The Brand Diaries: KISS —When Chaos Meets the Bottom Line
The rockstar and the leader— A hypnotic paradox of risk, reward, and results
Note from Mack: This is the second edition of The Brand Diaries. The Brand Diaries is a monthly series where I invite some of my favorite Substack writers to share their love of their favorite brand. This month, the one and only Bette Ludwig is here to tell us why she loves KISS! Enjoy!
When I was a kid, my cousins lived with us from the time I was born until I turned five. They were a daily part of my life. And then one day, they left. Abruptly. I never really saw them again.
At the time, it felt like one more thing I didn’t get to vote on. And I didn’t understand what that moment really meant until decades later.
Early impressions, deep roots
One of my earliest memories of my cousins who were preteens at the time was of them playing the KISS album Destroyer. We lived in Michigan, and only a few hours from Detroit, where they played one of their biggest venues to that point in their career. So the song, Detroit Rock City, hit a little different.
I remember the makeup and costumes. I continually heard the song Beth playing on constant repeat in the house.
And then there was KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park I watched with my mom many years later. She didn’t even like the band, but sat through the entire thing anyway because I wanted to see it. The movie was, well, not great. I caught it again recently, and yes, it really was as bad as I remembered.
It shows even global titans can make some disastrous decisions.
That was my introduction to KISS. A band that felt part monster, part legend, part comic book but larger than life. And I still listen to their music and follow their careers to this day. Not only did they imprint on me because they were mammoth musicians, but also because of the connection to my cousins.
The only thing I had left of them other than my memories and a few photographs was KISS.
So what does ANY of this have to do with leadership? Well, there are so many sharp, unexpected lessons from this band, I could fill a book. Fifty years later, they are still rocking out and celebrating. This time with a 3-day show to honor their fans, known as The Kiss Army.
But even powerhouses can burn out. Especially when the fire is coming from two different furnaces which is exactly what happened with the original founding members.
Different values, same stage
KISS went on to become one of the most recognizable rock bands in the world. But as with most stories like this, the part we celebrate is the spectacle. The makeup, fame, and pyrotechnics they’re famously known for.
What we don’t always talk about is the tension that brewed behind the scenes. And if you lead anything at all like a team, a business, a department, this is the part that matters.
The band consisted of four original members. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley who are still running the show today even in their 70s. They were relentless about the brand. They didn’t just want to play music. They set their sights on being the hottest band in the world.
They built KISS into a global identity with lunch boxes, dolls, and Halloween costumes. It was all by design, supported by an army of fans they cultivated along the way. They were visionaries, especially Simmons, and they kept that vision alive for decades.
But the two of them weren’t the whole band.
When vision splits
Ace Frehley and Peter Criss were the other half. And they had different values. They loved the music. That part was real. Ace especially seemed to care deeply about what they were creating musically. But he didn’t see himself as a brand. He didn’t want to be a bobblehead. He didn’t love that every new idea had to have a dollar sign attached.
The tension within the band wasn’t just about addiction, mental health, or reliability. Those were certainly factors. But at its core, it was a values mismatch. The commercial focus of the band clashed with Ace and Peter’s more personal, artistic approach.
This happens in leadership more often than people like to admit.
You think the problem is their performance, behavior, or attitude. But the real issue is that someone doesn’t share your values. You want to scale, and make money. They want creativity and legacy. You want consistency, and they want freedom. And even when you respect each other, you start pulling in different directions, hard
Eventually, Gene and Paul made the decision to move forward without Ace and Peter. And it was probably the right call. KISS never hit the same peak again creatively, but the machine didn’t die. The band went on, and the tours kept coming. The fans stuck around, so Gene and Paul kept the lights on.
Reunion and resentment
Many years later, they reunited the original band to go on tour. The fans went wild. But it fell apart again. This time it wasn’t addiction or burnout. It was resentment. Ace and Peter were being paid less than Gene and Paul. From one angle, that made sense. Gene and Paul had done the work of keeping the brand alive.
Without them, KISS wouldn’t still exist for any money to even be made. But from the other side, Ace and Peter were part of the reason the band ever took off in the first place. They were part of the myth and the magic. They were there at the beginning. It’s not hard to see why they expected to be treated as equals.
Leadership rarely offers clean lines. Especially when continuity and ego are involved.
It’s easy to say, well, Gene and Paul were the leaders. They made the right business decision. But when you zoom out, it’s also clear they never saw the band as a partnership. Not really. And that creates a power dynamic that doesn’t just hurt feelings. It damages trust.
The risk of predictability
This is why understanding values is not fluffy work but fundamental. If someone on your team doesn’t care about the same things you care about, no amount of talent will fix that. You’ll either be trying to convince them, contain them, or eventually replace them.
You can build something powerful with people who don’t think like you. But only if you’re honest about the tradeoffs. You have to know when it’s creative tension and when it’s a philosophical split. One can be productive. The other will quietly erode your culture.
And here’s where it gets even trickier. Some organizations don’t have the Ace Frehleys. They don’t want them. They want predictability. They want order. So they reward the people who keep their heads down and do what’s asked of them. Not the ones who push. The ones who question. Or the ones who try to take the sound in a new direction.
Sometimes they even promote those people. The ones who don’t ruffle feathers. The ones who don’t push for better outcomes. Because they’re safe and manageable. But you lose something when you build a system that punishes originality.
Those companies might last a long time. But they rarely make music anyone remembers. And they certainly don’t become the hottest in the world.
The contradiction every leader lives
So what do you take from all this if you’re leading a team or growing a business?
Don’t confuse performance problems with values misalignment. They require different decisions.
Don’t wait too long to address the divide. Just because someone helped you build the thing doesn’t mean they’re the right person to sustain it.
When you cut ties, do it with clarity and not emotional frustration. If you ever bring people back, make sure the terms have been renegotiated in full.
This is the contradiction every leader has to live with. You can’t succeed without other people. But not all those people will stay with you. Some will carry the flame. Others will burn out. And some will come back thinking it’ll be different this time.
Fire and ice
Loyalty and resentment
Music and marketing
The band goes on. But the original lineup? That only happens once. The replacement drummers and guitarists were inarguably talented musicians. But they were hired hands who knew their role was to follow and not shape the band in any real way. The one who did get out of line and tried to influence the direction, Vinnie Vincent, was fired.
There’s a reason you can usually only catch fire in a bottle one time. But when it does happen, whether in business, in leadership, relationships, careers, or other areas of your life - it’s pure magic.
"You wanted the best, you got the best! The hottest band in the world... KISS!" - Signature Band Introduction
© 2025 Bette A. Ludwig: All rights reserved
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Thank you SO much Bette!
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Have a great weekend!
Mack
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I started writing a series I was going to publish on Medium in my work pub a while back. I did one, but it didn't get much traction at all, so I shelved the idea. But there are so many work lessons you can extract from them - so so so many.
Values are at the core of it all, Bette. Great example. I just finished reading Maurice White's autobiography. He had very strong values and a clear vision for Earth Wind & Fire. But not everyone else was on the same page. There are fascinating leadership lessons in many band stories. It's so intense!