Business Tips (and Life Lessons) We Learned from The Avengers Movies

*Spoiler Alert!* This article references the plot from the new Avengers End Game movie. If you haven't seen it yet, it's a must see!

The Avengers Infinity War ended on a bleak note. If our favorite superheroes were running a business instead of saving the world, we could say that it appeared they made a bad investment that resulted in layoffs for half of the company. In other words, things looked bad - really, really bad.

When something devastating like that happens in business, we only have two choices: keep pushing and overcome or throw in the towel and move on to the next venture.Sometimes the test is meant to teach you how to elevate to the next level and other times, the test is meant to steer you off course in order to steer you into a better opportunity.

We see this in Avengers End Game. Natalia or Black Widow was the company's interim CEO. She fought to keep the Avengers afloat and, she kept the team connected as much as she could while resentment, guilt, distance, and the memory of a bad investment ate away at team morale. She was the visionary. She kept her eyes on the long term goal and was willing to do anything to ensure they accomplished the goal. Her leadership is why the team managed to stay in touch for years following the devastating event.

What truly helped change the game for the Avengers, was Ant-Man. He didn't witness or experience the failure, so he brought fresh perspective and innovation to the team. He also brought fresh excitement and passion, which boosted morale and gave the team a reason to believe again.

With Ant-Man bringing innovation and fresh excitement to the team, they worked together to develop a solution to their problem. It took much trial and error, but persistence was instrumental in finding a working solution.

Now, it was time for extensive user testing. They had to be intentional about who would do the test, how the test would be conducted, how long the test would last, as well as when and where the test would take place. Even though they had a working solution, the work was far from over. Even after successful testing, they had to figure out how they were going to conduct a full scale launch. Each role and responsibility was carefully planned out; they got equipped with strategy.

Finally, it was time to launch the experiment. The launch was well planned, but they experienced set backs they hadn't planned for. Even so, they managed to be successful, because they took the Progress over Perfection mentality. They became adaptable and found ways to problem-solve issues as they encountered them.

After they successfully executed the plan and got the business back on track (i.e. got half the population back), you would think that they could rest in their success. Unfortunately, a new war ensues and they learn that, it is now time to maintain and manage the results they worked so hard to achieve.

Luckily, they knew the right people! They were able to collaborate and create a team large enough to handle the scope of work that lay before them (which was destroying Thanos). It is through collaboration, sacrifice, and faith that they were able to win the war against Thanos.

While it seemed long and depressing, we learn from Dr. Strange that there was only one way for them to have ever been successful. They all had to do something they'd never done in order to achieve something they never experienced before. The tenacity and constant innovation that helped the Avengers succeed, is the same kind we all need to Win at Life and Business.