A Manager’s Tribute to his Favorite Hollywood Character
And what our regular heroes need to learn from him
Managers compete directly against drug lords, terrorists, alien invaders, evil ghosts, and anyone speaking Russian for claiming the throne of the most vilified characters in Hollywood movies. How many times do you see a manager as the protagonist? Maybe, only when the manager turns against the vile management. Otherwise, managers have been widely shown to obnoxiously stifle some artist’s creativity, kick out the founding entrepreneur from the chair, strike nefarious deals with rogues, and extensively cover up just everything and anything.
Not often, you come across a character like Mr. Winston Wolf (in the movie Pulp Fiction) who can introduce elegance even to the butchery. Mr. Wolf is how our regular protagonists in the movies need to act but don’t, because the movie would then just finish in a scene. For someone in love with dark humor and still to watch the movie yet, first, there is a need to introspect one’s commitment to life’s true calling and then to visit the eight-minute-long scene featuring Mr. Wolf- https://youtu.be/oPoh2OpbyGs
Here is a quick look into what makes Mr. Wolf stand out and what our regular movie lead needs to learn from him:
Ensures unambiguous communication: How many movies have you watched in which the problem would not even have arisen if the characters only maintained clear communication? What comes to one’s mind is several romantic dramas, wherein, the lead characters draw elaborate interpretations out of a strand of hair or the smell of perfume on the jacket. Mr. Wolf clearly states the problem statement to ensure that there is no confusion about the depth of the shithole they are into.
Respects the timelines: Even if the lives of an entire city depended on it, our regular hero or heroine has the penchant for completing 90% of the task at the last minute or rather in the last second. Mr. Wolf not only keeps ahead of the timeline but also manages to celebrate with a fun-filled baby shower session at the end of the mission.
Delegates responsibilities and utilizes resources: Our life-saving superheroes like to fight an entire army of aliens on their own, completely finding it below their self-esteem to ask for help from police, defense, ambulance, or even god. Mr. Wolf poses trust in a pair of foolhardy gangsters. He also tones down his expectation by asking them to not work too much on the upholstery and rings up people in his network for assistance.
Maintains work-life balance: If only our alpha FBI or CIA agents in the movies and sitcoms had learned to maintain work-life balance, their spouses would not have been sleeping with beta drudges. Despite the stiff deadline, lack of resources, and sentimental issues to handle, Mr. Wolf takes out time out time for a coffee and even appreciates it or rather pretends to. How much extra time would it have taken for him to enjoy that coffee, anyway?
Chooses pragmatism over sentimentality: The likes of caped heroes put an entire train full of people at risk to save a cute kitten stuck in the corner. Mr. Wolf handles sentimentality based on the situation. He offers a not so pleasant “pretty please, with sugar on top” when asked to use the word ‘please’. On another occasion, he compensates with cash for the collateral damage to the linen, good enough to console Uncle Conrad in heaven.
Critically reviews outcome: The movie sequels would not often be made if not for the oversight by the so-called people in charge during the climax of the original part. Not with Mr. Wolf, who doesn’t leave anything to chance and emphatically says, “Well, let’s not start sucking each other’s d**** quite yet”, to rule out any premature celebration.
At last, Mr. Wolf cuts the crap within just 8 minutes of screen time without any mishaps and last-minute surprises, yet leaving ‘the manager’ yearning for more of him.
