Thought Leadership

My 5 Favorite Holiday Movies and What I Learned

anniereiss

Dec 25, 2019 - 4 min read

Let’s talk about me.

I am French and I love food. I also head up marketing for this incredible company called CloudShare. Oh, and I have two daughters and nephews and nieces and birthdays to remember and holiday celebrations to join and the year to wrap up and wishes to send to clients and suppliers.

Yes, I know, my punctuation could use some work – I’m much better when I’m not so busy. And you might wonder how the French origin fits into this blog. Well, you see, holidays mean different things to different people, and a little detail always helps the story.

That said, for me, the holidays are about family, food and tradition. The smells, tastes and decorations bring memories flooding back from my early years in Paris. The scent of the pine trees, the shop windows, the Christmas markets, the amazing food displays and cozy warmth of our family home.

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There are those holiday films, too, an early addiction of mine, long before I entered into a relationship with Netflix – and believe me, that romance is still alive and well. So, why I have decided to share my favorite seasonal movie list? Because I’m excited and I can. But just to keep me honest, I’ll tell you what I learned from these films and try to tie-in some professional context.

After all, I am “on the clock,” right?

You’re Never Alone

Directed by Chris Columbus, “Home Alone” (1990) is a comedy starring Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, an eight-year-old who spends Christmas defending his home from burglars after he’s accidentally left by himself. Kevin easily adapts to unexpected situations, openly voices his thoughts and feelings, hurries to help, respects other people and values friendship.

Lessons learned? In a recent survey we conducted with clients, I found it heart-warming to read so many appreciative thoughts from our partners, clients and long-time friends. We added many new logos and teams to our roster in 2019 and for that I am thankful and proud of our team.

It’s always good to know that you’re never alone.

Persevere, Buddy

Elf” is a 2003 comedy that centers on Buddy, a human who was adopted and raised by Santa’s elves. He learns about this and heads to New York City to meet his biological father, spreading Christmas cheer in a world of cynics along the way.

Buddy’s perseverance is demonstrated throughout the film. In one of his more famous quotes he notes: “I passed through the seven levels of the Candy Cane Forest, through the Sea of Swirly Twirly Gum Drops, and then I walked through the Lincoln Tunnel!

Professional tie-in? Don’t give up when you’re looking for answers. Enable your sales engineers (SEs) to overcome black box proof of concepts (POC) with analytics that tell the truth about user behavior.

Have Heart

Chuck Jones’ animated version of the Dr. Seuss book “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” premiered on television in 1966 and has since become a holiday family staple. The Grinch lives atop a hill overlooking Whoville with his dog, Max. Each year at Christmas time, his hatred grows stronger toward those insufferably cheerful Whos. So, Grinch decides to steal Christmas, but in the end, his heart wins out and his life is changed.

I am a huge Dr. Seuss fan but I have to admit that I’m terrified by the Grinch. In the story, his small heart grew three sizes that day. I find the idea of rapidly expanding heart disturbing (especially if I’m wearing a nice blouse), but it did accelerate the Grinch’s kindness.

Much like specialized cloud environments can accelerate your business, hm?

Believe in Miracles

Miracle on 34th Street” is an American comedy released in 1947. In it, Natalie Wood portrayed Susan Walker, a little girl whose well-intended mother raised her not to believe in Santa Claus. When their lives intersect with an elderly man hired to play Santa at New York’s Macy’s department store, Susan suspects he may be the real St. Nick. After a jealous fellow employee frames Kringle for an assault, he is placed in a psychiatric hospital, but he finally has his day in court and sets the record straight.

Let’s see, how about this for a tie-in? “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” And with virtual labs, your users can have hands-on, real-world experiences, enabling them to practice in isolated environments without fearing they’ll cause any harm.

Maybe it’s a bit of a stretch, but I think that works.

How Wonderful

Seventy years after its release, Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” remains a holiday classic, with warm and fuzzy messages about the importance of love and family. It also provides powerful lessons about realizing your value and understanding the impact you have on others.

I have to admit, though, a big lesson I take away from this movie comes from George Bailey’s mother: “marry the right person!” Maybe I should have listened to her year’s back but it’s still relevant today, particularly for Ravello customers who are contemplating cloud service providers.

Stick with the status quo and risk an expensive future, or, choose a new partner and have a fruitful and wonderful life together.

Seems like a pretty clear choice to me.

A Final Lesson

OK, I can’t help it – I’ve got one more. When “Scrooged” came out in 1988, Bill Murray logged another hit holiday film, adding to “Groundhog Day” and “Ghostbusters” (Halloween). Throughout the movie, we’re shown the lessons of the past and reminded to listen to the voices of those who have been down similar paths; their advice may be very helpful and save us some tough times.

One of the funniest lines in the movie is when the daughter asks her mother, Grace Cooley, when they’re going to get a real Christmas tree? Grace’s answer is “When they’re free!”

In the year ahead, we’ll continue seeing big commodity cloud service providers like AWS, Azure and GCP compete with promotional incentives and low price point. But virtual training and sales enablement require a specialized cloud and purpose-built tools.

Listen to those who have been down this road before, don’t settle for anything less than the real deal, and your future prospects will look very bright, indeed.

Happy holidays!