Stepping Up To The Challenge

"I don't get it."

In the middle of a meeting, Josh Baskin has just finished hearing the latest projections and analysis for why the Skyscraper Robot toy launch will be a massive success. He raises his hand and says, "I don't get it." 

"What exactly don't you get?" Paul asks. 

"It turns from a building into a robot, right?"

"Precisely," Paul responds. 

"Well, what's fun about that?"

Exasperatedly, "Well, if you had read your industry breakdown, you would see that our success in the action figure breakdown has climbed from 27% to 45% in the last two years. There that may help."

"Oh"

Then Josh raises his hand again.

"Yeah?!"

"I still don't get it.'

"What!" Paul replies.

"What don't you get, Josh?" MacMillan jumps in, trying to ease some of the tension. 

"Well, there's a million robots that turn into something and this is a building that turns into something. What's fun about playing with a building? That isn't any fun."

"This is a skyscraper," Paul corrects.

"Well, couldn't it be like a robot that like turns into something, like a, like a, bug or something?"

"A bug?"

"Yeah! Like a big prehistoric insect."

As Josh continues, the boardroom gets more excited about this revelation, and Paul gets more frustrated by the mere fact that Josh questioned him during his pitch.

Josh Baskin is played by Tom Hanks in the movie Big, and to understand the significance of this scene, we have to rewind a bit.

Josh is a 13-year-old boy who goes to the carnival and makes a wish to the Zoltar machine to become big. The next morning, he wakes up in an adult's body, but he is still a 13-year-old kid inside. Various hijinks ensue as Josh learns to navigate life as an adult, but things begin to work out for him when he gets a job working in the mailroom at a toy manufacturer. 

One weekend afternoon, Josh is playing with his best friend at the toy store, and he runs into his boss, who is watching what toys are selling and how the kids are interacting with the toys. His boss, MacMillan, talks about how real-life experience doesn't show up on a marketing report, so it is important to go out into the store to see. They ended up forging a relationship by playing a giant floor piano together. If you have seen the movie, you remember this iconic scene.

So MacMillan sees Josh's genius and passion, and he immediately promotes him to the executive suite (I know, farfetched, but we did just watch a kid magically turn into an adult). 

And that brings us to the Skyscraper Robot toy pitch. 

"I don't get it."

In a room full of executives, Josh wasn't afraid to raise his hand and ask, "I don't get it, why is this fun?" 

He doesn't know better, he is only a 13-year-old kid. He doesn't realize you can't sit in a boardroom, raise your hand, and tell someone you don't understand what they are presenting. Right?

Right??

Imagine if you did. 

If you raised your hand and said, "I don't get it?" or "Why are we doing this?"

You would be looked at like you were an idiot. Right?

Right??

But what if we paused?

What if we took a moment and took a step back?

What if we were more like MacMillan, playing the giant piano, doing real-life market research, and remembering what business we are actually in? 

It would be easy for MacMillan to read the reports, see the numbers, and think that he was in the business of making toys, but if he did that, it wouldn't matter what business he was in. He could be in the business of making any widget. Instead, MacMillan is walking through the toy store, he knows that he is not in the business of selling widgets, he is in the business of selling fun. 

So when Josh asks, "Why is this fun?" what he is actually asking is, "Does this toy align with our company's mission of selling fun?"

As a company, it is easy to ignore your mission when you are more interested in making a few extra dollars. 

As an individual, it is easy to hide, be agreeable, and just move the meeting along.

It is hard to raise your hand and say, "I don't get it," or ask, "Why are we doing this?" or "Who does this serve?" Those types of questions make you a target, and they can make you be perceived as a contrarian, but they are exactly the type of questions you should be asking if you want to continue to do work that matters. 

Josh didn't know better. He didn't know that you aren't supposed to argue with the numbers, but his boldness is a reminder that if your company's values and mission matter, you can't lose sight of them. You need to remember to raise your hand, challenge the status quo, and ask the tough questions.