5 Things Businesses Should Learn from ‘The Force Awakens’
** Warning — Spoilers Ahead! **
Star Wars is much-loved for its blend of science-fiction and fantasy, its heroic themes, and its grand scale. But maybe there is more to be gleaned from the popular franchise.
Here are five things I believe businesses and all of us can learn from Star Wars, particularly the New Order.
1 — DON’T SHOOT YOUR SUBJECTS — I MEAN CUSTOMERS
Alderaan went up in a fiery blast as a demonstration of power. The moon of Endor was supposed to take out a rebel base. By the seventh installment the re-engineered Empire known as the New Order destroyed an entire solar system with no clear reason.
Let’s say this process continued. Eventually there would be no more planets, no more people, and nothing left from which to build an empire.
Businesses need to make products and policies with the customer as an ally, not an enemy. It wasn’t long ago that business users were crying out for Apple to make their products more workplace-friendly but Apple’s own policies of secrecy kept them from being a viable option. Other companies such as Facebook and Google have quietly tucked data storage and reuse clauses into user agreements. Let’s act like we’re all on the same side here.
2 — BIGGER ISN’T ALWAYS BETTER
After building two death stars and having them destroyed, one would think that the Empire might move on to something else. A bigger version of the same thing is not what I would have had in mind, however.
Some people seem to think that if some data is good, then more data must be great, and ‘big data’ must be fantastic. But do you need it? Do you have enough data sources? The right data sources? Even if you find correlations will they be meaningful and can you act on what you find? If not you might as well sit and wait for the X-Wings to come, as your big data isn’t going to be helping you anyway.
3— NO, SERIOUSLY— DOING THE SAME THING AND EXPECTING A DIFFERENT RESULT REALLY IS THE DEFINITION OF LUNACY
Speaking of building three of essentially the same space station, doing the same failing thing over and over again is not a solid business plan. Fail forward fast isn’t for everyone, but not recognizing a failure, evaluating it properly, and learning from it is a recipe for the big fail — close of business.
4 — REDUNDANCY — HAVE A CATASTROPHIC FAILURE PLAN
Have a backup. And a backup to your backup. At the very least think of the saying “two is one and one is none”. Starkiller base really did have one big power modulator that was sitting on the surface. Today’s aircraft have extra fuses, extra engines, and the ability to glide. The Empire (or New Order) has obviously never heard of COOP — Continuity of Operations. Don’t make the same mistake. Build in redundancies and make backup plans or the unexpected will end you.
5 — LISTEN TO YOUR PEOPLE (or — ONE PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE)
I could mention any of our beloved main characters — Luke, Leia, Han, Anakin, Rey — but instead let’s think about someone who never appeared onscreen. I am fairly sure that somewhere in the process of developing Starkiller base the lead engineer came in and took issue. I imagine the discussion must have gone something like this:
Engineer (looking at the plans and pointing): “What’s this?”
Team: “That’s the power modulator. Keeps the thing from blowing up under the power. You should know, you designed it.”
Engineer: “Oh, believe me I know, but I put five of them in. Why is there only one in this design? And why isn’t it underground?”
Team: “Well, it wasn’t going to be done for fifty years. Our leaders aren’t known for their patience and wanted it quicker. This way it will be done in twenty-five!”
Engineer: “So you’re telling me after the first death star gets blown up by a torpedo down an access tube, and the second one has a SHIP FLY DOWN INTO THE POWER CORE to blow it up, you want to put the device that manages the ENTIRE POWER OF A STAR on the surface of the planet with no backups?”
Team: “Well, they said to speed it up.”
Engineer: <facepalm>
And then our lead engineer was probably kicked off the project.
Please, listen to your people.
This is probably just the beginning. Whether the Empire or the New Order, the villains in Star Wars run a pretty poor operation. Let’s learn from their mistakes.
Writer, fitness enthusiast, and unapologetic geek, Matt’s educational background started with a B.S. in Computer Science. He currently works in analysis and database design for a large company and serves as an advisor to the Corsairs group.
Other articles on related topics can be found within our other Medium publications at Corsair’s Publishing.
