The practice of 'buddying' people in the office is fraught with danger and can often go wrong. Working in pairs only really succeeds if the two involved have complementary skill sets but also overlap in their overall goal. In the case of Laurel and Hardy, the overall goal is to be as stupid as possible but, in their defence, they do set about achieving it with gusto.
Good double acts are great in business. Clients find them memorable and effective, plus if one is off sick the other can still cover the meeting. And these guys have it all. They have a 'look' that they stick to most of the time (one fat with slicked down hair, toothbrush moustache and a tight-fitting jacket and the other thin with hair that sticks up and a loose jacket &mdsah; and both wearing bowler hats), they are sure to raise a smile round the office and can be guaranteed to get the Christmas party going with a rousing version of 'Trail of the Lonesome Pine'.
Employing these two has its drawbacks, of course. For one, they're idiots. Oliver Hardy is definitely the smarter of the two, but we're starting from a very low base here. His 'leadership' often involves getting them into more trouble than they were in at the start (we've all known similar executives, surely?) and Stan Laurel is the sort who couldn't be trusted to sit the right way round on a lavatory. They should also be given no responsibility for logistics or planning, as this is bound to go spectacularly wrong.
They do, however, have a great capacity for absorbing changing technology — as other silent stars fell away, unable to cope with the new 'talkies', Laurel and Hardy became even more successful. And if you can manage to get a double act that works for you, keep them together and their longevity can be vast. This act is still making money 90 years after its first outing together. All things considered, you should definitely employ them. Unless you run a piano moving business
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