Being a child of the 80s, the Rocky movie franchise was definitely a cultural phenomenon. I remember watching these movies with friends and thinking that Sylvester Stallone was the coolest guy on the face of the planet. He had muscles on top of muscles and made being the underdog a noble thing. I’ve recently introduced my 13-year-old son to the series. Even though the movies are old, he liked each one of them.
In Rocky III the song, Eye of the Tiger, was written as the theme song of the movie. Stallone enlisted the band Survivor to write the song after the band Queen denied him permission to use their song Another One Bites the Dust.
The title was taken from a line from Apollo Creed that referenced that Rocky needed to have the eye of the tiger to defeat his foe. “You had that eye of the tiger, man, the edge…You gotta get that back!” Survivor caught onto that phrase and the song was born. Band members Frankie Sullivan and Jim Peterik conceived a riff based on chord changes to mirror the timing of punches.
Spending 6 weeks at the top of the billboard charts in 1982, the song reached certified platinum that year having sold over 2 million copies. At the 25th annual Grammy Awards, Eye of the Tiger won Best Rock Performance and was nominated for Song of the Year.
So, what does the phrase ‘eye of the tiger’ even mean? Well, in nature, seeing the ‘eyes’ of a tiger signifies death, because right before a tiger attacks, it turns its ears forward so that the spot on the back of each ear faces near its prey. So, in Rocky, it’s used to refer to the intense and focused mindset of a person who is determined and ready to face a challenge or overcome adversity. It suggests a level of determination, resilience, and unwavering focus, much like that of a fierce and determined predator…such as a tiger.
Ever had the eye of the tiger? Something that you were so determined to do, so focused to make happen, that you spent an inordinate amount of time and energy to make it happen? Something that consumed your mind, your soul, your essence? Something that had to be done, that couldn’t go any longer unresolved? Something that begged for your attention and your purpose?
I recently had a prospect ask if we ever had a client terminate our services before. “Well”, I said, “absolutely yes. We’ve had clients terminate us for various reasons. One might be goal fulfillment, as there is no money left for us to manage. Another is they found a passive investment strategy that cost less than our active management fee. (Note I didn’t say better, I said cheaper…you get what you pay for.) Or, they were convinced that another advisor had better performance. Which, on any given short term time horizon, may be true. Ultimately, those types of clients just weren’t a good fit to begin with.”
All that to say, we’re in a competitive industry. There’s always an advertisement for a better investment, a lower fee, a silver bullet. So, we remain vigilant in the face of this adversity. We show up, time and again, and do the next right thing for our clients. And in so doing, we display the eye of the tiger. Our clients deserve our best. We’re focused, resilient, and empowered. We fight to be the best wealth management firm in our community, our county, our state, and our nation. And, if you ask me, no other comes close.
What about you? What do you wake up eager and excited about? How are you living out your eye of the tiger?
Let us not be deterred by the swings and punches life may throw our way. Let us live with determination, unwavering focus and disciplined progress. And may we, by our resolve, vanquish the negative mental foe…and live our purpose today.
