Brett Culp
LAS VEGAS–Hope is looking for credit union leaders—and to see that light, they should look to the Dark Knight.
Brett Culp, a filmmaker and social entrepreneur who has made a number of popular documentaries with inspiring messages, told credit union leaders at CUNA’s America’s Credit Union Conference here they can not only find inspiration all around them even when it seems all is lost, even more importantly, they can be the inspiration for others by understanding what leadership is really all about.
Inspiration was the theme of the opening day of the CUNA ACUC.
“What has inspired me the most are the everyday people. The people most people would describe as normal and average, but who have done everyday things and make a difference in their worlds,” said Culp.
He said that first became clear to him when it worked on a film called “Legends of the Knight,” which was about people who were inspired by the movie Batman even to the point of becoming Batman.
Culp said he wanted to do something special with the film upon completion that would make a difference. The idea: Invite people to request the film be shown in a movie theater in their town with the proceeds to be donated to a local charity. The initial response: silence. His film distributor had no idea how to do it. But a week later the distributor said it can be done, with two caveats: because the money is being given away to charity, there would be no budget for PR. And because of the lack of money, the distributor also could not assign anyone to manage the project.
“Are you sure you want to do it this way?” Culp was asked.
“On paper, it was the kind of thing that looked ridiculous, but it was the right thing to do,” he said. “So, we put out these requests, would you do this with us? And all of these requests started coming through social media. And a full grassroots movement began, and there were screenings everywhere,” Culp told ACUC. In England, for example, a local manor was rented out for a Bruce Wayne Gala.
$110,000 For Charity
When all was said and done, Legends of the Knight played in 110 cities around the world, and raised $110,000 for charity, without a single dollar spent on any marketing.
“How do you mobilize something like that? In the process, I learned something you already know, but sometimes we forget it,” said Culp. “What I was reminded of is the world is filled with good people. People who want good things for their families and for their communities. And they are willing to work to put in the effort and the energy to make things happen. But what they need are individuals and organizations that will step up and lead the way. And that experience redefined leadership for me. Leadership is about inviting people on a mission to do something extraordinary together. It’s not about telling people what to do. It is first, an invitation. It is creating a space that you invite people into to do something good in their own lives. And it’s a mission. It’s clearly defined. Here is what we are about. Here is what we are going to do. And you frame it as extraordinary. And you don’t have to do it alone; we’re going to do it together.”
Everyone, said Culp, has an opportunity in their lives to make an impact. As an example, he cited a 13-year-old girl who decided she would raise funds for a local camp by swimming across Lake Ontario. It had never been done by anyone her age. What was expected to take 16 hours actually took 26, including five hours of swimming in which the girl was actually blown back one mile.
How did she keep going?
“As I was swimming, I was thinking about those kids at (the camp for which she was raising funds),” said Culp, relating the young woman’s response. Culp accompanied the young girl in a small boat as she sought to swim across Lake Ontario, but he was not comfortable with the weather or the trip as he was attempting to film her, he admitted.
“I had a moment of epiphany,” said Culp as the boat sat offshore. “I was having a difficult time. But there was this place about 15 feet down where there was no movement and there was peace, and it was down there where the anchor was. And I emotionally and spiritually went down to that place. I remembered why I was there: to capture a story of a young lady trying to make a difference in the world, and then take that story and share it with the world. That was my anchor. That’s why it’s important for you to hold tightly to your anchor. To get up every morning and know why are we doing this. Why does it matter? How does it make a difference in the world? Because the winds of the storm are coming, or you may be in them right now. That’s life. When you can hold to that anchor and every morning remember it, it allows you to keep going on that extraordinary mission.”
Hang Onto Your Anchor
When that young woman entered the water, her goal was $30,000 in funds raised. She completed her swim against the odds, set the record—and raised more than $200,000 for the camp.
But how does one hang on to that anchor?
Culp shared another example from his life after the movie Batman vs. Superman opened to terrible reviews, including getting a 27% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 4.9 rating out of 10.
But Culp said his reaction to the movie was very different, and he made a video of himself talking about the video. In three days it had 100,000 views, and it was further picked up by other movie sites and even people in the film. The video broke every rule for YouTube, including being too long (18 minutes), and the fact there are no second angles or music: just Culp speaking right into the camera.
“So how did a video that broke every rule go viral,” asked Culp of the video about the movie Batman vs. Superman, in which the two superheroes fight each other and stop fighting only after Batman realizes that his mother and Superman’s mother share the same name, Martha. The reaction to that from movie critics: completely idiotic plot point. But Culp came to the defense of that plot point, even breaking down and crying at one point in the video.
The result was the video continued to get growing clicks.
“It made me realize there is something powerful in being authentic, and keeping your heart open,” he said. “It’s hard to keep your heart open. You have team members and members who are driving you crazy. You have people every day making life difficult for you and what you want to do is shut down. But to do something extraordinary, you have to have the strength to do something brave. There is a place for humanity and openness and being in touch with your emotions.”
'Bunch Of Strangers''
In that same vein, Culp told the ACUC meeting he could have approached his remarks thinking “these are a bunch of strangers.” But instead, he said he told himself, “Our mothers have the same name and I can show you a video of me crying, because we are brothers and sisters. That sense of openness is critical. Safety is important.”
The power of social media, said Culp, is in emotional honesty and authentic communication that is human, which people are seeking in a world in which they are surrounded by manipulative communications.
“When you can connect with people, they will connect with you,” said Culp. “They will open up to you and help you in unique ways.” Organizations that connect, he said, are organizations that have a culture of being authentic that are authentic and real to people.
Where the real magic lies, according to Culp, is in hope. He said he often asks people as a filmmaker, “What is hope?” and he is amazed how people use the word often, but can’t answer the question.
Culp said for him, hope boils down to one other word: possibility. “It’s about looking at the world and life and circumstances and saying, ‘I can see what is right now, and it’s kind of ugly and frustrating, and I don’t know all the solutions, but I can imagine what’s possible. I can imagine a different reality, even though I’m not exactly sure how to get there from here.’ That’s hope.”
As a leader, he said, hope is about saying “I will hold a space for it, even though you can’t see it yourself yet.”
The job of leaders, said Culp, is to hold that space for possibility. Credit union leaders, he said, should hold a space for what they see in their industry, their organizations, their members and their own lives. “Even if in this moment you don’t know how it will come to pass, you hold space for it,” Culp said.
'Look to the Sky'
Culp said hope has become so important to him he made a new movie about it called “Look to the Sky,” which features examples of what hope means and how it has been used. Using the same strategy as with Legends of the Knight, “Look to the Sky,” is screening around the world with the funds going to various charities.
Culp pointed to starlight as being among the most amazing examples of perspective. The North Star, for instance is 680 years away, meaning that light from the North Star is hitting earth now after leaving the star before Shakespeare was born.
“You are starlight, shining through the darkness, sometimes for years before the impact you make is seen and felt and experienced through the world,” said Culp. “The truth is that the groundwork you are laying together right now will probably not really make a true solid impact on people for years and years. You may never hear about or know about the lives you change. And that is why hope is so important. That sense of possibility, to keep going, to swim through the dark night when you are losing ground, that there is within that the possibility of making a difference, and even to win when you feel everything is lost. After traveling around the world, I’ve learned that hope is looking for you. And that’s why you have to keep your heart open. You have to look at everyone, even the difficult people, and say, ‘You and I, our mothers have the same name. I will keep shining in the darkness and holding a space for the good I see in you and in the world.”