Snowfall FX — Why Every Entrepreneur Should Watch PT3
🚨 SPOILER ALERT!!! 🚨 If you haven’t already, check out Part 1 and Part 2
Season three of FX’s hit drama series Snowfall picks-up further along in the entrepreneurial journey of the show’s protagonist Franklin Saint. The up and coming boss exposed to the illegal drug business’s challenges in Seasons 1 and 2 has now solidified himself as the man in South Central LA.
Demonstrated by his living quarters upgrade as he no longer stays with his Uncle Jerome and Aunt Louie. Instead owns a house on the hill. As well as the expansion of his operation and team, now even his right-hand man Leon has his own henchman. Moreover, already two episodes in, I’m here to unpack the lessons and provide takeaways for my fellow entrepreneurs.
See Yourself As An Equal
At the core of every business model is the doctrine of value exchange, based on the economic principle of supply and demand. Where supply represents a product or service offering and demands represent the desire for said product or service. When supply meets demand, they form price equilibrium.
This same value exchange principle is also at work in all business relationships; however, unlike a supply and demand curve, where the market drives the price. In business relationships, an inner sense of self-worth drives price. And price equilibrium is only achieved when both parties are confident about the value they bring to the table. In other words, when you see yourself as an equal.
Reaching the point of embracing your self-worth is a challenge all entrepreneurs face, especially young, ambitious ones like Franklin, who interact with adults twice their age.
The most comfortable set of adults to begin seeing as an equal are those you don’t respect, for example, his father, whom he consistently calls by his first name. The next set of adults are those who are dependent upon you. Due to position, Uncle Jerome, or leverage, Claudia in Season 2.
The most challenging are those who raised you but currently operate outside of your business and those you fear. However, in Season 3, it’s evident that Franklin has become fully integrated.
Visual, it’s displayed in episode two when he visits Avi. Sitting in the chair, Franklin’s demeanor communicates confidence. Unconsciously, it even shifts how Avi interacts with him. And it’s because Franklin no longer fears Avi. Instead, he respects him.
The scene with Avi was confirmation of the hunch I already had. I sensed his new spirit in episode one when he called Officer Andre by his first name instead of Mr. Andre. It was a subtle but significant shift. Despite Office Andre’s role in raising him when his dad left, being the father of his lover, and a police officer, he still sees him as an equal.
Nonetheless, as entrepreneurs, it’s important to be grateful, not thankful in our business relationships. Your clients and customers are not doing you a favor. Instead, it’s an exchange of value.
Heavy Is The Head That Wears The Crown
In sync with the rise of his business empire is the increase in pressure on Franklin. Like Detroit’s finest Payroll said, “I’m the hero of my family. If I suffer, so do they.”
As the family hero and organizational leader, Franklin has a lot of weight on his shoulders. In episode 1, his mom reminds him of this truth when she says, “You said you had this under control. I’m happy to do everything I can to help. But it’s up to you to protect everyone. Can you do it or not?”
The question “can you do it or not” is so simple yet represents so much as it embodies the harsh reality of being at the top of an organization. The closed-ended nature of the question, can you execute or not, demonstrates that the answer can either be yes or no. That there is no in-between. That “trying” to protect everyone would not be sufficient because the buck stops at him.
Moreover, it again demonstrates that there are no excuses in entrepreneurship when it comes to executing. Because unlike his subordinates, Franklin has no one to blame when things go wrong other than himself.
As an entrepreneur, your decisions impact others, and people’s livelihood is dependent on your execution. This is the often forgotten and undiscussed part of leadership but should not be taken lightly.
Be Coachable
“Of all the skills of leadership, listening is the most valuable — and one of the least understood. Most captains of industry listen only sometimes, and they remain ordinary leaders. But a few, the great ones, never stop listening. That’s how they get word before anyone else of unseen problems and opportunities.” — Peter Nulty
When blazing your own path, having an ear to the streets is imperative to avoid certain pitfalls. However, despite the potential value add of advice from others, it’s essential as an entrepreneur to filter whom you listen to.
Franklin, earlier on, realized that not everyone was worthy of having his ear. From his Uncle Jerome early on, who advised him against getting into the cocaine business, to his lady Melody, who thinks he’d be better of going away to school.
Surprisingly, despite this intense drive and sheer will power to make his dream a reality regardless of the adversity, he knows that he doesn’t know it all and is willing to be coached.
Last season, Reed Thomspon gave Franklin some advice on leadership “You can’t do everything alone. You have to empower the people you decided to work with. It’s not just about being in charge. It’s about deciding how you want to be in charge.”
Franklin, respecting Reed’s perspective on leadership he applied his advice. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Later in the season, he tells Reed that he was wrong. “My mistake was giving Kevin too much room because we were boys. Now I know how to do things. Anyone mess with the program, break a rule they out don’t matter who.”
This season Franklin again finds himself in a position where he knows he needs to make some changes in his organization but is unclear about what to do. And in spite of the failed guidance from Reed last season, Franklin continues to seek competent counsel, and in return, he gets some good advice from Avi.
“The longer you live, the more mistakes you make. And eventually, if you are not careful, they catch up with you. Never get too greedy Franklin, the moment you do that you’ve lost your advantage.”
Initially, it was unclear how Franklin would implement Avi’s advice into his organization, but later in the episode, we find out. He decides to switch up his business model.
He tells his team, “More street business means more problems, problems we don’t need. Nickel and diming rock is eventually going to get you busted. Our advantage is pure product at basement prices. And that’s what we’re going to focus on. From here on out we only want dealers that can buy kilos.”
Franklin realized that although he’d leave money on the table if he sold kilos instead of cooked rock, only dealing with a select number of buyers would drastically reduce his risk.
Last season, when Kevin let the cat out of the bag by teaching their competition how to cook, Franklin lost his competitive advantage. I wondered if he’d be able to adjust and develop a new strategy and debated if he’d expand to new markets/cities or change his product.
However, he quickly realized his actual competitive advantage now that he’d built a market for crack and there was significant demand, was serving as the distributor for smaller dealers.
Being coachable is a critical part of the entrepreneurial journey because as your business grows, mistakes become more costly. And given that mishaps are inevitable, it’s best to avoid the ones you can by seeking competent counsel.
In conclusion, I will be writing an article every two episodes on the lessons that entrepreneurs can learn from Snowfall. So stay tuned for the next one. But in the meantime, catch Snowfall on FX every Wednesday at 10 pm.
