Fly Away – VJD Newsletter

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Remember Steven Seagal? Famous action movie star during the nineties, today he’s fallen into an abyss of B-movies. Indulge me, if you will, into a little thought experiment. Imagine we’re consultants hired to fix his career – which is in the dumpster nowadays.

Seems to me, you’d want to build on what’s already there: plenty of fans still carry some nostalgia towards his older films and he still knows a thing or two about Aikido. Those are valuable assets not everyone possesses.

So, let’s talk liabilities. First, you can’t be an action movie star looking like you’re eight months pregnant. The gut has to go. Hire a coach, get on a diet and lose the weight. Second, the martial arts skills needs an update. If people feel like you’re repeating the same Aikido moves from the nineties and that’s all you’ve got, they’ll quickly get bored. Get a fight choreographer or a coach, to learn some new moves. With MMA being so popular nowadays, trying to include some Judo or BJJ seems like it’d be a logical extension to what you’ve already got. In reality, that’d probably take more humility than the man’s capable of, but let’s continue.

Third is trying your damndest to make a good film. Easier said than done, sure. But remember how Keanu Reeves’ career was in a major slump before the release of John Wick? With the right team, great director, brilliant writer, anything is possible. Perhaps, for this little thought experiment, we make a sequel to one of the better Seagal movies from the nineties. If it’s any good, word-of-mouth advertising alone would do much of the heavy lifting – think of how well Top Gun: Maverick did. And sure, we’d have to acknowledge Seagal has aged quite a bit since the last time, but that might actually work to our advantage, not having to show him as being invincible anymore.

Suppose that all works out and we make film, which turns out to be a great success. Right, so we earn some cash and we get some positive PR. What’s next? Well, with Seagal becoming older, there comes a point when playing an action star is no longer possible. You’d want him to diversify his risk. Perhaps we have him take some acting lessons, try out different genres. Or perhaps the best advice is to stop acting altogether and work behind the screen as a film director.

Now, this thought experiment, as much fun as I had with it, is utterly futile – I know. Seagal is far too conceited to take any advice… and it would have been a much better plan about fifteen years ago. With the various allegations he’s facing, it’s probably best for him to keep under the radar and not make too much noise.

But here’s the point I’m actually trying to make. Did you see how easily we came up with a plan? And we could repeat this for many individuals as well, pinpointing their mistakes and laying out a course of action for their success. It seems almost too simple. Yet, could you do the same for yourself? Probably not. This phenomenon, my friends, is known as “Solomon’s Paradox.” It’s easy to give others advice, it’s difficult to advise ourselves. One technique you might find useful, is envisioning having a conversation with a friend, who’s in a similar situation and listening to the advice we’d give them.

Strange, I know. But certainly food for thought!

Kind regards

Vincent J. Dancet

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