Lessons from 40 Years of SNL

Like 23 million other people, I watched the 40th anniversary special of Saturday Night Live this past weekend. I laughed at the latest installment of Jeopardy, mourned Chris Farley all over again and enjoyed the comedy of Louis CK and Jerry Seinfeld.

There were a lot of laughs but also some awkward moments, such as Eddie Murphy's return. It was like he hadn't been on a stage in 35 years. As uneven as the show was, it still produced a lot of laughs and it also was a reminder about an important business / life lesson. Life is uneven.

I read an article in the Hollywood reporter about Lorne Michaels, the genius of SNL that has been a mainstay of the show for 40 years. He created and continues to lead SNL and put together what was the spectacle of the 40th anniversary special. He had this to say about SNL, specifically as a response to the question of whether he has ever felt satisfied with the show.

I used to say that on my tombstone would be the word 'uneven' because [the show has] never been described any other way in a review. It's only cumulatively that you sort of go, "Oh yeah, that." You can't be perfect for 90 minutes. We don't do spectacle and don't have much of a wide shot, so when you see somebody going into lens and taking it to some level that you hadn't seen even at dress rehearsal, it's a magical thing. I believe there's at least one or two of those in almost every show.

This quote made me think about the unevenness of life and specifically business. You can't 'bat a thousand' yet the cultures in many of our organizations expect or even demand perfection. Co-workers use your stumbles as opportunities to score political points and managers lose their ability to allow mistakes as a result of having previous decisions second guessed.



Fear begins to creep in and before long you can't think about the unevenness of life because there isn't an opportunity to take a step back - there is no room for error. SNL would have never seen 40 years if the culture that exists in most of our businesses existed on set at Studio 8H (home of SNL). But because Lorne understood that the unevenness was part of the process of creating 'a magical thing' he was OK with it. I am sure he pushed as hard as he could for the best but there is no way of knowing which skit would resonate with audiences and become a home run.

The same is true today - regardless of how much data and analytics you have you never truly know until you just step out in faith. Lorne trusted that 1 or 2 times per show his people would step up and take their performance 'to some level that you hadn't seen'. All the failures that would happen in the countless other efforts that would occur in a 90 minute show was worth it for the opportunity for greatness to happen.

What would happen in our own organizations if we understood this concept and managed with that attitude? How empowered would our people feel? That would be a brave corporate culture that is primed for long-term success.