Have you seen The Wolf of Wall Street? I bet you have. I think we all agree that it’s a crazy and entertaining movie. But if you look through all this madness, there are a few lessons for you to learn.
In today’s world, where we have learned from stock market crashes, collapsing banks, and falling house prices, a story like the Wolf of Wall Street seems to be quite unrealistic. But it’s just 32 years ago (1987) that the real Jordan Belfort walked into Rothschild’s office to start a career. The rest is history.
Of course, the Wolf of Wall Street is a bad example of how we should deal with people and customers. But besides this, there are some lessons in it for all of us, especially when you are in sales.
Confidence is key
With no experience and no money, but the true belief in something great, Jordan Belfort started his own company called Stratton Oakmont. A true belief in what you can achieve is key to great success.
It starts with enthusiasm
No success without passion and enthusiasm. The team that Jordan Belfort created around him was inspired, motivated, and full of enthusiasm. Their enthusiasm was so contagious that his team reached heights of success, where they couldn’t think it would have ever been possible.
”No success without passion and enthusiasm.”
CEO of Sales
Dress for success
No Casual Friday for the people that worked for Stratton. Every day of the week, even when they were on the phone, they were dressed for success. When you want to be successful, dress like you are successful.
Create a tribe
Jordan Belfort and his management were outstanding at building a strong team that shared the same values. In modern leadership, we would say that they have created a tribe. The Cambridge dictionary said that a tribe ‘’is a group of people, often of related families, who live together, sharing the same language, culture, and history’’. If you can build a tribe, you can drive your company to enormous heights of success. But you can also exaggerate, and that’s what happened at Stratton. The people that worked for Stratton, blinded by money and status, didn’t see the toxic environment that was created around them.
Have fun
Running a business is extremely challenging and complex. Lots of people got stressed or even burned-out because of all the pressure, expectations from their environment, and unrealistic objectives.
The Wolf of Wall Street reminds us that we shouldn’t take life too seriously. Yes, the guys were mad, but they were enjoying life. They created a company with lots of fun where people did like to come to the office.
It was not a Rolex that was thrown into the crowd
In the scene where DiCaprio threw his golden watch into the crowd, most watch enthusiasts would bet it was a yellow gold Rolex GMT Master. It could have been, but as DiCaprio is a Tag Heuer ambassador, he actually wore The Tag Heuer 1000 Series, which has been discontinued since 1992.
What do you think about The Wolf of Wall Street? What have you learned from it? Share it with us!
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