I Have Friends Everywhere

This is a silly one, but we need silly ones every once in a while right?

I’m an unapologetic Star Wars nerd. Now, I might not have read every single novel or novelization, but I was around for the dark times when there was no new Star Wars content for 20 years. I know how good we have it today.

But even so, many of the Star Wars TV shows haven’t landed the way we would have expected back during those times of no new Star Wars. I would have assumed that I’d be drowning myself in the content. And I have with some of the content! But some of it doesn’t hit the mark.

And then, there’s Andor.

If you haven’t seen it, holy shit, why on EARTH are you reading something I wrote instead of going and picking it up. Speaking of which, if you haven’t seen it, and if you haven’t seen Rouge One, this is the correct sequencing of watching.

Rouge One: A Star Wars Story
Andor
Rouge One: A Star Wars Story
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

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I’m not going to do a deep dive into why Andor is great (though dudes/dudettes — if you wanna talk… I’m in. Hit me up. I could talk about it for DAYS).

What I want to talk about is about the process of making something as amazing as Andor and how the perspective of how they made such an impactful show out of basically a single line in a movie from 1977.

I’ve listened to a number of interviews with Tony Gilroy, the showrunner/mastermind behind Andor and a few things stick out (most of these you’ll already know but they’re just awesome factoids).

He doesn’t care at all about Star Wars and isn’t really interested in it (yet he made some of the best Star Wars content out there)
He is really interested in Authoritarian takeovers and history
His belief is that to make a story compelling and to be a good writer you need to understand not just what a character is doing in the moment but understand them fully - he uses a simple word to say all that though… he has empathy for his characters

Another aside, but it’s been really fascinating that ever since I had this idea to start this Substack, and decided to make it all about empathy it feels like every time I listen to someone talk the word enters their mouth. It happens on podcasts, it happens at work, it happens on tv shows, it’s just everywhere. It’s like when you say “you know what I never see, an orange car” then all of a sudden you see one every time you go out. It’s got nothing to do with the rest of this post but it’s just weird and I had to get it out lol.

While watching the show a really weird thing happens. You almost start to root for the villains.

I mean, you’re not actually rooting for them because you know that they’re villains. It’s well known that the empire is bad. But, you can’t help but feel the pain and frustration coming out of Syril when he fails to catch Cassian in the first arc of season 1. You know that Syril isn’t who you root for, but you still don’t necessarily want him to fail. You want him to be redeemed. You’re rooting for it the entire show.

And a lesser writer would have probably let him be redeemed.

A similar arc happens in another Star Wars show that I love — Rebels. It’s animated so it’s for kids, but there’s a character who is also a cog in the machine of the empire, and he’s clearly the bad guy and eventually you end up rooting for him… but because he makes a decision to stop being a bad guy and start being a part of the rebellion. He’s radicalized by the kindness of one of the rebels to him, even though they are “enemies” (there’s a whole lot more backstory that again, I’d love to talk to you about, but isn’t necessary for this discussion lol).

And it would have been easy to do the same for Syril. He has a reckoning that makes him realize the error in his ways and throw off the shackles of the empire and become a rebel.

But instead, his entire persona is built around the idea that he is uniquely capable of solving problems and that he craves the order that the Empire represents. He doesn’t want chaos and the rebellion represents chaos. And so, his character constantly is striving for that order. Even in the times when he starts to realize the atrocities of the Empire, when he starts to waver, when he questions his lover who is in charge of CREATING a chaotic situation so that the Empire can come in and squash it to create “order”… He doesn’t change his entire personality. He doesn’t become radicalized.

He’s still seeking out Cassian who he sees as the villain who killed two corporate security guards, led the raid on Aldani, killing countless soldiers of the Empire and stealing their money. He’s the hero in his story. He evolves, and grows, and learns and becomes more fleshed out as the story goes along… but he doesn’t CHANGE. He’s the same person. His motivations are clear and the writers have empathy for his worldview EVEN WHILE THEY’RE WRITING A SHOW ABOUT HOW EVIL AND INSANE IT IS.

He knew it was a cliche when he said it, but when I was listening to a recent interview with him, Tony said “there are no small characters”.

I think a lot about that because I feel like a lot of this endeavor has been me rehashing cliches and then assigning the value of empathy to them. It’s not a very empathetic way to see my writing, but it’s where my head goes, and the only way to change is to admit the problems you see and want to change, so here I am airing it out lol.

And the thing that radicalizes me to keep doing this is that cliches are cliches for a reason. They have worth. Enough that they’ve been beaten to death so many times you can’t even keep count.

And so, think about the idea that there are no small characters and apply it to your work life.

My favorite line from Andor that I’ve stolen and would love to be known as representing is the code phrase, “I have friends everywhere”.

One of my work super powers is finding people. I find people, find what motivates them, then connect them with people who can help them achieve their goals and desires. Whether that’s a work project that needs some specific skill set, whether it’s just that they need someone to bounce an idea off of, or they want to get more visibility for something they’re working on, or they need an expert to explain how a process works… or even if it’s “I need a new iPhone” — I have friends everywhere.

I’ve been wracking my brain on WHY I do that. It’s not something that I consciously decided “this is who I’m going to be at work” or “this is how I make an impact”. I wish it was that well thought out and calculated, but honestly if someone asked me why I do it up until the last few days I would have just said “it’s what I do”.

When I first took over the mobile team at FIS, I had to hire some people to fill key roles and I honestly didn’t have to try very hard. I told people I knew what I was looking for and they pointed me at people they knew and it came together with almost no effort. It was crazy. I didn’t even question how it happened - it seemed normal.

After that process, one of the people I hired (and I knew was the right fit within 10 min of talking to her) told me that

I used to make a joke (and I’ve revived it recently lol) that at every job I’ve been the ad hoc director of morale. Because I want people to be happy. If we’re gonna have to do work to make money and pretend like society isn’t slowly (or quickly) crumbling around us, we might as well enjoy it right?

And I realize now, as I start analyzing myself, trying to find the empathy for myself that Tony finds in all his characters, that my reason is tied heavily into that “joke”. My reason for having friends everywhere is, that’s how I can help make people happy at work. I can find the things that they need to be successful. I can enable people to do more than they thought they could do on their own. That’s my backstory. That’s the rose colored glasses I’m always looking through that color every decision that I’m making.

Which is why writing this is fun for me. My hope is that this connects something for you and makes your life better or happier or more fulfilling.

And the way I can do that, is by connecting people and using empathy.