Three things James Bond can teach you about survival

I watched the midnight showing of Quantum of Solace (for those of you who live under rocks, that’s the new James Bond movie) last night.

It doesn’t seem like the publishing industry would have a lot to learn from a British secret agent, but then you realize that he’s alive at the end of each movie.

Not only that, but the series is still alive, 22 movies and about half a century after the introduction of Bond in Dr. No. So here are three things James Bond can teach you about survival:

Jump

Next time you watch a Bond movie, count how many times he jumps from something. Especially if it’s ridiculous. Out of planes, speeding cars, tops of buildings, hot air balloons, almost literally anything that you can jump from, Bond has jumped from.

The idea is simple: the jump might not be particularly safe, but he on something that’s about to blow up, collapse, run into a wall, or will take him in absolutely the wrong direction. So it’s time to get off. He’ll figure out the rest later.

Think about it for a second.

Jump.

Break Rules

Rules get in the way of accomplishments. Secret agents are supposed to use false names and code phrases – Bond doesn’t use them. He disobeys his superiors when he thinks they’re wrong.

If there’s something that’s just “not done,” take a good hard look at why, and decide for yourself whether it’s better not done.

Breaking established rules is a good way to shake things up. Get attention. Maybe get a good advantage over your competitors.

Reboot

In theater there’s a concept called “willing suspension of disbelief,” which basically means that when someone on stage goes “my God it’s a giant!” and points to the left, everyone in the audience goes along with the idea, even though there’s really only a very small chance that ravaging giants are actually just offstage.

Similarly, this concept applies to things like image and brand. Think about what happened with Bond. They were chugging merrily along and becoming less and less culturally relevant.

Then the Bourne Identity came out, and everyone realized that’s what a Bond film should be. So the series rebooted itself. New actor playing James Bond. No Q branch. Gadgets downplayed. Gruffness front and center. And nobody really minds that Bond used to be something else.

It became what it had to in order to survive.

To learn more about the future of publishing, subscribe to my RSS feed