Change your brief?

Jerry Weintraub is a legendary film and producer. Early in his career, in the 50s I think, as a very junior concert promoter, he got the biggest break of his life - he won the right to promote one of Elvis Presley’s tours.  It was the chance of a lifetime; and if he could success it would be an entry to the big time. Elvis had one stipulation - ‘I don’t want to see any empty seats in any of my shows’.  Jerry was unfazed by this, thinking - Elvis at height of fame - how could there be any empty seats? 

So the tour started, and all concerts were quickly sold out - no empty seats. Then, as the tour progressed, a few months later, perhaps Weintraub forgot, or perhaps he got careless, because he put on extra matinee performances without being sure about the audience.  And then one day, on the very day of the show he saw a pile of unsold tickets -  which meant empty seats.  And these seats were in the middle of the front row - disaster!  He would be breaking the terms of the agreement, risking angering Elvis and even losing his job, and his big break.

Weintraub rushed out onto the street and tried to sell the tickets at a discount; but with no luck. He tried to give them away for free; but couldn’t.  He even looked to pay people to attend the concert, but this was pre-internet / mobile phone, and there was just no time.  He was stuck, and thought he would just have to hope that the notoriously difficult Elvis would cut him some slack.

But then, he realised that the brief was not to fill the venue; it was that Elvis would see no empty seats. So he found some workmen to come and remove all the seats!  Problem solved!  Elvis remained happy and the tour continued.  Jerry’s career took off and he never looked back.

Jerry reinterpreted his brief, and found that the problem he was trying to solve was not really the problem he needed to solve.  I wonder, for us, how often we do this?  It happens as we grow up -  after all, as Stephen Colbert said, If we'd all stuck with our first dream, the world would be overrun with cowboys and princesses.  But perhaps we need to do it more often, adults and children alike, as we learn more and develop.

Does this apply institutionally?  There is a sense in which 50 years ago, we changed our brief by joining the UWC movement.  We became a school for whom academic attainment ceased to be the end goal, as it is in many places, and we reinterpreted academic attainment as one element in our Mission to educate to unite people, nations and cultures towards peace and a sustainable future.  That doesn't mean we don't pursue academic attainment with energy and determination; in fact we do so all the more powerfully as it is in pursuit of a noble goal, not a meaningless one.  But that brief of peace and a sustainable future?  I don't see us reinterpreting that anytime soon; it's a north star to guide a journey of decades, not a milestone to achieve and move on from.