There is no shortage of blog posts, articles, (and other collections of vowels and consonants) that attempt to tie a current event (celebrity death, or a movie release….) to some sort of business problem as if this random event can solve the problem.
The headline is usually along the lines of this format:
What Star Wars (Yogi Berra, Leonard Nimoy…) Can Teach Us About Commodities Trading (Integrated Marketing, Employee Retention, Student Engagement…)
There are so many articles of this type, with their faint whiff of click bait, that I hesitated to even think about that format. Yet this morning, I was pondering alternative meeting formats when I read of the death of Meadowlark Lemon, who for a generation (and then some) was the face of the Harlem Globetrotters.
I am not going to pretend that my feelings on the death of a basketball/comedic icon somehow has significant relevance in the solution of your organization’s challenges.
However, I think we all agree these two universal truths: everybody likes the Globetrotters, nobody like meetings. This begs the question:, wouldn’t employee meetings be more fun if they began with a Magic Circle?
Don’t forget golden-throated announcer with introductions: “And now……your Chief Executive Officer…..” Even better if your C-level executives had nicknames like “Slingshot” “Spider” and “Buckets.”
And of course, somebody whistling “Sweet Georgia Brown” in the background is a welcome bonus.
In the past few years, there has been a mad-dash to gamify everything. Though these attempts rarely seem fun. How about for 2016, we strive for funnification? It’s what Meadowlark would want.
Happy New Year and may all your hook shots in 2016 be nothing but net.
