BLOG: We Need "Ghostwriter" Now More Than Ever

One of my favorite shows growing up in the '90s was 'Ghostwriter.' Airing just as school let out at 3 p.m. it was something I looked forward to everyday. Tuning in to the group of five junior high teens from Brooklyn, New York attempt to a five-arc mystery case with the help of their friend Ghostwriter, who was invisible to everyone but them. It was a great show, I even got a classmate hooked on the PBS show - he made his own Ghostwriter pen. 

Well, right now we could use some re-runs of "Ghostwriter." First off, the Ghostwriter Team is very diverse. Made up of an African-American (Jamal, the one who started the whole thing), Asian-American (Tina, who is first generation American with parents from Vietnam), two latinx siblings (Alex and Gaby, who like Tina are both first generation American's with the parents immigrating from El Salvador) and one caucasian American (Lenny). Later, the team would grow to include another character from Latin America (Hector), another African-American (Casey, Jamal's cousin) and one more white character (Rob). The diversity on the show is crucial. 

The final story arc of season one "Building Bridges" bears striking resemblance to the tough times we are facing today in regards to racial injustice. The arc begins with Lenny and Alex waiting for a fellow classmate (non-Ghostwriter team member) to work on their preparation for the school's annual talent show. But when their classmate arrives, both Lenny and Alex learn, to their horror, their classmate was mugged by a new street gang that moved into town. 

The entire arc revolved around the violence and hate that was growing on the streets. Each member of the the team dealt with some form violence or racial hatred in some form or another. But Rob was the one most affected.

Writing a story on the school's track team, Rob befriended one of the top runner's on the team, Victor Torres, who had just transferred and was an ex-gang member. The pair were walking home when they run into Victor's former gang, the Thunderheads, and the leader called Rob a "white boy." It shook Rob, as he never experienced that before, so he went and talked with Jamal, who recalled the time he encountered racial hatred. 

It wasn't the last time in the arc Rob would feel conflicted. The son of a military father, he was constantly moving around and never had time to make many friends. All he wanted to do was make friends, he didn't want to hate anyone or be hated himself - which he felt when he was beat up by the Thunderheads trying to look for Victor and stumbled into their hangout. 

On top of all this, the school was ready to cancel the talent show because of all the violence in the neighborhood and the school. (The school was being vandalized by what was thought to be the Thunderheads, but was actually a current student who was angry at Victor for supplanting him as the anchor on the relay team.) The talent show committee persuaded the school administration to keep the show and re-named it to "A Community Jam Against Violence." 

There's so many striking similarities to today. The cancel culture has become the most prevalent today - mainly because of COVID-19, but the racial tension only adds to it. Instead, of being quick to pull the trigger and cancel something, think about positive alternatives that can be done safely that will bring people together. It is what Lenny and Alex did with their talent show, turning it into a forum against violence. 

We need "Ghostwriter" now more than ever. 

Watch "Ghostwriter: Building Bridges" - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Book Of The Week: "Go Big" by Cory Cotton

What started out as a group of friends shooting buckets in the backyard just trying to one-up each other, turned into a 52 million-subscriber YouTube channel and over 11 million following on Instagram. You may have heard of these guys, they are the Dallas-based group of buddies known as Dude Perfect. 

The group of friends - Tyler Toney, Cody Jones, Garrett Hilbert, Coby Cotton and Cory Cotton - did something that anyone could have easily done. They quintet bought a basketball goal, put in their backyard, and starting doing trick shots with a camera recording all of it. It was quite simple. But they didn't didn't stop at trick shots. 

They expanded their arsenal. Tyler put it best "you don't keep people's attention and keep them coming back by giving them the same thing over and over again, so each video had to be better than the last." Creating battles where the five of them went head-to-head for an object freshly spray-painted in gold provided fans with new content and an opportunity to see each one of their personality. 

Fans saw the athletically-gifted Tyler seemingly win every single battle, while it took poor Coby over 18 individual battles to get his first victory. The trials and tribulations of watching Twin #1 try to gain his first battle victory was akin to Phil Mickelson winning his first major and the Red Sox and Cubs breaking nearly a century long World Series drought. Tired of seeing Tyler win all the time, fans began to jump on the Team Coby train (even Tyler was on-board at one point).* 

But the group didn't stop there. They are always looking to go bigger in everything they do - after all they are from Texas; every's always bigger in Texas. 

From battles, they moved to developing their 'Stereotypes' content - where they would pick one activity and poking fun at almost every type of person one would encounter. This is where fans fell in love with the "Rage Monster" - a character played by Tyler and destroyed everything. But they didn't stop here. They continued to go bigger. 

