Jesus asked “Who do you say that I am” in Mark 8:29.
His Disciples then responded with answers.
Indeed, some people are required to wear many different hats in their line of work – which might even contribute to a form of an ‘identity crisis’.
Similarly, journalists commonly describe who someone is, using an assortment of commonly heard titles to give the reader some sense of familiarity and a frame of reference.
Tyler Perry’s titles roll off the tongue with ease and grace. We barely even think about it because we hear these titles all so often.
See how Mansion Global introduced him in their write up describing one of his latest luxury real estate acquisitions. They write: “Producer, writer and actor Tyler Perry has made a tidy $1.1 million profit flipping his Beverly Hills mansion. He owned the home for less than nine months.”
Tyler Perry’s IMDb page ascribes to him the labels “Director, Writer, Producer“.
Producer, Writer, Director, Actor.
Few wear so many hats per their infamous projects, but some do.
- Producer: They self-finance the work.
- Writer: They design the project that people will later act out.
- Director: They lead construction of the movie.
- Actor: They serve as one of the [main] characters in the film, acting out the Writer’s script, under leadership of the Director, financed by the Producer.
Such titles and roles are not limited to just the film industry… but are likely reflected in the broader economy.
For example, it is certainly applicable in the business of contracting, in and out of the government sector.
These various roles are essential to produce, design, construct, and implement some of the largest projects in competitive-bid contracting.
As seen in the film industry, there are producers, writers, directors, and actors in business outside of the film industry.
The Producer, in business
The ‘Producer’ of a business project might represent the entity or parties who are covering costs and investing into the project with hope for a positive ROI on their financial investments into constructing a winning creative product. Investors will typically take the larger portions of prospective profits, in exchange for taking on the risk.
The Writer, in business
The ‘Writer’ is the party who may author the winning creative product. In the contracting world, this might be a proposal where evaluation factors require that any submitted authorship be ranked.
The Director, in business
The ‘Director’ might be the party who leads the project post-award, like a project manager or project director.
The Actors, in business
The ‘Actors’ are the project staff on a project who become the face of the project. Project staff have the most interaction with the customer.
Keep these roles in mind, when doing business.
Know the players in each of these role(s). Be open to partnership with other talented people.
Acquire an adaptable perspective and be agile. On some deals, you may have to wear a different hat than last time, and on others you may have an opportunity or requirement to wear ‘all’ the hats on a single project.
Once we learn how to write, the choice to write becomes yours. Nothing can stop us from writing a song. Nothing stops us from writing software. Nothing stops us from writing a script for a movie. Nothing stops us from writing a proposal. Take on the financial risk of investing your time into authoring something that the world can potentially use!
Most importantly, don’t give up. Be prepared for many failures before any sizable success.