sean O’Bryan Smith. They brought together an international group of top bassists to provide relief to victims of the Nashville (TN) flood, raising over $50,000 for the cause. This year, he will work closely with Ryan Pelton (the world’s leading Elvis Tribute Artist, for whom Lane plays bass) to create the Salute Foundation, in support of US armed forces and veterans. Their first project will be to build a house for a homeless veteran.

“The distance between playing bass and practicing servant-leadership is not as great as you might think,” said the 54 year-old bassist, vocalist, songwriter and producer. “As bassists, we serve the song. We serve everyone else in the band. Some of our greatest educators – Victor Wooten, Steve Bailey, and Roy Vogt, to name a few – are all servants; they serve their students and the bass community at large. Our entire musical life is about serving, and we can lead through that service if we choose.”

Now Baldwin is seeking new ways to blend his music and business careers, and to promote servant-leadership to the Music and Music Manufacturing industries.

“The release of The Spirit of Servant-Leadership is a major milestone for me,” Baldwin said, “and I’m looking forward to this new phase of work. I’m in the process of incorporating my music into business presentations, and I’m preparing a series of profiles on leading servant-bassists. I’m really just looking for new ways to serve my community.”

Background Info:

Lane Baldwin (AKA Lane on Bass) is an internationally-acclaimed bassist, vocalist, songwriter and producer. Dig the Hole, the first release by his band Deeper Blues, has been hailed as “some of the best blues in thirty years.” Bass icon Johnny B. Gayden (Albert Collins, etc.) calls Lane “a gifted songwriter” and “one of the best bassists on the Blues scene today.” Lane currently tours with Ryan Pelton, the world’s foremost Elvis Tribute Artist. He is VP, Sales & Relationships for David Nordschow Amplification (DNA), and sits on the boards of the Spears Center for Servant-Leadership, the Salute Foundation, and the Low Notes Foundation.

Lane endorses DNA amps and cabinets, Spector basses, DR Strings, LM Products straps, Peterson Tuners and Shubb capos. A native of Texas, when not on tour he divides his time between Nashville, TN, and the hills of South Carolina. To learn more, please visit www.LaneBaldwin.com and www.ServantLeadershipSolutions.com.

PHOTO CREDIT: Anna Henderson

High resolution version available on request.

Relevant Links:

www.BassLessonsHQ.com Lane’s new bass lessons site

www.ServantLeadershipSolutions.com Lane’s servant-leadership site

www.LowNotesForNashville.org Low Notes for Nashville

www.SpearsCenter.org Larry Spears Center for Servant-Leadership

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