CMT picked up DudePerfect for their own TV series, which was then carried on by Nickelodeon for additional two seasons. More time for fans to see more of a behind the scenes. They granted loads of "Make of Wish" wishes, including making a trick shot video with them. 

Once fans were starting to attach to their personalities, they branched out again and went bigger, creating the Overtime Series. Overtime is the the crew's variety hour skit which incorporates the team's personalities of being "The Tall Guy" (Cody), "The Beard Guy" (Tyler), "The Purple Hoser" (Garrett) and "The Twins" (Coby and Cory). It was a success once again. 

Every time they grew and continued to try new things, they succeeded, in part because each time more of the crew's authentic personality came out. Which raises the importance of being authentic. People flocked to these guys because they showed their genuine emotions and viewers were able to empathize. 

Fans could see the disappointment and heartache when it seemed Coby could never win a battle - always coming up short. Just like when a professional sports team such as the Yankees or Patriots constantly win gets boring, fans saw the same thing with Tyler winning virtually every single battle. They saw Cory's frustration for picking his name EVERY SINGLE TIME during the "Wheel Unfortunate" segment, but Cory owned it and had some fun with. (Best one was when he had to fly to Wisconsin for absolutely no reason.) 

So everyone out there: Be genuine. Be Authentic. 

* - hint Coby finally did win his first battle after 29 attempts holding off Garrett in the Giant Sumo Battle. And unlike Jimmy Eat World, Coby wasn't a one-hit wonder. Another 19 battles later, he knocked off the Battle King, Tyler, winning the RC Airplane Battle. (A little luck went into this one.) 

Book of the Week: "When" by Daniel H. Pink

A few weeks ago, early on during quarantine, I read Daniel H. Pink's book "Drive" on motivation - what drives people to do what they do. A few quarantine weeks later, I picked up another Pink book "When" - focusing primarily on the timing of when things get done and when teams come together. It also explains why I suck on holes four, five, and six. But more on this later. 

All championship programs have many things in common. The first thing is the ability to coordinate with others in and across time. Last semester one of the things I was tasked with was working alongside another colleague to make sure all of our events were properly staffed and covered. Every Tuesday of the week, I would chat with my co-worker and ask where we stood with the week's games and where we needed assistance. Wherever we needed the assistance is the event I would be at - which actually in a few instances worked out well. 

Second, there was a saying my college coach used to say all the time "the team takes on the personality of the coach." At the time I really didn't think much of it, it just sounded good, but it actually makes a lot of sense. Pink uses the rowing position of the coxswain as an example of a group eight rowers syncing perfectly to a person who is oarless. The coxswain is not doin the work, but is essential to the boats speed and timing, just as the leader of a team / organization may not be doing the work but they are setting the tone of the organization. 

All great teams have the third feature: a sense of belonging. I remember working alongside our talented multimedia interns interviewing the women's swimming and diving coach for their "Meet The Coaches" segment. At a point during the interview, she mentioned her coaching philosophy and what drives her team "everyone has a role to play and should feel valued on our team; we take that very seriously." It is no wonder that her team has won four of the last six conference titles, took home 14 individual event championships last season and had the 15th best time in the nation in the 800-yard freestyle relay with a sub-seven minute time of 6:59.92. 

Having that sense of belonging to something greater makes people feel like they aren't alone. When everyone feels valued and appreciated, your team performs up better and in turn makes you look better as a coach and leader. 

The last part builds belonging and it's something that over the past four months due to the coronavirus pandemic we really haven't been able to do for fear of spreading the virus. It's the sense of touch. When you watch any sporting event (baseball, basketball, football), whenever player does something well you see the rest of the team congratulate them with fist bumps, handshakes, chest bumps, high-fives, etc. 

This is essential for team- and relationship-building. It's why at the end of a business agreement, we want to "shake on it" even if the other person says it's not necessary. We still want that bond that touch brings. Because of our current situation, this is something that has been reduced due to fears, but there are always creative ways around it. See the picture to the right of myself and runner-up from this year's club championship. Our pre-championship round handshake was a tap of the drivers before the match. 

And to leave you with what I teased in the first paragraph as to why I'm less then stellar on holes four, five and six. It's the phenomenon of midpoints. Ever work on a class group project that has a late due date? Everyone's first thought is 'oh we got time, this isn't due for awhile,' but sure it enough the halfway point approaches and people's thought process 'oh crap we have to get this done.' It's the same thing in other aspects of life. In the case of my golf game, I supposed my mind tends to wonder on the fourth and fifth holes, before I realize 'oh this is a game I'm playing, I should turn this around.' (Still happens a lot despite my acknowledgement of this happening.)