Lessons from Mr. Wolfe (#150)

Mr. Wolfe

It’s hard to believe that Pulp Fiction was released 27 years ago. Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, it stars John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhames, and Uma Thurman. The movie tells several stories of crime in Los Angeles, but out of chronological order. The movie received the Academy Award for the Best Screenplay, as well as six other Oscar nominations.

I recently rewatched it and was struck by the number of leadership lessons I found in Winston Wolfe, a criminal fixer, played by Harvey Keitel. If you haven’t seen the movie, Winston Wolfe is the guy you call if you need someone who can tidy up after a disaster happens, especially one that may not be legal. He is called in to help Vincent Vega (played by John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (played by Samuel L. Jackson) after they accidentally shoot someone and need assistance in disposing of a dead body quickly. Here are three of my favorite lessons from Mr. Wolfe:

Own Your Niche

Harvey Keitel arrives and announces “I’m Winston Wolfe. I solve problems.”

Differentiation happens when companies provide their customers with something unique, different and distinct from items their competitors offer in the marketplace. Differentiation increases competitive advantage. There are a twelve ways to differentiate your business. You can read more about all twelve, as well as several questions to help your business differentiate itself, in Post #75.

Mr. Wolfe has differentiated himself by fixing tough problems quickly, discretely, and reliably. He owns his unique niche.

Be 100% reliable.

During the discussion he tells “It’s about thirty minutes away. I’ll be there in ten.” The Wolf, of course, pulls to the curb nine minutes and thirty seven seconds after he hangs up the phone. That gives him time to walk up the driveway and ring the doorbell.

You need to manage expectations properly. The Wolf made a promise and delivered. He is 100% reliable.

Write things down

When Winston Wolfe is given the job, he asks “Give me the principals’ names again?” He then writes their names down. No one has a perfect memory especially when you are under a lot of stress.

While I was in the Army I carried one of the ubiquitous green notebooks. It fits easily in one of the cargo pockets of the Army’s pants (BDUs, DCUs, ACUs, etc.). But I always had it so I could jot notes down and add to my “to-do list.”

Now, I carry a moleskin notebook while I work at TFCG, but the principle is the same — write stuff down so you remember it and you get things done. No boss likes to remind their direct reports to do something that they already told them to do once.

Conclusion

Go on the offense and be your organization’s Mr. Wolfe by solving problems, being reliable, and writing things down.