With fans of The Walking Dead having to wait for the finale of season 10 due to post production being unable to complete because of the Covid-19 outbreak, I decided to look at what we can learn from the longstanding series. Entitled ‘A Certain Doom’, the finale will be shown as a special episode later in the year. Until then, let’s see what business lessons we can take from ten seasons of The Walking Dead.
Be A Good Team Player
Right at the beginning of the series, over a decade ago, our hero Rick Grimes wakes up in a hospital. The world has fallen apart whilst he’s been unconcious. Soon, he meets people who start to help him out. One scene that comes to mind is after he struts into the city on horseback. He finds himself trapped, but someone has been watching. Glenn takes it upon himself to help this person out of a difficult situation, saving Rick’s life and bringing him back to camp. Rick is then a great addition to the team of survivors. A good team works well together in all times of strife and anguish. Be a good team player!
Enhance Your Skillset
Who remembers Carol in the first series? She was a timid wife with an abusive husband. Her husband dies, she loses her daughter and that is the turning point for our Carol. Badass Carol is born and she survives everything that is thrown her way. She learns to fight, learns to shoot, saves our heroes from certain death. She becomes a central character, a leader, someone who is looked up to. Striving to become a better person, even when she makes mistakes, she learns from them. A true survivor. Survival skills are essential in business too. Learn, adapt and survive.
Have A Clear Goal
Wandering around the countryside surviving in made up camps, living hand to mouth, this is no existence. Our heroes find themselves stuck in this situation, made worse by the fact one of them is pregnant. They need to find somewhere to make their home. Stumbling across the prison, they see opportunity and their new goal is to take it, by clearing the zombies roaming around it. They work as a team (see above!) and claim their prize. It has defences and allows them some respite for constantly being on high alert. Have a clear goal in your business life and work towards it to accomplish what you need.
Learn From Experience
Why do people ask if you have experience when you go for a job interview? Because you’ll have learned something from it, grown in your ways and knowledge. The characters in The Walking Dead often never learn from their mistakes. One example is being ready to move at a moments notice. Obviously in a zombie infested world, you need to make sure you have supplies and are ready to flee if something was to happen. When they have to leave the farm at a drop of the hat, they don’t learn from it. They had nothing ready, no supplies, no means of escape as a group. When they arrive at the prison they should learn from that. Whilst they increase the defences on the site they end up having to flee in the same manner again. We face challenges so we can learn and grow from them.
Delegation Is Important
A well oiled machine is a well oiled machine, in every aspect of life. Delegation is so important, otherwise you run yourself into the ground. In The Walking Dead world, let’s take Negan as an example. He is the leader of the Saviors and has people working for him on every aspect of his plan. If he was to take everything on himself, he’s quickly burn out. Having people guarding the camp, getting supplies from the Kingdom, blocking roads, scouting locations, means he is freed up to do what he needs to. A bat needs swinging every now and then! In business, you’ll start flagging very quickly should you try and do everything yourself. Figure out what you want to do yourself and what can be delegated elsewhere. This will be critical to the success of your business.
Go back and watch the series for amazing entertainment and to pick up more lessons from the post apocalyptic world which might just lend themselves to your business. When you’re up against it all, remember, JSS.
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