With just over two weeks to go, it must be the time to again watch one of the best Christmas movies ever made, namely “It’s a Wonderful Life”.
Starring James Stewart and Donna Reid, this 1946 film is the story of George Bailey, a man who gives up his dreams of building skyscrapers and exploring the world for the good of his small town of Bedford Falls.
The film starts on Christmas Eve when George is contemplating taking his own life after an $8000 loan is misplaced and he and his family are threatened with jail and ruin.
As George stands on a bridge ready to jump, Clarence – his guardian angel – falls to earth to show him what life would have been like if he had never been born.
The story of George’s journey is one that has held audiences spellbound down the years as he goes from falling in love with his future wife by promising to throw a lasso around the moon to pull it down, to the despair that he can only save his family from ruin by killing himself to get the life insurance to clear their debts.
I won’t ruin the ending if you have never seen it but director Frank Capra’s classic is not only a perennial favourite about Christmas but is a film about love, family and redemption.
It is about realising how we all make a difference (no matter how small), the importance of working at relationships no matter how difficult the situation and, most significant of all, how we easily forget what is important in our lives.
However, there are also a range of business lessons we can learn from this incredible film given that the key storyline driving the whole plot is the rivalry between George Bailey and Henry Potter, whose bank is the only alternative to Bailey Building and Loans which supports the local community.
Potter’s sole aim is to close George’s business down so that he can become the only supplier of finance in the small town and when his father dies, George is given the dilemma of selling the business to Potter or staying on as its director and saving the town from Potter’s greed.
Of course, he makes the ethically correct decision based on his heart rather than his head and gives up his dreams to stay on.
In today’s business environment, many would argue that would be that right choice. Entrepreneurs no longer base their decisions on starting and managing their business for financial reasons alone but in how their enterprise will have an effect on the community and society around them.
By adopting a strategy that puts addresses the specific needs of this market, George is threatening the existence of his main rival whose own strategy is based on gaining a monopoly situation.
His vision is not about only generating profits but about running a business that directly helps those in need, in this case to own their own homes. Today many entrepreneurs would echo George Bailey’s approach to business in focusing on what they do first and foremost as then the customers will follow.
In a pivotal scene in the film, we see George telling Potter that his customers did “most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath?” And having a business that is also ethical and community-driven is second nature to most business owners today.
In fact, this approach which focuses on the close relationship George has with many of his customers is what gives him a competitive advantage and what ultimately saves the business - when George is in trouble over the loss of the money, his wife Mary brings all the people he has helped through the Savings and Loans company together and because of his integrity and loyalty, they ultimately donate more than enough to cover the loan.
Developing that integrity with customers is key to the future success of many businesses and in today’s highly competitive environment, having an open and honest approach to supporting your clients means that when the business environment becomes more hostile, they will stick with you.
Another key lesson is the trade-offs that George has to make constantly in his personal and professional life, which is what ultimately makes him consider that despite everything, he has made a difference to those of around him by compromising to make things happen.
However, the reason that the film resonates with so many people over seventy years after it first came out is that it focuses on the struggles of one man trying to look after his family, his business and his community, something that millions of entrepreneurs around the world will understand.
Despite his best efforts, George doesn’t get to leave Bedford Falls and fulfil his dreams but he does runs a business that makes a fantastic contribution, as many small businesses do, to the local community. More importantly, it shows that you don’t have to leave the place where you want to live and bring up your family to be a success.
As an individual, George Bailey is the sort of person that all of us should aspire to be and his story in “It’s a Wonderful Life” is a life-affirming experience of what is good about people who care about their community.
If you’ve seen it every Christmas as I have, watch it again. If you haven’t seen it for a while, put it in your TV schedule over the holidays. And if you’ve never seen it, be prepared for something quite special that will make your day.