A Lesson or Two from Our Furry Friends
By David Stillman
That’s right, on November 10, Ernie, Bert, and the gang turned the big 4–0!
What began in 1969 as a mission to supplement school lessons for inner-city children is still going strong and has picked up a much larger viewing audience across the globe along the way—not to mention 8 Grammys and more than 100 Emmys!
Clearly, Sesame Street has done something right.
One of the producers commented, “While our mission has remained the same, we have always known that our viewers have changed. To tackle this, we have tried to keep the team fresh and challenge ourselves to stay in touch with the times.”
Makes sense. When the show launched, the target audience was Generation X. Now 40 years later, Sesame Street has to appeal to a whole new generation of viewers.
What makes even more sense is how businesses are faced with a similar challenge—they too have to figure out how to attract new generations of employees and customers while still getting the same job done.
Perhaps leaders can take a lesson or two from the furry friends of Sesame Street:
Keep the team fresh. Millennials would be shocked to know that there was a time on Sesame Street that was B.E.—that is, before Elmo. In the early years, Xers were pleased with Ernie, Bert, Big Bird, Oscar, and Grover. However, as a new generation started to tune in, they wanted someone new, someone fresh, someone to call their own. So in November 1985, Elmo made his grand debut. With this new cast mate, viewership increased, as did business opportunities. From merchandise to movies, Elmo was a cash cow. He took the show beyond public television, making appearances on all the major primetime shows. Elmo even showed up at the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education in April 2002, urging support for increased funding in music education.
Do you have the same old people on the same old projects and teams? Maybe it’s time to freshen up and find your Elmo. Who knows, maybe new teammates can take your mission all the way to Washington!
Stay in touch with the times. Even Sesame Street would admit that many of its practices and procedures from the early days no longer resonate and, in fact, may even—gasp—fuel bad behavior! Take Cookie Monster. The early episodes showed the blue monster going so insane for cookies that he would hallucinate and eat everything from a rotary phone to a children’s toy! In 2006, amidst reports that childhood obesity had reached epidemic proportions, Cookie clearly checked in to rehab for junk food. Check out Cookie Monster today, and his diet is much more balanced. He now has adopted the philosophy that cookies are a “sometimes food.”
Sesame Street has not only embraced cultural changes like these, but it advertises them. Now, at the beginning of any DVD featuring early episodes, it states, “These early Sesame Street episodes are intended for grown-ups and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.”
What signs of the times should change the way you do business? Whether it’s starting to use social networking to reach out to new people in new ways or relaxing rules on in-office face time as employees can now easily work from home, are you in touch with the times enough to cater to new generations of employees and customers?
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But as much as Sesame Street can teach businesses how to change with the times, it is also an example of making sure some things don’t change.
One thing is for sure: the world around 123 Sesame Street has evolved over 40 years, and the unflinchingly genuine attitudes of its residents have never changed. Every time a parent and child turn on the show, while they may not know what will be discussed, they can count on Ernie, Bert, and the gang to do it in a comforting, consistent manner.
Ask yourself, as the world around you changes, can your fellow employees count on the same, consistent person showing up?
Again, we can learn from our furry friends—well, maybe not Oscar the Grouch.


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