Lead

6

INSPIRE & EMPOWER

“DELEGATE almost to the point of abdication.”

WARREN BUFFETT

THE SIXTH ABSOLUTE FOR LEADERS:

Peter Guber, Hollywood mogul and producer of films such as Rain Man and Midnight Express, tells this story: Back in the 1980s, he was looking for a studio to finance a project that screamed “Pass!” to everyone who read it: female lead, expensive African location, gorillas, and a very unhappy ending. The script was Gorillas in the Mist, and as we all know today, it was ultimately produced to great critical acclaim and four Oscar nods. But at the time, the script was a hot potato.

“Who's going to want to see a movie about a gorilla?” Warner Brothers CEO Terry Semel initially told Guber.

But Guber told Semel he had it all wrong. Gorillas was really about “shining a light on the fact that these creatures are only one click away in the gene pool from us. We're their partner on this planet.” Furthermore, Guber believed in the project so much that he'd put his own money into it.

With that new twist on the story, Semel bit.

Guber, author of Tell to Win: Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story, relates the tale frequently while illustrating what it takes ...