The Best Business Advice You'll Ever Read, From Batman

In 2005, 2008 and 2012, revolutionary director Christopher Nolan released the three parts of The Dark Knight Trilogy, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.

For my money, it’s the best trilogy in the history of film. And not just because it is beautifully shot, perfectly acted and has one of the greatest soundtracks in movie history.

It's because the three movies take on the issues – terrorism, heroism, class warfare, morality, anarchy, torture, etc. – that have defined our post-9/11 world. Their wisdom can be applied to the challenges we all face today.

And that certainly includes business challenges as well. Specifically, there are five quotes in the three movies that acutely illustrate the mindset it takes to be successful in business. They are:

1.   “Victory has defeated you.”

The third film in the series, The Dark Knight Rises, pits the anarchist Bane against a washed-up Batman. About an hour into the movie, the two men meet for the first time, ending when Bane snaps Batman’s vertebrae over his knee (an injury Bruce Wayne inexplicably recovers from while in locked in an Asian jail, but that’s a story for another time).

Seconds before breaking Batman’s back, Bane utters this quote to the costumed anti-hero. And it perfectly sums up a very real problem in the world of business: the problem of success.

How many companies have gone the way of Blockbuster and thought their dominance could never be challenged, only to be displaced by a company started by some guy in a garage somewhere? And why do they fail?

It isn’t a lack of resources or industry knowledge or even talent. Victory defeated them.

In other words, they thought their success would continue and they stopped doing the things that made them so successful in the first place. They stopped innovating. They stopped challenging themselves. They became lazy, with their biggest adversary their own impressive P&Ls.

It doesn’t matter if you are a one-person startup or a 100,000-employee conglomerate. If you don’t constantly innovate, a Bane is going to come looking for you.

2.   Ra’s Al Ghul: “Your compassion is a weakness your enemies will not share.”

Bruce Wayne: “That's why it's so important. It separates us from them.”

These lines are from a conversation in the first film in the trilogy, Batman Begins, between the eventual protagonist and antagonist, Bruce Wayne (aka Batman) and Ra’s Al Ghul. Ghul – who has yet to reveal himself as the enemy he is – is training Wayne, encouraging him to give up his compassion to become a more ruthless ninja.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, the world’s confidence in business has evaporated. And rightfully so, as too many companies adopted Ghul’s mantra: compassion inhibits success in business.

In reality, the exact opposite is true. The companies that are the most compassionate, that strive for a bigger purpose behind just higher revenues, ultimately are the most successful. Like Wayne said, they succeed not in spite of that compassion, but because of it.

At the end of the first movie, Wayne defeats Ghul. And at the end of any competition, the smart company that has a higher purpose will always defeat the smart company that cares only about making money.

3. "People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy, and I can’t do that as Bruce Wayne. As a man, I’m flesh and blood; I can be ignored, I can be destroyed. But as a symbol… as a symbol I can be incorruptible. I can be everlasting."

This is arguably the most important quote in the entire series. It too was uttered in the first film, Batman Begins, by Bruce Wayne on a flight back from the Himalayas. Here, he gives his reasoning for why he decides to become the caped crusader.

This quote perfectly explains what needs to happen for an individual or business to truly become successful. The most iconic people and the most successful businesses ultimately transcend their core function and become – as Wayne eloquently described – an incorruptible symbol.

The absolute best example of this is Apple. Apple is an electronics company, not that much different than HP or Dell. And yet Apple isn’t just another company; it’s a symbol of counterculture, of independent thought, of beautiful design and of the highest expectations.

In reality, it doesn’t make sense. Apple products are just phones or computers or tablets. Just like Batman, at his core, is just some billionaire with gadgets beating up the poor and mentally ill. But, by being bigger than just their core function, their acts echo throughout eternity (to steal another quote from another renowned movie).

4. "This city deserves a better class of criminal, and I'm going to give it to them."

The theme of the second and best film in the trilogy, The Dark Knight, is escalation. It begins with an established Batman greatly reducing crime throughout his beloved city of Gotham, as its criminals cower in fear.

That stops things, right? Just the opposite. In their desperation, the local mafiosi turn to a truly evil man, the Joker, the self-proclaimed better class of criminal. In turn, the Joker releases anarchy onto the city, killing cops and judges and putting all of Gotham into a prolonged state of fear.

So how does this relate to business? Your company might accomplish great things, even disrupt an entire industry, such as Batman did bringing relative peace to Gotham after the first film. Does that mean the trouble is over?

Just the opposite. More commonly, the greater you and your company rise, the greater the opposition it will face. In fact, if you aren’t currently experiencing a great threat, it means you haven’t made much of an impact yet.

So don’t get discouraged when you encounter a “better class of criminal” in the business world, i.e. a more serious threat than what you are used to. That’s just a sign you're making it.

5. "He’s the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we’ll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he’s not our hero. He’s a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight.”

I’ll end with this The Dark Knight quote by Gotham Police Commissioner Jim Gordon, which is arguably the greatest ending line in movie history.

For context, The Dark Knight details the rise and fall of Gotham’s “white knight”, District Attorney Harvey Dent. Dent, who begins the movie by putting bad guys behind bars, is ultimately driven insane by the Joker and goes on a murdering spree that ends when Batman kills him to save Gordon and his family.

Rather than let Dent take the fall, Batman instead instructs Gordon to blame him for Dent’s crimes. While not true, Batman knows that ruining Dent’s reputation will lead to the undoing of all their good work and plunge Gotham into despair.

So what does this have to do with business?

We all want to be white knights. We all want to be the hero who gets all the recognition, who is beloved by all and who never has to tell someone “no” or “we can’t do that” or “it’s just not working out anymore.”

But the most successful businesses aren't led by white knights. What any great business needs is a dark knight as leader, someone who does what’s necessary to ensure the company wins.

Don’t mistake that with having no morals – as described in point two, morals are key to success. What it means is having the courage to be honest, the confidence to deflect or outright avoid credit and the determination to stick through the bad times.

The Dark Knight Trilogy ends with the symbol of Batman making the ultimate sacrifice – it’s life – while protecting Gotham from a final threat, a nuclear bomb by Bane. That proved Batman would do anything for the people of his city.

The most successful leaders do the same. They never focus on what’s best for them or how they can make the most money or how they can make the most people like them, but instead they focus on what’s truly best for the company.

In other words, they aren’t the heroes we necessarily want, but the one the company needs. That’s what you need to become, if you truly want to change the world.