How Can 40 Years of Pee-wee's Big Adventure Give Your Energy Career a Tune-Up?
Pee-wee’s Big Adventure hit theaters on August 9, 1985.
The Alamo is marking the occasion by displaying one of the bikes from the movie.
You, too, can mark the anniversary by using two classic lines from the film to give your professional & personal development strategy a tune-up:
"I know you are, but what am I?"
"Come on, Simone, let's talk about your big but."
RELATED CONTENT
Come on, Simone...Let's Talk About Your Big "But" (The Energy Detox, Episode 14)
Building on Pee-wee Herman’s assertion that “everyone has a big ‘but’,” Episode 14 of The Energy Detox explores the impacts that little “buts” can have on success and leaves you with 3 things to keep in mind as you lead your team, your family, and yourself toward a more sustainable future:
1) You can openly acknowledge and embrace your “buts" without allowing them to drain your energy and slow you down;
2) You can help your stakeholders understand how to use their “buts” as an opportunity to grow; and
3) That while using blunt or negative words like "but" and “however” and “no” can have unintended consequences, artificially avoiding words that occasionally need to be said to others—and to yourself—can sometimes cause even greater damage.
Transcript
(AI training in progress; please excuse any errors)
One of the biggest global news stories is occurring right now down in San Antonio, Texas, where the Alamo will be opening its doors to the public to look at one of the bikes used in Pee-wee's Big Adventure. And given the significance of this story, given the fact that today, August 9, is the 40th anniversary of the release of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, why not take a couple minutes to focus on a couple lines uttered by Pee-wee Herman in that movie that can help you be more effective as a leader or have a more effective career hunt, if you will, if you find yourself in transition?
00:38
And the first of those lines that we're going to focus on is not the line that you might expect today down in San Antonio, that, of course, being "There's no basement in the Alamo." Instead, we're gonna start with a line here that I'll allow Pee-wee Herman himself to utter and that is, "I know you are, but what am I?"
00:57
And from that line, it leads to something that I prompt anybody that I work with, whether they're in career transition or whether they're an established C-suite leader, and that is to complete this sentence, "I am the only..." I am the only...
01:17
That's a tough thing for a lot of people to complete, whether it's out of humility, or just the fact that you've never really thought about it before. But this is key. If you're an established leader, well, guess what? People want to work for somebody--they want to work with somebody who is differentiated, who brings something new to the table, who can't just be replicated by an AI model, or one of any number of people with a similar resume, similar for people in career transition. Again, you don't just want to sound like one of hundreds of other resumes that have a similar background, similar accomplishments, similar goals. You want to be able to articulate what makes you different from everybody else.
01:55
So again, channeling the inspiration of Pee-wee Herman and the line, "I know you are, but what am I?" finish this sentence: "I am the only person... (who has a Pee-wee Herman doll sitting next to his desk).
02:12
That being said, let's move on to the next line. Come on, Simone, let's talk about your big but. And if you're not familiar with the movie, or at least as familiar as I am. Well, this line is uttered by Pee-wee Herman, when Simone, a waitress that he had just met, is talking about her dreams, but then shifting into the reasons that those dreams can't come to fruition. And so Pee-wee prompts her to say, well, "Come on, Simone, let's talk about your big but," with that "but," of course, being some excuse some reason that she can't move to Paris, France, which was, of course, her dream.
02:32
And in the case of the movie, the big but was her boyfriend Andy. But again, it's a good reminder for you to challenge yourself, or perhaps more significantly, to put on your coaching hat and play the role of Pee-wee Herman and challenge other people when you sense them honing in on some sort of big but that is not allowing them to achieve some sort of goal, whether it's a small, short term goal for today, or some long, grand, giant goal, like moving to another city, getting some new job, moving to a different industry. And again, this is the type of thing I need to say to people in perhaps a more tactful way when they are in career transition and when they're looking to make some sort of strategic shift in their career, even if they're at an established company and they're in an established team. Let's talk about that big but. And from here, the way that I do this, again, sometimes more tactfully than others, is to ask two sub questions, and that is, 1) "Says who?" Who says you can't shift industries. Who says you can't shift the role that you're in? Says who?
03:51
And then the second big one, of course, is "So what?" So what if this happens? So what if you do decide to pick up and leave and change jobs or shift gears or take a sabbatical, or whatever the case might be. So what? So what if you express your desire again within an established company and in a relatively secure position to try something else, to shift teams, to maybe give up responsibilities or take on new responsibilities? So what? What's the worst that could happen again? Not terribly scientific, but critical for you, regardless of the position that you're in. So today again, channel the inspiration of Pee-wee Herman. Channel the inspiration from the Alamo, which purchased one of the bikes that was used in the movie Pee-wee's Big Adventure. And ask yourself these questions.
04:40
But that being said, if you're listening to this or watching this or again, hearing of this news, that you could be down at the Alamo viewing one of Pwee-wee Herman's bikes. Well, nevertheless, if you happen to be one of the viewers in the Pittsburgh area, please know that we actually already have one of Pee-wee Herman's bikes right here at a museum called Bicycle Heaven, just north of the casino, and it's on display. I visited it myself. And again, it's a neat museum, very accessible. And you know, you don't have to travel down to San Antonio and enjoy the heat that is Texas this time of year. You can enjoy Pee-wee Herman's bike from right here in Pittsburgh.
One of the bikes from Pee-wee’s Big Adventure on display at Bicycle Heaven in Pittsburgh, PA
05:16
So that being said, honor the 40th anniversary of the release of Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Ask yourself these questions. Take a moment, whether you're in Texas or Pittsburgh or wherever, some of the other bikes are that might be floating around from the movie, and check it out. Ask yourself these questions. And again, make sure that you don't find yourself kind of floating around in a figurative basement, if you will, instead of ascending to the top to some sort of goal and and being as visible and as close to your goals as you want to be.
And one final note, if you want an expanded conversation on Pee-wee Herman, and particularly this line here, "Come on, Simone, let's talk about your big but," and the importance and the value of that word "but" in the English language, and when you communicate, then I encourage you to go and check out episode 14 of The Energy Detox, recorded way back in 2020, that then spends a lot more time, I think, 30 minutes or so, talking about the nuances of the word, but the importance of the word "but" and again, talking about how you can use it to be more effective as a leader in the oil and gas industry. So with that, thanks for checking out my Pee-wee themed message for this morning, and hope you have a great rest of the day.