Iced Earth guitarist Jon Schaffer spoke in an interview with Appetite for Disruption and revealed the thing that more important than “talent”.

He said that “making accurate decisions” is very important than talent. Here’s the statement:

“Well, there’s a myriad of tough decisions that take place on a daily basis almost with setting short-term and long-term goals. But when it comes to personnel changes, when you’re dealing with artists, that’s difficult, because it’s not as cut-and-dried as it is if you’re…

My father was a pharmacist and we had a family pharmacy. And if a cashier wasn’t doing their job – done; you’re fired; you’re out. Or if somebody wasn’t doing their job. But when you’re dealing with artists, it’s more emotional and you develop a different kind of a bond when you’re in a band together and you’re out on the road.

There’s been many talented people in Iced Earth through the years, and I’ve been fortunate to have had a lot of talented guys come through the band, but sometimes you don’t have that awesome personal chemistry, so you need to make a tough decision.

Maybe the talent’s great, but there isn’t that sort of a bond which I believe that it leads to another percentage of positive energy that happens on the stage and behind the scenes and everything.

So you can have a bunch of talent and then no real personal chemistry and you can still get the job done, or you can have a situation where you have some really great personal chemistry and maybe not the best talent.

I’m a man of my convictions and my father raised me to be that way. And it’s not a popularity contest, believe it or not. It’s about my art and staying true to my art and whatever the consequences of that are.

That’s the driving force within me – the desire to write songs that touch people and to propel the vision forward. That’s what I’ve always been chasing since the very beginning, what’s been going on in my head.

I feel very fortunate that in the current lineup of the band that we have all of this personal chemistry as well as everybody’s got their chops and is really amazing at their individual instrument.

A lot of guys are into it ’cause they’re after the money and after that, but it’s really just always been about song-craft and making cool records that are gonna hopefully stand the test of time and will be there for people to enjoy long after I’m gone. So making tough decisions along the way to preserve the integrity of the brand that I’ve built, that’s fine with me.”

Click here to entire interview.