Breaking Bad Strategy: Walter White Teaches Us Success

During my final year at Furman, one of my roommates decided that the two of us should pick a television show to watch over the course of the semester.  After asking a few of his friends and checking on Netflix, Nate decided that we should watch Breaking Bad.  For those of you that do not know, Breaking Bad is an AMC show about Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and starts to cook and sell meth to try to help his family financially.

As you watch the show, the deeper and deeper Walt gets into the drug scene and potential dangers, the more creative and devious he becomes.  Walt constantly lies to his family and friends to get what he wants.  While I obviously do not support his deception and deviousness, Walt is one of the best television examples on how to create new ideas, get out of seemingly impossible situations, and changing the game.  Why is Walt the best in the industry?

1. Product:  Walter White makes a meth product that is more pure than anyone else's.  Because of his chemistry background, he does not sacrifice the quality of the product for quantity or price reduction.  Whenever Walt gets into a tangle in the seasons two and three, he generally gets out of it by letting people know that he is the only one that can make his product, and that it is better than everyone else's. This makes Walt an indispensable part of the business.  Without him, there is no product; with no product, there is a large demand that is not met or satisfied.

Working on his Blue Meth product.

In the business world, you need to make the quality of your product so good that people do that think that they can go without it.  For example, Steve Jobs made Apple the best quality of computers.  People line up outside of Apple stores for a new product that is the most expensive of its kind.  Yes their are cheaper laptops, but will you sacrifice quality for a drop in price.

2. Business Planning: When Walt is about to be murdered by Gus Fring, the leader of meth distribution in the Southwest, Walt is steps ahead of Gus in planning.  He constructs a plan to regain loyalty from his partner Jesse and to kill Gus, eliminating all threats against him.  Walt plays life like it is chess, always knowing his opponent's move before it is made. Even though Walt worked for Gus, he always saw him as an opponent and an enemy rather than a partner.

If you can see into the future and know what the market and competition are going to do, you can adjust your plans and strategy to come out on top.  In the business world, a large part of your success depends on what you do, but if that is all that you focus on, then you will never reach your full potential.  You have to do research about market trends and new things that could impact the supply or the demand of the item, as well as knowing about the competitors' products, marketing, advertising, and service.

3. Loyalty: Even though it builds slowly and is a very rocky road, the relationship between Walt and his co-worker Jesse is a vital part of the success of their business.  Multiple times during the show, Walt or Jesse save each others lives because they consider themselves a package deal.  This is how they end up beating Gus and ultimately having their business succeed.

In a working environment, you need to be around people that you can trust. Having people that you know will come through for you in tough situations makes everything much easier.  If you have loyal people, then the likelihood that you succeed are much better.

4. Risk: Walter is not afraid to put his neck on the line.  He believes in his products and does whatever he can to get them out to people.  In this past episode, Walter and Jesse even robbed a train to secure the most key ingredient of their product: methylamine.

Sometimes, you may have risks that you must take to make your business more successful.  Before doing these though, you must master the business planning aspect, understanding the consequences of your potential actions and decisions.  For example, a few years ago, Tropicana changed its logo and the outburst was enormous.  Sales dropped dramatically and an uproar was created among its customers.  Always play the devil advocate and do a cost-benefit analysis before any move is made.

5 Leadership Tips From ABC's "Lost": Jack Shephard

I still hate the fact that Lost is not on TV anymore.  Running for six seasons on ABC, Lost quickly became an American classic by mixing drama, action, and mystery into one successful TV show.  Jack Shephard, the main character, quickly emerges as the leader of the castaways.  Whether you love him, hate him, or have mixed emotions about him, Jack uses his decision making and strategic planning to take on a role that few want or are capable of possessing.  Even with his flaws, Jack provides five major traits that are a necessity to be a successful leader (some a similar).

Decisions & Actions: 

There are many times over the course of Lost where a decision must be made immediately.  Live on the beach or at the caves? Go after Michael or let him wander alone?  Trust Juliet as an Other or not?  Whether he made the right or wrong decision in hindsight, Jack was the only one that stepped up at the time to make it.  He made a choice and stuck with it.  While Jack does not always adapt his strategy to changing situations or admit that he is wrong, he does do his best to make his choice work.  He works hard and he dedicates himself to his strategy.  Whether you succeed or fail, you need to make a decision and dedicate yourself to getting the end result you want.

What Jack Does Wrong: If you are at the point of no return, do not be blinded by trying to finish just so you can be right. Let down your ego, analyze the situation, and attack with a new strategy.

Puts Others First:

Jack does what any good leader should do, he puts others first.  He took blood out of his own body to try save Boone.  He sacrificed himself to let Kate and Sawyer escape the Others.  He eventually takes the role as protector of the island.  The goal of a successful leader is to be selfless.  This does not mean that you do not finish your own tasks or let the quality of your work suffer.  Instead, you add on the work to your schedule or place it in times when you can afford it.  In the business world, this is dealing with clients, co-workers, or interns.  Sometimes we have to cover for an account manager that needs help with a deadline.  We may need to work late nights to get a new campaign ready for a client.  Regardless of your relationship to the person, you need to make sure to put their interests above your own. 

What Jack Does Wrong: Jack can put others first so much that he sacrifices his time and health.  Do not always appear to have everything together; realize that it is okay to take time for yourself and to show that you are not perfect.

Promote Unity:

When Jack and the castaways realize that help is not coming for them, they try to live on their own.  This is when Jack gives a motivational speech with the key phrase "If we don't live together, then we will die alone".  This phrase carries over to any business or team.  Whether your office has six people or five hundred, you must be united.  You must have good organizational communication and strive for the same goals.  A leader helps establish these goals, taking time and effort to communicate with each member of the team they are overseeing.  They also must be able to facilitate tasks for efficiently and effectively.
What Jack Does Wrong: Jack tries to unify the group underneath him for a cause, but does not always facilitate.  Taking on a heavy load is fine and sometimes needed, but it can't be done consistently.  It can wear a person down to the point where they are not effective.

Plan Strategically:

Jack had a plan of how to protect his camp from Ethan.  He later had another detailed plan of how to defeat the Others.  Every great leader has great ideas.  They must be able to weigh all possible outcomes: all successes and all failures.  A leader must play the role of the devil's advocate, whether the ideas come from themselves or others.  Question everything and make sure that the plan has no glaring or underlying issues or flaws.  Another key component of a strategic planner is to analyze and evaluate.  Being able to read previous research and convert it into useful information will give them insight into the future success of their plan.  In the business world this may be looking at competitors, pricing, or consumer trends.
What Jack Does Wrong:
Jack rarely shows the ability to improvise.  Many times over the course of the show, Jack has his plan, and when something changes, he cannot adapt.  This is very similar to deciding and taking action, but Jack's ego is not involved.

Inspiration/Morale:

Jack is a source of hope for those stranded on the island.  They know that he will give his best in planning, fighting the Others, or trying to save their lives through his medical training.  He provides hope in a hopeless place.  A true leader must be willing to go to bat for his team.  They must be able to trust him and know that he will provide in the clutch.  A leader can motivate his team, inspire belief in his clients, and encourage an intern to learn more about the business.  If the work environment is a happy place and morale is high, then the work will be better and get done quicker.