Real Estate Mogul Encourages Creativity, Insight . . .

Because there wasn't enough idiocy in the world . . .

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Quote :

Tom Barrack is one of the biggest real-estate deal-makers in the
world. His investment firm, Colony
Capital LLC, has raised $16 billion from pension plans and other
big investors to buy properties like gaming company Station Casinos Inc., Michael Jackson’s Neverland
Ranch, and possibly even Walt Disney Co.’s Miramax movie
studio.

But recently, it turns out, Mr. Barrack has also been doing some
soul-searching—thanks to Stephenie Meyer’s popular vampire-novel series,
“Twilight.”

Real-estate moguls taking advice from Mormon housewives. This oughtta be good.

Quote :

In a July 2 memo encouraging his employees to consider outside points of
view . . .

"Regarding this week's planned announcement of raises and benefits: a new corporate policy has been implemented. Any employees who have not demonstrated full commitment to JxB Forever are advised to reevaluate their position in relation to their future with this company. Remember: there is no 'I' in 'Team Jacob.'"

Quote :

Mr. Barrack describes a lonely evening on a yacht in Turkey after a
cancelled business meeting. In the yacht, Mr. Barrack writes, he came
upon a book on which “were written the words that strike terror in the
hearts of every macho, red-blooded male…TWILIGHT.”

DUN DUN DUN!

Tom Barrack wrote:

. . . it was a long night and there was absolutely nothing, and I mean
NOTHING else to do. Long story short—not only did I read Twilight, I
read the other two as well!! I was fascinated, captivated even.
However, what intrigued me was not the same thing that hooked the
millions of women whose lives and had been changed by this series, but
something else entirely.

Unnecessary exclamation points, poor comma usage, and overdramatic writing in a corporate memo. The infection has already spread to the brain stem. *bows head* At this point, there's no hope for it but the flamethrower.

Long, long, long memo short, Mr. Barrack winds up hitting the nail on the head in a very strange way. He correctly identifies exactly why the series is so successful:

tom_barrack102 wrote:

The description of Bella on the other hand, was not moving, or
compelling. What I realized is the genius of Stephanie was that she
knew that by keeping the character generic, any and every woman could
climb inside and picture herself in Bella’s shoes. Thus the fascination
and deep emotional reactions to what many (including myself) thought
was a foolish teenage trashy novel.
I definitely got that the “anticipation” was much more romantic and
sexy than the “consummation” to the woman. Slow, patient, caring,
tender….

. . . dreamy, perfect, godlike, sparkly . . .

xxtom_barrack102xx wrote:

A human relationship with a vampire is challenging on many levels,
the least of which being you get older as your partner remain timeless.
It was enticing, captivating, alluring…and dangerous. Through it all
she believed that she could do it…. change her life… change his
life…make it different…in spite of what conventional wisdom dictated.

Every woman longs for the anticipation, the romance, the journey,
the taboo, the patience, and the attentiveness. Men, however, are all
about the destination, the result, the speed and the outcome. The
journey is merely penance to get to the destination. Which is why
despite the vampires and werewolves, this book is kryptonite to most
men.

See? He gets it! Sort of. Then comes the kicker:

xxtomluvstepheniexx wrote:

In a world of technology these books are unique. There is so little
imagination left in most of forms of entertainment today. See it,
Google it, play it, do it…there is very little old fashioned make
believe anymore. I could go on and on, but I know by now many of you
are saying, “what happened to our leader?”…

Yep. He thinks the corporate world needs to think outside the box and use a little imagination . . . by doing things like reading Twilight.

xxtomxedward4ever wrote:

I feel renewed and refreshed, having gotten out of my comfort zone and
experiencing something so totally out of my normal realm. I don’t get
it…. but I feel it. Taking the agenda-less time to absorb a point of
view that I had ignored while loved ones around me relished in it, was
an oasis for my soul. Having been unwilling to investigate the cause of
such a startling movement until now was ignorant. Move your cheese!!!!
Break through the comfort barriers, you can handle it whatever it is.
The earth is turning on its axis. Planets and moons and suns are in
orbit. Gravity is pulling and tugging, and molecules and quarks are
warring inside of us. We need movement to live…

Four exclamation points this time. Pterry knows it best: definitely the sign of a diseased mind.

The sad thing is, he's got a good point. Corporations do need to learn to look at things from different points of view. And you can get a different POV by reading Twilight:the POV of an obsessed, hormonal enabler with a spine made of damp string and a codependent stalker boyfriend who thinks it's suave to compare her to illegal pharmaceuticals. Is this really how we want international corporations being run? Corporate responsibility is already in the tank; what if the idiots running BP were also fangirls?

And promoting creativity by reading the saga of the Sparklevamps. I gotta lie down.

I'll give him an "A" for effort, because most corporate types would say "This plan failed the last 99 times we tried to implement it. That means it's sure to work this time."

But I think if he wants his staff to "think outside of the box", he picked the absolute wrong book to use as an example. Mainly because no one in the Twilight series actually thinks.