A while back I read a great blog where someone talking about his heroes. He reasoned that what he admired in other people were things he wanted to achieve for himself. I think that’s a great idea and I will post about one of my heroes every thursday. To figure out what I want to accomplish and hopefully have others adopt some of my heroes as their own.
The hero this week is Mr. Winston Wolf, one of the characters in Pulp Fiction and is played by Harvey Keitel. Wolf is by far the best character in Pulp Fiction, even though he only has 1 scene. A NSFW link to the scene can be found here
Mr. Wolf solves problems.
After accidentally shooting the head off someone in their car, Vincent and Jules are in trouble. In big trouble..
The first time we hear about Wolf is when Jules’ boss tells Jules to not worry, because Wolf is on the way. And you can see the relief on Jules’ face. He knows everything is going to be ok now that Mr. Wolf is on the way.
So what makes Mr. Wolf a hero?
Calm under pressure
Mr. Wolf knows there is no point in panicking. Whatever the situation, no matter how dire it is, he stays calm and thinks things through.
Thinks on his feet
But his thinking is not a Big Upfront Design of the solution. It is quickly gathering required information and then making decisions as they come along. All small steps in ultimately achieving the goal of driving away with the body sans head.
Strong delegation skills / clear communication
Delegation is one Mr. Wolf’s strong points. He gets to know the team, figure out what their strengths are and delegates tasks to them. And his communication is always extremely clear. There is absolutely no way you can misinterpret what he means when he asks you to do something. Some will find this condescending, just like Vincent in the movie, but in a crisis clarity is king.
Expert / Professional
Mr. Wolf is an ultimate professional. He does not do any random job. Problems have to be interesting enough. You don’t call the Wolf to pick up your dry-cleaning. Having a reputation for only doing the hardest jobs around means also has time to spare.
Values slack
And having slack in his schedule allows you to call the Wolf if you are in dire straits. If he is 30 minutes away he can tell you he’ll be there in 10 min.
Tags: Mr.Wolf, problem, pulp fiction, solve
