Be The Rock

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Forbes recently announced that Dwayne Johnson, better known to many as “The Rock” from his time at WWE, had topped the list of the World’s highest paid-actors for 2016, at $64.5 Million.

I must admit that the news took me by surprise. 

While I knew that The Rock has been a high-profile Hollywood star for a while now, I never quite expected him to be  №1. 

There were also two important observations that came to mind :

1. Much like The Rock had made the transition from wrestling to become the world’s highest paid movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger had shifted careers from bodybuilding, eventually becoming the highest paid movie star of his time when he did Terminator 3. (Another case of the Past being the Future ?)
2. Even though I consider myself a WWE fan, The Rock’s best years as a wrestler (1998–2002) coincided with the time I stopped watching WWE (1997–2003). I never actually got to watch The Rock in his prime.

I was therefore curious about how this wrestler had become the biggest movie star in the world and decided to watch some of his segments on YouTube.

I didn’t realize I would uncover a very interesting and yet forgotten chapter in history and lessons that can be learned from a true legend.

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Did you know that there was a time, not too long ago when the WWE was not the leading wrestling brand, and that its very existence was threatened by a larger, more popular, and better funded competitor ?

Yes, it’s true.

Back in the late 1990s, the dominant wrestling company was in fact World Championship Wrestling (WCW), owned by media mogul Ted Turner, and whose flagship show was WCW Monday Nitro (Which, you might realize, is a rather clever phonetic play on WWE’s Monday Night Raw).

WCW’s popularity was driven by their risqé storylines deep pockets that allowed them to poach most of the top wrestlers of the time, such as Hulk Hogan, Macho Man, and the Hitman ( My decision to stop watching WWE was prompted by Hitman’s infamous exit in 1997 ).

The rivalry between WWE Raw & WCW Nitro is now popularly referred to as “Monday Night Wars” — A phase where each show was locked in intense competition to better the other’s ratings.

Starting from late 1996, WCW Nitro beat WWE Raw in the ratings for 84 consecutive weeks.

The story seemed awfully similar to a theme that investors and entrepreneurs believe themselves to be familiar with : A stronger and better-funded firm crushing a weaker (and weakening) opponent.

But this story had a very different ending.

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Might The Rock have had a say in this dramatic reversal ?

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The turning point came in 1998, when the WWE embarked on a highly edgy campaign, which is now recognized as one of the greatest plays in marketing and branding —  The Attitude Era  : A series of characters and stories that were designed to inspire shock and awe.

But a campaign as audacious as this would not have been even remotely plausible without its two leading protagonists : “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and The Rock executing their roles to perfection. 

(Is it a coincidence that both these characters adopted names inspired from geological formations ?)

Eventually, not only did the WWE beat WCW in the Monday Night Wars, it went on to acquire it in a distress sale, and today exists as a near monopolistic leader in the Wrestling entertainment business. 

(How competition, or the lack of it [in a monopoly setting], affects the quality and the customer satisfaction that businesses deliver upon is a subject I intend to cover in a future post)

What is it about The Rock that allowed him to, almost single-handedly, not only save the WWE, but completely rewrite the course of an entire industry, and then also become a trailblazer as a movie star ?

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I dug in to try and answer this question and found a video where The Rock revealed what he felt were his top 10 rules for success, and should you have the time, the 15-minute video is absolutely worth the watch.

For this post though, I decided to throw the spotlight on what I felt were the two rules that every entrepreneur and VC investor could relate to :

Be Yourself

It might seem ludicrous now, but there was a time when The Rock wasn’t popular with the fans. 

Why ? And what changed since then ?

Watch the video below for The Rock’s own account :

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Just two words that are so powerful (and no, I am not referring to D-Generation X’s taunt) — Be Yourself 

Borrowing from The Rock’s own words, are you trying to shove a version of yourself (or your business) down your customer’s throats, that isn’t really you?

And what did “being yourself” mean to The Rock ?

Here is an entertaining throwback :

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Yes, it is extraordinary silly and juvenile.

But it cannot be denied that the segment has been executed with extraordinary theatrical skill, and a rather distinctive quality that is endearing because it bears The Rock’s signature style. 

A style that allowed The Rock to enchant the millions (and millions!) of his fans.

See the Potential in Others

How often have we judged someone negatively based on an initial fact-check or evidence of negative conduct ? It might, in fact, be one of the de facto aspects of every VC investor’s job description (Not to call the kettle black, I most certainly am guilty of this myself)

Perhaps there is merit in swallowing the humble pie and giving everyone a fair chance as The Rock found out himself

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The Rock’s rise to the top was no fluke. It was in fact, richly deserved, and inevitable.

So, do you smell what The Rock is cooking ?

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Have you read my debut book “VCs are from Venus, Entrepreneurs are from Mars” yet ?

For more of such posts, head to Shubhankar.co

This article was originally published by Business Insider