You May Have Missed This Surprising Business Lesson in The Office
If in doubt, think like Michael Scott.
You can learn a lot from television.
Which is good, because I watch a lot of television.
But I never really considered how much TV has taught me about business.
Not only that, but if you pay close enough attention to the writing in your favourite shows, you can pick up some seriously-useful nuggets of wisdom.
They’re the kind of ‘Easter Eggs’ you probably wouldn’t remember if you heard them in a classroom or lecture theatre.
But when they roll off the tongue of a beloved TV character, they’re hard to forget.
Let’s take The Office’s very own Michael Gary Scott.
Stay with me, now.
In season 4, episode 9, entitled Local Ad, the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin is invited to participate in a TV commercial.
Naturally, Michael quickly dismisses the professional crew sent by corporate and takes it upon himself to create his own version of the ad.
Of course, things don’t quite go according to plan, but do they ever in the world of The Office?
(I loved Michael’s commercial, by the way, even if those stuffed shirts at corporate didn’t).
There’s a section of dialogue in this episode — one of the classic Office ‘talking heads’ — during which Michael describes his prodigious childhood imagination to the camera. It goes like this:
“When I was five, I imagined that there was such a thing as a unicorn. And this was before I had even heard of one, or seen one. I just drew a picture, of a horse, that could fly over rainbows, and it had a huge spike in its head. I was five! Five-years-old.”
And here’s the kicker:
“Couldn’t even talk yet.”
That line has me in stitches every time. It’s a guaranteed belly-laugh-inducer.
But what can those few exquisite lines of comedy writing teach us about business?
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