There is a scene in the opening sequence of the movie “Guardians of the Galaxy” that sticks with me.
Our hero, Peter Quill, is walking into a cave. He’s wearing pretty fancy futuristic gear, having flown in his super duper futuristic craft. You are at the edge of your seat wondering what’s lurking in the dark cave.
Suddenly he reaches for something on his belt and it’s a Sony Walkman. He pushes the “play” button, Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love” comes on and he breaks into a dance routine, worthy of John Travolta’s dance moves in “Pulp Fiction”.
It is at this point you know “Guardians” is going to be fun and different. That contrast between future and past. That conflict between imagination and nostalgia. That tension between suspense and hilarity.
I believe every start-up has such a moment – that moment when you know you have a real business on your hands or a dud.
For WIT, our “Walkman” moment came when ITB Berlin approached us in late 2006 to be their conference partner for their inaugural ITB Asia in 2008. It showed someone was taking an event started by “passionate amateurs” seriously.
I also believe that every business needs to have an inherent tension to give you that constant state of alertness that keeps you agile and nimble.
That link between imagination and nostalgia; that balance between vision and execution; that bridge between experience+wisdom and youthful energy+naivete. That tension between suspense and hilarity – in “Guardians”, when scenes got a bit too heavy, the writers introduced humour to stop them from slipping into melodrama.
In business, when things get too tense, it always helps to laugh. Gravity with a degree of levity – all start-ups should have that. You need gravitas to be taken seriously but you need a sense of humour to get you through the serious stuff.
To achieve this inherent tension, you need a diverse team – not just gender but culture, views, personalities. Rob Rosenstein, CEO of Agoda, said it when he talked about how to deal with “monsters, copycats and start-ups” in this interview.
“What you need is a team of really smart people. When an environment gets so complex, you need a mix of nationalities, genders and opinions – not just a founder – to sort it out. You need that creative tension – that pushback – to work through the questions and bounce ideas and generally, the right ideas will bubble up.”
From “Guardians”, you also take away the unshakeable truth that it takes a team to fight the enemy and win the war. “Star Lord” may be the “rock star” but he’s got his “stewards” around him. All of them are loners – isolated by circumstances – but all of them bring their particular set of skills to fight a common enemy. Racoon and his feistiness, Groot with his three words that say so much, Drax with his muscle power and Gamora with her K-A fighting skills. 
In the end, the “Guardians” became an unlikely crew of Collaborators, not Co-Workers, not “The Boss” and “Us”, but equal stakeholders in an adventure.
Every start-up has its rock star and it is usually from those we hear but every business needs its “steward”, that key person/s behind the scenes that make things work. That person/s who’s happy to be out of the limelight but without him, the business would falter. That person who has an equal stake in the outcome but happy to have an unequal share of the limelight.
In his new book, “The Innovators: How A Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created The Digital Revolution”, Walter Isaacson makes a strong argument for collaboration – great work is not done by someone toiling on their own in a darkened lab but in an enlightened environment with like-minded people – and his book talks about “how they collaborated and why their ability to work as teams made them even more creative”.
So in the new year, remember these three things.
- Keep that inherent tension alive in your business. Fight, disagree, laugh.
- Thank your stewards if you are the rock star or if you are the steward, thank your rock star. Stay humble.
- Collaborate. Think unlikely. “Like” is cheap these days.
And oh yes, 4, create a soundtrack for your business – the “Guardians” soundtrack is awesome.
Here’s to a great 2015.
