BUSINESS LESSONS FROM MONEY HEIST (LA CASA DE PAPEL)

[SPOILER ALERT!]

Who doesn't love Money Heist? The drama, the action, the romance. But hey, also the business. Because let's face it, this show is called Money Heist, and surely that means there are some business lessons to be found here, right? So let's see what they are.

1. Plan well. The Professor planned and perfected the heist for years before he decided to put the plan into action. He realized that it was absolutely necessary to plan out every little detail because he knew that they could not afford to mess up. The difference between the first and second heist make the importance of planning abundantly clear. The first time they had a lot more time to prepare which resulted in a much more successful heist. The second time things were, well, more chaotic to say the least. 

2. Maintain a level of professionalism. The problems the team faced were usually due to a lack of professionalism. Whether it was fighting over who would lead the heist or co-workers getting involved with each other and handling it badly, it ended up affecting the whole team and their end goal. When you work with people and spend a lot of time with them, it is natural that you will develop your own personal opinions about them. You might absolutely love some of your co-workers, and you might not get along that well with others. But at the end of the day, if it does not affect work and if it does not create a toxic* work environment, you need to make sure you don't let your personal feelings dictate your professional relationship and ensure you resolve any conflict maturely and fairly. (*If your co-workers do create a toxic work environment for you or others with bullying or harassment, do address this urgently and put an end to it by confronting them or notifying your Human Resources Department)

3. Hire experts in the field. The Professor hired people who were incredibly good in their respective fields. He hired the best people for the heist, and when they went to the Central Bank the second time, he also hired expert welders to help them melt the gold. That meant that the team was able to better focus on other stuff and that they also saved a lot of time.

4. Train your employees. The Professor started to train his employees as soon as he hired them. He taught them how to handle every situation they could possibly encounter in the heist and he employed different training techniques. He taught them the theory of it, but he also made them practice things in person so that they were completely ready when the time came. 

5. Have a continuity plan. What happens if the top management is affected? What happens to the business? Who manages it? What about the employees? When the Professor was compromised, it affected everyone in the team. If he had had a back-up - someone to cover for him and if he had planned for the possibility that he would be unable to lead them, they would have been better off.

6. Don’t get careless after a win. There will be times when everything seems to be going well. You are earning well at your job, your business is doing well, and you might start to think that you can slack off a little because you have earned it. But while you can enjoy your success, you need to make sure you make a regular effort to maintain that positive momentum. For example, after their first heist's success when they were all off enjoying themselves, if Rio had been careful and just stuck to the no-call plan, he could have avoided being tracked down and captured.

7. Stay motivated, and work towards your goals. The team worked hard for days on end to achieve what they wanted. This meant studying for days in advance, and then working all day and all night just to make sure the heist went well. They kept at it because they knew that their efforts would pay off. Just like them, you have to have a goal in mind and work hard to achieve it. If you own a business, you need to make sure that your employees have something worthwhile to work towards and motivate them to do well. Your motivation may be driven by material gain (like the money that drove them in the first heist), or something intrinsic (the way the Professor was motivated by his dream to carry out his late father's plan).

8. Work as a team. The reason they (usually) managed to handle all the chaos so well was because they were a good team. They were able to count on each other, and they relied on each other every step of the way. When one person took a shift to sleep, the others covered for them, and when one person was hurt, the others did their best to get them out of danger. The second there were problems within the team (like when Berlin fought with the team and helped the guard escape), their whole plan started to fall apart. 

9. Follow the law.  As you saw, breaking the law didn’t exactly work out great for them. Make sure all your business activities are legal and that you file taxes, treat your employees well, and that you create something that you can be proud of, instead of trying to find a shady shortcut to success and then constantly having to worry that your actions will catch up with you one day.