I’m a big movie guy, so I was intrigued by The Studio on Apple, a show created by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg that satirizes Hollywood executives and the way they make decisions.1
One of the best episodes of the season was called The Golden Globes.
Rogen plays Matt Remick, the new top dog at the fictitious Continental Studios. This particular episode finds Remick at the Golden Globes supporting his actors and movies that are up for awards. He spends the evening trying to convince Zoe Kravitz to thank him on stage in her acceptance speech.
There is comedy in the cringeworthy moments because this bigwig studio head was so desperate for recognition because of an outsized ego.
Like many storylines on the show, this was an embellished version of actual events. Here’s what Rogen told Vanity Fair:
You have this whole storyline about how he gets thanked for every project he works on, and he admits that he has that written into Netflix’s contracts. I’m assuming that’s not true?
That is not true. I don’t think anyone’s actually done that. But studio heads have called the publicists and managers of people who were going to win awards and been like, “You better thank this person.” So it’s one degree outside the realm of reality.
It’s weird to think a thank you would matter that much to someone in that position but gratitude is a powerful force.
I asked for a lot of advice in the early days of my career because I didn’t know anything.
I still recall some career advice I received that went something like this:
Listen, if you ever hold a leadership position don’t forget to give your employees positive feedback on occasion. Yes people want promotions. They want more responsibilities. They want to make more money. Everyone does. But they also want to be appreciated. They want to hear they’re doing a good job. They want to be thanked for all their hard work. It’s amazing how far a little gratitude can go.
The science actually backs this up.
Studies show that people who regularly express gratitude feel more optimistic about their lives and are healthier, happier and more resilient in the face of adversity.
Saying “thank you” to your employees can also motivate them to work harder because they feel appreciated.
A fundraising campaign for the University of Pennsylvania had two groups of people making phone calls to solicit donations from alumni. One group was left alone to go about their business while the other group was told by their manager how grateful they were for their efforts. The group that was thanked made 50% more phone calls than those that weren’t.
I’ll practice what I preach here and thank some of my colleagues for their hard work.
When we started producing content at Ritholtz Wealth it was patchwork at best. We found some website designers to help out on the side for our blogs but that was the extent of it.
Then we expanded into podcasts, a YouTube channel and live events. We needed help with production value, audio quality, software, equipment, social media, research, partnerships, booking guests and more. We produce a ton of content so we needed a team to make it all run smoothly.
So we built out The Compound media team which now consists of Duncan, John, Rob, Daniel, Nicole, Travis, Keith, Sean, Matt, and Graham.
Last week we put on a live show in Chicago at the Chop Shop in Wicker Park.
Josh, Michael, Callie and I were on stage but there was far more work being done behind the scenes. Our media team was on site all day setting up and making sure everything was perfect for both the live event itself but also the audio and video versions for people who couldn’t attend in person.
The show went great, the venue was amazing, the crowd was totally into it and everything went without a hitch.
After the show was over as Josh, Michael, and I were leaving the venue we were talking about what an amazing job our entire team did on the show from start to finish. It’s not just the hard work and execution but the fact that they all care so much about putting out a good product.
I’m grateful to work with people who take pride in what they do. It makes my life easier.
We couldn’t do it without them.
Here are some pictures from the show:
Further Reading:
The 20% Rule
1My final review of the show is it got a lot better in the second half of the season. Some of the initial episodes were hit or miss but it finished strong. Plus, every episode was full of big name cameos.