Don’t Accept Common Wisdom at Face Value

Yes, that’s me leading a meeting in the Oval Office.

Except that this version of the Oval Office is at the 330-acre Tyler Perry Studios in Southwest Atlanta.

As an example, here’s Tyler himself explaining to Oprah how he first enjoyed TV success. “I was told that in television, you do one episode—the pilot—and you wait to get picked up. Well, I didn’t want to do that. I went to Atlanta and I shot ten episodes of a show and they’re like, ‘Tyler, why are you shooting ten?’”

“I don’t know. I wanted to do ten. I did those ten episodes and then the UPN and WB (networks) merged, leaving many affiliates without programming. They were really ticked off about it. So they were calling around saying ‘We need more than one episode. Who has more than one?’”

“Well, I had ten, and those ten episodes went on the air.”

In another example of how Tyler defied convention, Hollywood experts told him, “Black people who go to church don’t go to movies.” Fortunately, he didn’t believe them.

Tyler is the creative force behind 24 feature films, 20 stage plays, 17 television shows and two bestselling books. The speaker at the studio told us, “If you watched continuously, without eating or sleeping, it would take you 3 years to watch all Tyler’s content.”

I’m not suggesting his “don’t listen to common wisdom” approach will work for everyone, every time, but I am pointing out that it pays to question what you are told.

If you ever want help thinking in a new way, I am here to help you.

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Amanda Setili helps successful leaders and their teams agree on what needs to change and how to make it happen. She is author of Fearless Growth: The New Rules to Stay Competitive, Foster Innovation, and Dominate Your Markets, and The Agility Advantage, How to Identify and Act On Opportunities in a Fast-Changing World. 

For more strategies, videos and free materials, please visit www.setili.com, and check out these quick examples of the type of work we do. Or listen to the Fearless Growth Podcast.

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