Career TOOLBOX #24: 12 Business Lessons Trading Places Taught Us

And Why 30 Years Later It’s Still The Best Business Film of All Time

I’ve seen Trading Places more than any other movie, and that includes all the screenings of both Godfathers and Goodfellas combined. From the moment I was a kid and first watched that comedy to a few years ago when I’d show it at the end of the semester to my film students to present day, not one other cinematic story, time and time again, has ever intrigued me, taught me or surprised me as much.

Trading Places first hit the theaters 30 years ago. Released in the Summer of 1983, this brilliant switcharoo comedy starred Dan Aykroyd as Louis Winthorpe III, the millionaire who loses everything, and Eddie Murphy as Billy Ray Valentine, the homeless guy who assumes Winthorpe’s entire life.

From a script structure  (Timothy Harris & Herschel Weingrod), acting (Jamie Lee Curtis, Ralph Bellamy & Don Ameche) and directing (John Landis) stand point, Trading Places is a perfect film. Thirty years from now, we will still enjoy it and laugh, even though we can anticipate not only every scene, but, also, every line of dialog. It is an essential addition of any film aficionado’s library.

As a businessperson, this film takes on a whole new level. Trading Places launched itself on us during the Big ’80s, during the Reagan Administration and during the same decade that also gave us Bright Lights, Big City, Other People’s Money, The Secret of My Success, Working Girl, and that legendary “Greed works,” Wall Street.  And, despite the Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps sequel of a few years ago, from an overall wisdom + entertainment factor, Trading Places still trumps these other terrific movies.

I was thinking about what is it about this movie that resonates so much and really it’s about life lessons. Specifically, business lessons.  The business world is not for the faint-hearted.  And it’s full of cruel extremes. This movie shows these extremes and the extreme people who will stop at nothing to get what they want. Trading Places provides an excellent education of this world.

The story would never get made today. Because political correctness has, in worry of offending anyone and everyone, ensured that truth won’t be spoken. The beauty of Trading Places is that it speaks the truth, in every single scene. It shows us what people are really like — including how they think and how they behave — vs. some fantasy version of what we think people should be.

I reached out to Angelo Douvris, a Senior Team Leader in the auto industry, with whom I grew up in Skokie during the ’80s and with whom I also attended the same high school and played in the same band. He’s a huge lover of this film and can quote it verbatim.

Here’s what we both had to say about the lessons this very real comedy taught us.

12. Everything and everyone can be gambled on. The price mutually agreed upon by both parties.

11. Everything you built during your entire lifetime you can lose within one stroke. The market crash of 2008 confirmed this.

10. When you do lose everything you learn who your real friends are.  Because when you have everything, everyone wants to be your friend.

9.  Street smarts can sometimes take you just as far as an education, if not farther in some cases. This point is driven home in today’s economy, given how many “book smart” people are unemployed.

8.  Neither nothing nor no one is what they seem. Put them in a pressure cooker and you will learn their true character.

7. In the business world, we’re all disposable.

6. In order to make money and screw an enemy you may have to go into business with people to whom you once before wouldn’t consider giving a quarter to.

5. No matter how successful you are, your ego and arrogance are your blind spots and will get you into trouble. Every single time.

4. To be mega successful in life, you need to have cohones made of platinum. The people who carry such metal drive most global decisions.

3. A life of luxury on a Caribbean island is motivation for most bad behavior. Office Space confirmed this.

2. In America, it’s not about your race. It’s about who wins the race.

1. Sex and money  — and our quest to pursue them — really do rule the world.

“And one last thing,” Angelo reminded me, “‘It ain’t cool being no jive turkey so close to Thanksgiving.’”

First published October, 2013.

[Movie Photo: IMDb.com]

Reprinted with permission and gratitude from CoolCleveland.com.