A ten year run in advertising.

It doesn’t get much better than that. The Most Interesting Man in the World, who successfully peddled Dos Equis for an entire decade, is opting for a well deserved retirement and taking a one-way trip to Mars.

Don’t worry, you have until Cinco de Mayo to send him off and bid him a fond adieu. #AdiosAmigo.

Much like fans of the HBO series, Entourage, The Most Interesting Man has a unique niche of extremely loyal fans. He became a cult following that enabled Dos Equis to increase sales every single year of the campaign. In fact, sales of the brand skyrocketed – during a time when beer sales were anything but robust.

But what was so alluring? The man was an enigma, as much mystery as he was intrigue. After all, they say he could cure narcolepsy by merely walking into a room. He even once — warned a psychic. That’s amazing stuff.

He isn’t just a meme. You need him in your business.

Believe it or not, The Most Interesting Man was much more than a pitch man. He was an ideology. A philosophy. A man that thrived on larger-than-life experiences. Someone who dared to dream. Someone who thought “differently“. He was hardly status quo.

Every business needs a dose of that. Time spent working on the business, rather than in the business. Time spent thinking about the business, rather than running the business. Time spent planning, rather than a myopic focus on the product, the service, the quality, the daily grind.

But it’s not that simple. Dreaming big can sometimes border on recklessness, neglect, and irresponsibility. Take the analogy too far and you’re left with a dream but no plan. A product but no profits. A great service with no clients.

He’s great, but in small doses.

Some businesses fail because they focus too much on the big picture. They never get down to people, process, systems & profit. You see them all the time. From the entrepreneur that can’t stay focused enough to see an idea through to commercial viability, to the multi billion dollar “unicorns” that “innovate” and “disrupt” but lack the business foundations and principles that are conducive to value creation.

But used in moderation, it can be an extremely powerful strategy. It allowed Google to soar above Yahoo. It made Tesla a viable company where previous electric car concepts had failed.

See, the Most Interesting Man wasn’t an accountant.

He probably never saw a balance sheet. He doesn’t give a flying flip about analytics. If he was in sales, he never would have used your CRM.

What he did care about, though, were big ideas. He’s heading to Mars. Like Hernán Cortéz who proudly reached the Yucatan Peninsula, only to have his party of 600 “burn the boats“, his bravado is as dangerous as the big ideas are alluring.

The thing is, your business needs big ideas. It’s thirsty. You have to invest time, talent and capital into planning, innovation, thinking, strategy, or your business will eventually starve.

The lesson?

Every single week, carve out a dedicated time devoted to working on your business, rather than in your business. Dare to dream. Find the lesson in your past pursuits. Find the meaning. Then, look forward.

Free yourself. Be the most interesting . . .

It’s not that you deserve the time to sit back and “just think“, it’s that your business is thirsty. It’s thirsty for guidance, innovation, planning, forethought, strategy.

Your business is starving. Feed it. Nourish it. Grow it.

Stay thirsty . . .

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