One of my all-time favorite quotes is by Daniel Burnham, the architect responsible for rebuilding Chicago after the great Chicago fire.
"Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency."
Do we still think like that? Do we make big plans or are we too busy making small plans that won’t be realized?
On December 21, 1968, the Apollo 8 mission launched itself towards the moon. Only 135 days after it was decided it would go to the moon. Mission Project Constellation was initiated by NASA in 2003 to bring men back to the moon. 7 years later it had launched a total of zero crews before being canceled.
The New York subway was opened on October 27, 1904, less than 5 years after the contract was first awarded. In April 2000, the MTA decided to build the second avenue subway. The first phase, consisting of only 3 stations opened 17 years later.
These are just a couple of examples where the dichotomy is stark between what we used to be able to accomplish and the pace of accomplishment today.
Maybe our accomplishments are less tangible and therefore harder to point to.
Or maybe we simply don’t dream big enough anymore.
You want to know who did dream big? George Lucas.
A long time ago in a galaxy far away
I took a week off from blogging for Thanksgiving. I had this post half-finished and had been pondering over it all week. After watching The Mandalorian last night (Baby Yoda is my spirit animal), I was poking around Disney+ and decided to put on Empire of Dreams, a documentary about the making of the original Star Wars trilogy. I was glued to the TV for the next couple of hours watching all the drama behind the drama unfold before my eyes. All the untold stories behind the stories we all know and love and I was struck by just how unlikely the success of my all-time favorite movies really was.
Like, let me tell you, Star Wars was by no means a sure thing when filming began in 1975. Despite his recent success with American Graffiti, Lucas had been turned down from multiple studios to finance the film and the outlook was bleak until he got 20th Century Fox to take a flier on him. Even once he had the backing he needed the movies were beset with problems. The film was shot on difficult sets, the visual effects team had to create technology that had never been dreamt of before, and even the actors raised serious questions about the quality of the film.
And yet I write this almost 50 years later as Star Wars looms as the most important cultural work of the last century.
How was this accomplished?
Because the only thing bigger than Lucas’ dreams was his willingness to fight for them.
Here are a few lessons we can all take from what it took to make Star Wars the success it is today.
Start with something universal
The secret to Star Wars’ success is that at its core, it was familiar. George Lucas was heavily influenced by Joseph Campbell and his study of the underlying commonalities between the myths of different people groups throughout history. In fact, Campbell once called Lucas his “greatest ever student”. (side note: if you want an excellent way to kill some time, there are a lot worse ways than watching Joseph Campbell videos on youtube)
Star Wars’ success is as much due to its play on common themes that resonate within us all as it is due to its visual effects. The young hero embarking on a journey to save the world. The wise wizard providing guidance. The damsel in distress. The witty scoundrel. The inhuman villain.
All these recognizable tropes allow us to immediately connect with the story in a way that we wouldn’t be able to otherwise. Star Wars isn’t a story with nations or people groups. It’s a story about all of us. And that is a big reason why it was so successful.
Give people an ideal to strive towards
They say timing is everything. It’s true in life and business and it sure as hell is true with Star Wars. Star Wars was released at the absolute perfect time to maximize its impact. The Vietnam war had ended and American cynicism was at an all-time high (a time not too different from today). The popular movies of the day reflected this with their portrayals of morally grey anti-heroes and doomsday disasters. The nation was poised for the clouds to break and Star Wars was a ray of sunshine.
Star Wars presented a portrayal of heroism and justice that people were so desperate for. I have written before about how fiction can more easily convey powerful messages than non-fiction and Star Wars is a prime example of that. It’s optimistic tone and higher ideals were universally relatable while remaining poignantly salient. Its message of good triumphing over evil against all odds inspired millions. Without that inspirational spark, Star Wars would not have had nearly the same cultural lasting power.
The lesson here is the power of being aspirational. Provide people the opportunity to rise to the occasion and they will exceed your wildest expectations. Expect the worst and you will surely find it.
Ignore the critics
An especially hilarious anecdote from the documentary was a piece of feedback Lucas received early in the production of the original movie. One of the biggest points of contention studio executives had with the movie was the Chewbacca wasn’t wearing any pants. That’s right. The greatest cultural phenomenon of the last century was almost stymied based on a debate about whether an 8 foot tall monkey bear should be wearing pants or not.
I think this anecdote does a wonderful job of portraying a phenomenon that anyone trying to create something important will have to deal with. The vast majority of people are not capable of this level of creativity. Through either a lack of talent or a lack of desire, they are unable to grasp the most important aspects of a project and therefore nit pick on inconsequential items around the edges. It is much easier to sound smart coming up with ways that something will fail. The true genius however lies in being able to see just how something could be able to succeed beyond your wildest imagination. This is a skillset that I very consciously try to foster as a venture capital investor, but it applies to all of us.
Ignore the critics. They will always try to tear you down because they can’t do what you can.
Optimize for upside
Another fascinating key to Star Wars’ success was that Lucas optimized for long-term upside. He forwent up-front compensation in order to have ownership over a greater portion of the merchandising and licensing rights than would be normal for a movie at the time. To the studio’s credit, Star Wars really was the movie that opened people’s eyes to the power of merchandise, but this was still a masterstroke on Lucas’ part. He generated such an incredible fortune on merchandise, he was able to fund the following films himself, without the need to go through the usual studio financing process. (I bet you didn’t know Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi are “indy” films!) This allowed him to retain absolute creative control of the movies. Had Lucas needed to appease studio executives the way most directors do, it is hard to imagine the movies would have been anywhere near as good.
The lesson here is always optimize for the upside. Play your cards so that you take advantage of the big payout. Focus your energies on winning the war instead of winning each individual battle.
Most people don’t think this way. They are risk averse and will maximise for the short-term. If you can think differently, you will find that you have a sustainable source of edge in whatever you do.
The fact an accomplishment is important by definition means that it is not commonplace. To accomplish what is not commonplace means that you must think and act in a way that is not commonplace. George Lucas did this. He dreamt big and the payoff was massive.
Both for him and for the rest of us.