What Not To Watch

One of the things about having 4, (count ‘em 4!), teenage daughters, (ever seen 65 hair straighteners in one washroom?) is that you find yourself watching stuff on TV that you wouldn’t normally be caught dead watching, stuff like The O.C. and America‘s Next Top Bimbo.

This summer I spent a week stuck in a 12 by 16 foot motel room by the beach with the girls. When it wasn’t raining, it was freezing. Even the mosquitos wore parkas. There are only so many games of Chess and Scrabble you can play, so the kids entertained themselves by exploding stuff in the microwave (if you read my first post, you’ll know that we don’t have one) and watching educational TV shows like “What Not To Wear” (which I quickly dubbed “What Not To Watch”). It’s a show where the hosts crush whatever individuality and self esteem the unwitting makeover victim has and homogenize her so that she looks “professional”, ie just like everbody else.

Dan Sullivan (The Strategic Coach) says that one of the most important things an entrepreneur must protect is his confidence. The guy’s absolutely right. I guess this show particularly bugged me because when I first became an entrepreneur all these helpful advisor types kept creeping out of the woodwork to tell me that I really should get rid of my zany red glasses and put on a suit. I resisted and within 6 months I was being invited to conferences to give keynote speeches on how to get noticed in business.

Most entrepreneurs are corporate refugees. They leave because they want to call the shots, be their own boss, be an individual. Yet, ironically, once they’ve escaped, they go back to the only thing they know–the tired old corporate model, looking and sounding and acting like everyone else, Which, of course, is exactly the opposite of what works.

If you’re looking for a better model, look no further than showbiz. Sure, there’s no shortage of copycatting there too, try telling a Christina Aguilera from a Jessica Simpson, a Hilary Duff from a Mandy Moore or an Amanda Bynes, a Backstreet Boy from an ‘N Sync toy. But if you study the originals, how they craft a distinct irresistible public persona, you’ll learn a lot about how to get noticed in business. More on that later.

Next time, I’ll tell you about the one show my kids watch that is definitely worth checking out, but for now I gotta wrap this up. The Tyra Banks Show is starting in 5 minutes…