040: Part 2, May the Fours Be with You: A Panel of Enneagram Fours
This week we continue with our panel of Fours -- Sandra McCracken, Megan Miller, Matthew Perryman Jones, and Don Chaffer. Tune in as we discuss the strengths and challenges of being a Four, and then stick around to the end when Ian and guests pull some guitars down from the studio walls and spontaneously break into a Dylan tune. It's pretty unforgettable.
Megan Miller is the Chief Operating Officer for Michael Hyatt and Company and the co-host (with her dad, Michael Hyatt) of the Lead to Win podcast. Megan is passionate about creating beautiful, transformational products and in-person experiences for her clients and customers that enable them to win at work, succeed at life, and lead with confidence. She has been married to her husband Joel for nine years (an Enneagram 5), and together they have four children, including two teenagers and two younger boys adopted from Uganda in 2011. Find out more about Megan at https://www.michaelhyatt.com/team.
Sandra McCracken’s prolific contributions as a songwriter, modern-day hymn writer, and record producer has brought grace and clarity to her soulful, folk-gospel sound. Whether in a theater or in a chapel, she is a dynamic performer who blurs the lines of what church music sounds like, captivating and inviting audiences to sing along. While many of her songs like “We Will Feast In The House of Zion” and “Thy Mercy My God” have settled into regular rotation in Christian worship services internationally, she has also had songs recorded by All Sons and Daughters, ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, Audrey Assad, A Rocha Compilation, Bifrost Arts, Caedmon’s Call and others. She is further a founding member of Indelible Grace Music and Rain For Roots (children’s music) and has been a guests writer for Art House America, She Reads Truth, The Gospel Coalition, Christianity Today, RELEVANT Magazine and more. Learn more about Sandra at http://www.sandramccracken.com.
Matthew Perryman Jones is a gifted songwriter. With each entry in his discography, his musical and moral compass points toward an artistic horizon he has yet to explore. Sometimes, he turns his gaze to examine his own inner world. Other times, he looks to the inspirations found in the letters Vincent Van Gogh penned to his brother Theo, in the idea of duende as proffered by Federico García Lorca, and in the poetic verses of Sufi poets Hafiz and Rumi.
Originally from Pennsylvania, Matthew grew up in Georgia and cut his artistic teeth in the Atlanta music scene before heading north to Nashville. His debut release, Nowhere Else But Here, dropped in 2000, followed by three subsequent albums — Throwing Punches in the Dark (2006), Swallow the Sea (2008), and Land of the Living (2012) — three additional EPs and a handful of singles. Songs from across his catalog have been featured in dozens of film and TV placements, and tours have taken him across the U.S. and abroad to share stages with legends like Shawn Colvin and Patty Griffin, as well as the Ten Out of Tenn songwriter collective of which he is a part. Learn more about Matthew at http://www.mpjmusic.com.
Don Chaffer has been making music for a long time. He’s part of the Nashville-based duo, Waterdeep with Lori Chaffer. Don and Lori have over 15 full-length albums under their belt, and they continue to write and record music.
Waterdeep spent their early years as a renowned mid-western jam band but became nationally known upon signing to Squint Entertainment (Sixpence None the Richer, Chevelle) in 1999, after selling over 150,000 albums independently. They relocated to Nashville 10 years ago, and honed their songwriting skills, finding that writing unforgettable hooks was their undeniable strength. Some of their songs, as well as collaborations with Katie Herzig, Matthew Perryman Jones, Trent Dabbs, and others have had multiple placements.
Don, a record producer in Nashville, is also a jack-of-all-trades, dabbling in lino-printing, poetry, videography, musical theatre writing/arranging/ directing, songwriting, and making a spreadsheet faster than you can say "excel."
“I just do the doom loop. The more I start to recognize it as a pattern—that success feels like a threat potentially to authenticity—I just have to be really aware of that.”