What is common between Will Smith and Dublin?

Interesting question. This is not meant to be a research on Smith’s roots or family ties to Dublin. 

This story begins as I was prepping for my trip to Dublin. I had been invited as a speaker at the CIPD – in Ireland. The Dates had been planned in April – May for a conference scheduled in June. I was excited to have been chosen to speak on the topic. Well volunteered not chosen…! My team started pulling together the slides, we changed the story line several times, the team patiently worked with me to make those changes, each time i had a whim

As we came closer to the event date, I think I was nervous, new city, new people and a conference where not 10-20 people were landing up but close to 100 expecting me to give them Enlightenment, Gyan, Teach them things that they may know or not know. We will have Consultants, HR Leaders and a lot of mid-level HR and Learning executives. Hmm…well I was all nerves.

19th June, the D Day – the team in Dublin had strategically planned for multiple iterations of the delivering the same content to audiences within the firm, senior leaders; HR people; Consulting members; our Analytics Team in Dublin. By noon, i was getting into the flow, yet there was something missing. What was it?

I googled Analytics on the World Wide Web, to see If i will get something interesting to share. The first was the definition of Analytics by Oxford dictionary; and a lot of hits focusing on how different fields use Analytics, and the one that caught my eye was Will Smith.

How can a Holly wood actor use Analytics? Seriously. So this is what i got which blew me away. Will Smith before he became this big timer, used to appear in a sitcom called Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire. I am not sure how many of you have seen that show. Many of the actors of that show came later to SNL (Saturday Night Live) and some became stars like Smith. Now coming back to the point; Smith wanted to make movies; and not just anything; but make money. So he and his manager went out and studied the top 10 highest grossing movies of all times. Well, interesting facts ;

a) 10 out of 10 had special effects
b) 9 out of 10 had special effects and outer space creatures
And 8 out 10 had special effects, outer space creatures and a love story.

Well, Well, and the rest is history. If you see many of the recent movies Independence Day, the Men in Black franchise, IRobot, Hancock. Even Hancock made 600$ Mn plus. The coolest part was choosing what to analyze. He asked the right questions – well, kind of actor do i want to be; a romantic lead, maybe imitate what Tom Cruise and Hanks were doing in those days; do i want to be Oscar actor, be recognized for Oscar winning screenplays. He chose to do movies that made $$$$ and he achieved that goal.

I ended up using this story as an opening for my session. People laughed, and yes ladies and gentlemen that was a winner. A topic that can be dry as a blade of grass, turned out to be funny, and kept people engaged and asking the right kind of questions.

The show was over, and we were eager to eat, drink and celebrate. Will Smith had once again saved the day.