Have you been looking for business movies to watch as an entrepreneur that will spur you up and motivate you to pursue your dreams?
Here is a list of the 7 best business movies that every entrepreneur must watch in their entrepreneurship journey.
Entrepreneurship is not the easiest of things to take on in life. It’s a tale of the good, the bad and the ugly.
Learning the ropes as you go is best but with stories of others, it becomes easier to mount the inevitable challenges.
There are dozens of classic movies on doing business and in them are several important lessons any budding new entrepreneur can learn.
Here are seven movies every entrepreneur should watch. They are filled with educational, cautionary, and overall important lessons for you:
Must-watch Business Movies for Every Entrepreneur
1. The Godfather Trilogy
Nobody else needs to understand competition like a budding entrepreneur and The Godfather is one move that mirrors this.
Don Vito Corleone may not have ever used Excel and Microsoft Project, but he sure knew his onions in project delivery and the result-oriented approach.
Every entrepreneur needs a trusted advisor, preferably one outside his organisation.
Now imagine running a mafia business which entails confrontations with the criminal justice system.
So, the Godfather wisely sought a dedicated lawyer.
An often neglected yet essential point is a succession plan.
The Corleone family suffers when the Godfather dies and his son Sonny takes over the family in a moment of crisis.
The situation is a typical example of “succession planning, gone bad”.
2. Wall Street
This is arguably one of the best entrepreneurial movies of all time.
A young stockbroker, Bud Fox pursues his interests assiduously and the motto “greed is good ” guides his ambitions.
Suddenly, everything comes to a head when Fox is asked to help do something illegal and morally reprehensible.
Wall Street will teach you not to sell yourself out for the sake of money.
Being an entrepreneur isn’t just about being rich and famous.
When it comes to managing calculated risks, this movie might be all the masterclass an entrepreneur would ever need.
3. The Founder
In The Founder, an entrepreneur learns the incredible true story of struggling salesman Ray Kroc, whose fateful encounter with the McDonald brothers changed his life.
Kroc was impressed by the brothers’ speedy system of making the food and saw franchise potential.
He manoeuvred himself into a position to be able to pull the company from the brothers and create a billion-dollar empire.
Whether you are founding a business or scaling a new one, Kroc teaches the importance of exploring every available opportunity.
One would also learn the need to surround yourself with the right people no matter how talented he is.
4. Joy
Mopping is just like sweeping, an ordinary and most times annoying housekeeping activity, but not for Joy Manago.
She developed a product-the self-wringing mop to solve such a thankless job.
From the movie, one can perceive courage and conviction in both herself and her product.
As an entrepreneur, not everyone wants your success.
This lesson set Joy back for years as it does most entrepreneurs, because the feeling that everybody is rooting for the company that we love, is almost innate.
Sure, entrepreneurs have their cheerleaders and enablers but there are also more people and parties than you think hoping you don’t succeed.
The recurrent theme in the movie is that entrepreneurs can thrive in chaos because it creates the counter energy to build something great from scratch.
5. Rocky
Rocky Balboa is arguably one of the best-known movie characters of the last 50 years.
Only a sense of determination and nothing else can drive a normal person through the obstacles that Rocky encountered and entrepreneurs would definitely need to learn this.
Whether it was training for his battle against Apollo Creed or the two matches that followed, Rocky never gave up but fought till the end.
No matter the odds, if you truly believe in yourself and your business plan, it’s worth fighting for until you achieve victory.
Don’t be quick in passing opportunities.
Rocky’s experience with Apollo Creed tells of this.
Entrepreneurs are expected to carefully research opportunities first and grab it if it is a solid one.
6. Chef
Life is rather too short to do something you do not like and nothing says this better than Chef Casper’s experience.
Despite being a top-rated chef in a top-rated restaurant, he was frustrated and couldn’t freely express himself.
This movie would also teach entrepreneurs not to burn bridges.
Some of the funnier moments in the movie involved the intense exchanges (through social media and otherwise) between Chef Casper and a food blogger.
The relationship between the two kept changing between friend and foe.
It goes to show that in business, today’s missed opportunity can become tomorrow’s golden connection.
Though subtly, it also shows how much positive effect social media leverage can spike in today’s world of business.
7. Pursuit of Happiness
In the movie, Chris Gardner works as a Medical Device salesman but struggles financially in his life.
He ponders over taking a chance of switching his career.
He sees an opening for an unpaid six months internship in a stock-broker firm which would admit only 20 interns.
Asides determination, entrepreneurs can also learn that consistent commitment builds passion.
Indeed all successful people are ordinary people like us.
Their problems were similar to what every entrepreneur has.
The difference is that Chris is grittier — he had ambition, goal and then he chose a direction(Stock-broker).
All these movies together can make a whole difference in your entrepreneurship journey.
So, go get one or more of these must-watch business movies if you an entrepreneur and make sure you see them till the end.
I wish you success in your entrepreneurship journey.
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