Reel Lessons: Kung Fu Panda

A kung fu-fighting panda?
Yes. Po, an aimless and under-achieving panda, is catapulted (quite literally) from obscurity to fulfil an unlikely destiny as the Dragon Warrior.

Aren’t all pandas under-achieving?
Well, yes. Pandas are technically carnivores and can barely digest bamboo, which means they get almost no nutrition from their chosen diet, which in turn means that your average panda, far from being the mean predator he’s equipped to be, is instead a useless lump that lives in a constant state of near-starvation. But I digress...

Right, this is a cartoon panda.
Exactly. He talks, works at a noodle stand and has a goose for a father. Bamboo doesn’t even feature.

OK, disbelief wilfully suspended.
Thank you.

So what’s the crux of the story?
When Po is finally deemed worthy of accepting his destiny — after a comedy, Rocky-esque training montage — his master, a red panda called Shifu, hands him the revered Dragon Scroll, thought to contain the secret to ultimate kung fu power. But the scroll turns out to be blank and Po is faced with the challenge of saving the valley from Tai Lung, an evil snow leopard, without the secret power.

Sounds brave.
Not so much. Po flees with the rest of the valley’s inhabitants.

Typical panda.
Indeed, at least until his dad sits him down for a father-son chat and reveals a family secret: that the secret ingredient in their Secret Ingredient Noodle Soup is... nothing. Some things, he explains, become special simply because people believe they are special.

Profound. But what’s that got to do with kung fu?
Po realises that his dad’s pearl of wisdom is also the secret message of the Dragon Scroll: there is no secret ingredient.

So he goes back to fight the evil snow leopard?
Yes, but before Po fully embraces his new power Tai Lung overwhelms him and gets hold of the Dragon Scroll. However, he cannot understand the scroll’s message, which leads to a final and decisive confrontation with Po. The valley is saved, all rejoice.

OK, I got it. So how do I apply this to my business?
The story’s message is a simple one that has been documented by many management theorists and psychologists, perhaps most famously by Norman Vincent Peale in his 1952 classic, The Power of Positive Thinking. He writes in the book: “Your unconscious mind has a power that turns wishes into realities when the wishes are strong enough.”

I thought Peale was a crackpot and a conman?
Well, that’s true, but what do you expect from a cartoon movie about a kung fu panda?

Fair enough.
Having said that, a more recent and respected school of thought is known as positive psychology and is best espoused by Martin Seligman, although Abraham Maslow’s much earlier work also drew on similar ideas. Seligman’s research into what makes people happy has many useful applications in management theory. Interestingly, studies show that one of the only things proven to make people happier is marriage. Lottery winners (and bankers) end up no happier than the rest of us, but getting married and starting a family is known to be strongly correlated to happiness.

So love is the secret ingredient to true and lasting happiness, how sweet.
Tell that to my third wife.