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One of my favorite movie scenes is also one of my favorite business conversations. No, the subject isn’t business but it makes a terrific business point and I thought I’d share it with you today.
The movie is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and it’s from 1969. Even though 41 years have passed since it was released, the lesson is timeless, as is the movie:
I’ve embedded the scene below but the lesson comes when the two are trapped by their pursuers. They have to make one of two bad choices – fight a better-armed and more numerous force or jump off a rather high cliff into the water below. One wants to fight; one wants to jump:
Butch Cassidy: Alright. I’ll jump first.
Sundance Kid: No.
Butch Cassidy: Then you jump first.
Sundance Kid: No, I said.
Butch Cassidy: What’s the matter with you?
Sundance Kid: I can’t swim.
Butch Cassidy: Are you crazy? The fall will probably kill you.
And that’s the lesson. Often we get fixated on a small issue (“I can’t swim”) that really isn’t as critical in a decision as some other major factors (“The fall will probably kill you,” thereby negating the swimming concern). I’ve been a part of many a contract discussion or deal negotiation where a side issue derails or delays things. The big points often are forgotten in the heat of the moment. But not by Butch!
Our jobs as managers and executives is to mind the details while keeping the big picture in mind and the business on track. Not that I encourage cliff-jumping. I am, however, in favor of living to fight another day.
Enjoy!
Consult Keith 
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Keith,
One of the best scenes in a movie chock full of them — and thanks for drawing a terrific management lesson from it. As Butch described himself, “I’ve got vision and the rest of the world wears bifocals.” How right he was.