As an entrepreneur, you may not have the time to watch television. What a frivolous way to waste a chunk of your day! But, there is more to the boob tube than entertainment. Artists often draw from what they know, which means there are business lessons aplenty. Okay, Keeping up with the Kardashians might just be trashy tele, but it doesn’t apply to every series!
These are the programmes that are entrepreneurial and the lessons you can learn. Press play whenever you are ready to get started.
The League of Gentlemen
For the TV heads in attendance, The League of Gentlemen was a cult classic that made its overdue return last year. However, the boys from Royston Vasey weren’t just freaks who ate humans and terrorised the locals. Okay, maybe Papa Lazarus was, but the others were closet businessmen and women. Take Tubbs and Edward as an example. Their motto was ‘a local shop for local people,’ and Sam Gipson agrees that localising content is imperative. It’s a big, bad, accessible world, but forgetting about the local community is a sure-fire way to alienate your base. Plus, local goods and services are in fashion nowadays and have a unique selling point.
Game of Thrones
Yes, the people of the Seven Kingdoms are known for their brutality and scandalous sexcapades, but there is political intrigue too. Anyone running for office should take note, as should bosses and anyone who holds a managerial position. Watching Tyrion play the game is a great way to figure out how to manage office politics in the office. Granted, no one will get their head chopped off, but the sentiment is the same. Then, understanding how Jon Snow and Khaleesi inspire loyalty is an excellent way to maintain employee and customer faith. Just don’t take it too seriously or else HR will have a field day.
Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares
Aside from the overly dramatic music and bad acting, RKN does provide valuable insight into the cooking industry. For starters, anyone with a bit of money and a half-baked idea can’t be successful. Secondly, quality is important but so is timing and service. People pay money and they want to value across the board. Thirdly, a hard taskmaster screaming insults can be effective in the right moments. Bosses shouldn’t miss the times when Ramsay puts his arm around a person’s shoulder to elicit a response, too.
The Office
David Brent is based on the type of bosses most people ridicule. Although inoffensive in many respects, he manages to put his foot in his mouth time and again. Why? It’s because he wants to be one of the boys. People in power don’t like to hear this, but certain roles require an element of distance. Fraternising with subordinates is always going to be tricky and uncomfortable. Any Brent wannabes should think twice before emulating his road to ‘success.’
Watching TV with a different perspective can unveil new truths. What do you see when you binge a box set?
Image: Papafox