Written by: Vickie Sullivan  |  December 23, 2025

If You’re Still Selling the Old Hits, It Might Be Time to Reinvent

A lot of us are seasoned pros, with many years under our belt. This Rolling Stones feature about Talking Heads front man David Byrne offers a helpful warning about riding our most successful horse for too long — and a reminder about the importance of professional reinvention.

As fans still clamor for more Talking Heads, it would be tempting for Byrne to take the money and run. Instead, he’s quietly built new chapters, including selling out hundreds of nights on Broadway. Not too shabby.

Here’s what Byrne says about reuniting with the band:

“I’m also aware that there’s a real trap. If you do too much of the older material, you become a legacy act that comes out and plays the old hits. You cash in really quick, but then you’ve dug yourself a hole.”

Haven’t we’ve seen this happen in our world, too? Speakers still delivering the same keynote from 20 years ago. Consultants hanging their hat on a best-selling book written in another era. I’ve seen that hole — it has many people in it.

It’s tempting to celebrate our hard-earned success by extending our 15 minutes of fame. Instead, let’s treat the marketplace like a dynamic, living thing that we don’t know everything about. Ask yourself:

• What’s going on out there?

• Where do I belong now?

• And how do I feel about things right now?

Let’s take a page from David Byrne and remember that professional reinvention is part of the job. We never have it all figured out — and that’s exactly the point.

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