Hi <<First Name>>,
In the movie "You've Got Mail", Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) runs a boutique children's bookstore. She loves books, reading to children, and engages with her patrons to help them select books. Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) runs a million-dollar bookstore chain that runs like a well-oiled machine. He doesn't care much about books and doesn't get involved with the day-to-day operations of the store.
While Kathleen and her staff have built a loyal community, Joe believes that business is separate from personal life.
The movie revolves around the lives of these two business owners and what happens when their polar opposite world-views collide.
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Warning: there may be spoilers ahead.
Kathleen's viewpoint is that of human connection and passion, while Joe's viewpoint is business oriented, sans any personality. In design thinking terms, Kathleen represents Empathy, and Joe represents Business and Technology.
Joe's deep discounts begin eating into Kathleen's bookshop, eventually leading to her closing down. Even as she and her staff are running the closing sale, her customers become emotional, sharing their memories of visiting the store as children themselves.
I was reminded of this movie after the recent tragic death of the founder of Cafe Coffee Day. Several people took to social media, recalling their favourite CCD memories -- even though they probably had never met the late founder themselves. For many, CCD was a place where they went on their first dates, while one patron pointed out that CCD on a highway meant access to a clean restroom.
Coming back to the movie... on the day Kathleen shuts down her store, she visits Joe's bookshop and watches a customer interact with the sales staff. The customer is looking for a particular type of book, but the sales staff is unable to help unless she can provide the exact name of the book or the author.
A heartbroken Kathleen, even while processing her new reality, is unable to resist the urge to help a customer. She blurts out the name of the book series the customer is looking for, even spelling out the name of the author for the sales representative to locate it on the shelf.
Unknown to Kathleen, Joe is observing this interaction. It is later revealed, that Joe ends up hiring Kathleen's former employees, presumably, because this incident influenced him.
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The movie is set in the late nineties, when email was available only on dial-up connections, and small businesses were swallowed by giant corporations. Today, the situation is close to reverse, with the internet available at high speeds, almost free-of cost and start-ups and 'disruptors' overthrowing larger corporations.
Given today's online shopping culture, a growing band of experience-oriented niche organisations, and large corporates trying to build communities, I'm tempted to think that Joe's business wouldn't thrive so easily today, and maybe, Kathleen's shop could continue. But these are hypothetical scenarios for a fictional tale.
What do you think?
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"You've Got Mail" is one of my all-time favourite movies -- for its wonderful storytelling, believable characters and the numerous philosophical quotes peppered in between.
What's your favourite movie? How have those movies influenced your world view? I'd love to know. Simply hit reply!
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