Tell me what you want, what you really really want…
Director, Strategic Marketing
A friend just told me of a scene in the movie Blow-Up where at a Yardbirds concert, Jeff Beck destroys his guitar onstage and throws the neck into the crowd. They go nuts, and the guy who gets the guitar starts running. After a bit of a chase, he breaks free from the people chasing him, looks down at the guitar part and decides he doesn’t want it… so he just leaves it as if it were worthless trash… After just having fought for it.
What a metaphor for our life goals (and business goals), right? Sometimes I take a step back to check the bigger context of my life to ensure that I’m working toward the right goals… what I actually want. Do I actually want the guitar as a souvenir or am I merely caught up in the thrill of the moment?
I see this a lot with clients too… where the RFP shares the primary goal as driving traffic (or sales or intent, etc.), but when the client really starts talking, I realize that it’s ultimately something else they actually want. Sure, the guitar would be great, but what they really want is a photo of themselves holding the guitar to share on social media.
Sometimes art does emulate life…
Next time you’re hustlin’, head down and focused, remember to take a step back and ask: Am I on the right path? Am I answering the right questions? Am I fulfilling the right goals?
Image Source: The Case for Global Film, A picture beyond the photographer’s intention: a semiotic analysis of Blow-Up, 2012