All The World’s A Stage
Three Lessons for Growth Hackers
“Ten Minutes! Ten Minutes To Curtain!”
The stage manager’s familiar call echos throughout the backstage area. The orchestra is tuning their instruments. The actors are doing tongue twisters, relaxing, and settling into character. The props people have set up special tables with a place for each item. The costumers and makeup people are on hand to help with corsets, hooks, and special wigs and prosthetics. The stage crew tests their rigging. The lighting crew and sound crew checked all the lights and dimmers and sound levels before the audience came in.
The director is in the front of the house with the audience, biting his nails, and hoping no one notices the 3 shots of whisky he threw back after he left the dressing room pep talk with the lead actor. The playwright? She’s too shy to be in such a big crowd. She’ll wait for the reviews online from home with a cup of tea and a joint. The producer?She’s working the crowd of backers and press angling to make sure everyone has a great time. She’s hoping the show’s a hit so she’ll have enough money to invest in the next great piece of art.
I have a BFA in theatre and an MBA in finance. I was a growth hacker from well before it was called that. I was a stage manager too.So herewith, some lessons I learned.
What Growth Hackers Can Learn From Theatre
Lesson #1: Each person’s role is in service to the script.
Even the director’s role is to interpret that script, to set a vision for how the script will be interpreted. The producer funds a script and a production. So it is with growth hacking: my job is to serve the company, not my own ego.
Lesson #2: Great Shows Require Talented People.
The most transcendent theatrical experiences require teams made up entirely of world class subject matter experts. In business we know them as 10x engineers, A players, rock stars, ninjas, gurus, and so on. As a growth hacker, I need to be amazing at my role.
Lesson #3: Great Shows Require Great Teams.
Theatre is the only art that cannot be done alone. Symphonies have directors. Visual artists work mostly alone. Ballet is driven by the choreographer. But theatre? A team of subject matter experts is required for it to even exist. Everyone is important and no one profession is more important than another.
And yet, creating great art requires great passion and vision, and brilliant, passionate people fight for what they believe in. Design meetings can make weekly business meetings look like a meditation retreat. But costume designers don’t tell lighting designers to be more like them in order to be better at their jobs.
Growth hacker learning: the most fascinating part of these design clashes is the creativity that comes out of them, sometimes so much so that no one can remember where the great ideas originated. That is the value of diverse skill sets, and why no one background is perfect for growth hacking.
I Am Great. But We Are Better Together.
Imagine Steve Jobs without Steve Wozniak, Jony Ive, Tim Cook, and a cast of nameless thousands.
Imagine Bill Gates —and the Gates Foundation—without Melinda Gates.
Imagine Hall without Oates.
Oreos without the Filling.
Marketing without Engineering is hollow.
Engineering without Marketing is sterile.
We both need each other. So let’s stop arguing about who’s more important, and get on with the show.
Be different: Data suggests that everyone is less likely to share the works of women. So if this amused, entertained, or touched you, please consider hitting the recommend button, sharing this on your social media networks and upvoting on your favorite aggregator.
