3 Simple “Money Heist” Lessons for Maximizing Motivation – Part 2

This article continues with my review of the 3 motivational lessons I got from the "Money Heist" or "La Casa de Papel'" character El Profesor' as he leads his team to take over The Royal Mint of Spain in their billion Euro heist.  It follows Lesson 1 - Get to Really Know Your Team Members Individually.  Clicking here to read that one first.

Note: Spoiler alert.  Don't say I didn't warn you.

Lesson 2 - Connect Them Tightly to a Cause

There's a "Money Heist" promotional poster with the headline "Bella Ciao." That outlines a big motivation driving El Profesor.  It's a song from the Italian Resistance during WWII.   You find out more about that as the story develops.  Despite the fact that these guys are out right criminals set on stealing billions in Euros, you feel for them.  You end up cheering them on pulled into El Profesor's cause bought in as much as his team members.

There's a great scene from the series where El Profesor and Berlin, the heist leader, sing the song prior to launching their heist.  It's a classic scene.

El Profesor's father was behind the idea for the heist.  He died when El Profesor was young and they both saw it as a victim less crime,  The government prints the money every day and distributes it.  They are just printing money and distributing it to themselves.  They convince themselves they are righting a wrong distributing the money to themselves.

El Profesor had been planning this for decades as you learn throughout the series.  He shared his motivations and his plan in all its detail with the team.  That connects them with him and convinces them in how thorough and complete it is and how completely invested El Profesor is.

I'm tired of hearing the generic messages from business coaches and advisers saying, "Follow your passions."  They make it sound like this is the magic pill for success.  The problem I see with this is some passions don't really convert to a money making idea.  They don't target a audience that needs what they produce and willing to pay money that supports a profitable business venture.

The reverse of that is there are a lot of good money making ideas that lead to profitable business model, but are motivated only by practical money making.  There's nothing wrong with that, but it's harder to stay motivated personally and to keep a team motivated in the long haul that way.

Let me share an example sharing what motivates me and my business.  I'm involved in providing marketing solutions for small businesses owners and divorce lawyers in particular.  I got involved in that because of a client I worked with and then later saw the issue in my son-in-law's law practice.  What I connects me with them is that these lawyers are entrepreneurs and business owners just like me.  They typically lack sales and marketing skills because that isn't something taught in law school.  I ran into the same issue as a software engineer.  Lawyers can be really good at their craft.  Software engineers can be good at what they do.  We all start our businesses because of those subject matter skills, but each need to get our sales and marketing working or else our craft will a hidden gem that potential customers will never know exists.

That's my big driver.  I can really relate to this small business owner dilemma and I understand the challenge because I had to overcome it myself.  So I provide a guide that takes those down a corridor I've followed in my business and keeps others from navigating that corridor trial and error style which is really tough for any business.

Drivers like that are like the cause El Profesor offers his team.  Making that part of your mission and vision and sharing that with your team is a huge motivator.  Creating and communicating something as passionate as the "Bella Ciao" is to El Profesor and his team is important when motivating a team to perform at their best.

My next and final articles covers Lesson 3 - Support Them No Matter What.