QE Rebooted

This is our new boom.  Lately, my wife and I watch this show together when we have time.  If you haven't seen it yet, please check it out: http://collider.com/queer-eye-netflix-review-series/

Netflix in Japan even has Japanese subtitles.  All 8 episodes of the season are available for you to binge.

For those of you not in the know, the show's premise is that each episode someone gets nominated for a total makeover by the Fab 5, a group of gay men who specialize in different areas (fashion, interior, gourmet, grooming, culture).  During the segment, The Fab 5 spend a week with the nominee and at the end a full lifestyle makeover is revealed ranging from wardrobe (Tan Francis) to living space (Bobby Berk) to cuisine (Antoni Porowski)  to grooming/personal care (Jonathan van Ness) and attitude (Karamo Brown).  It's absolutely fascinating to watch these transformations happen.

To the casual observer, a change of wardrobe or furniture or a different haircut is a very superficial change.  A change in diet or a discussion about self-confidence is a shallow attempt at change.  The truth is, in every episode I have seen so far, the nominee has at least one sort of emotional blocker in their life - the death of an influential loved one; the weight of complacency or fear of failure; lack of acceptance from others and so on.  As the lifestyle elements are changed, the personality is lifted and the nominees change from the inside out.  They are confident, engaging/engaged and moving forward (at least baby steps).  We cry every time we see the end of an episode because it is truly touching to see these people overcome their blockers, supported by the genuine, caring attention of the Fab 5.

As openly gay men, each of them have dealt with serious psychological challenges during their lives as they have fought for acceptance and confidence from themselves and others.  This gives them incredible insight into personality, conflict and change and honed their skills in helping other people through the same journeys.  Most nominees underestimate the impact that a week with the Fab 5 can have on who they are.  In the end, they don't just look different - They ARE different.

The takeaway is profound: we are emotional beings, and this reflects itself (sometimes subconsciously) in how we treat ourselves and those around us.  Like all living things, we need to be nurtured not just physically but emotionally and spiritually to be fulfilled.  Blocked; we stagnate and get stuck in choices and habits that prevent us from making positive changes and moving forward.  We need help.  Little changes in how we dress, live, sleep, eat can make big changes in how we feel.  As Tan Francis pointed out in one powerful episode "there's no blueprint for how to come out; there's no one way to be gay".  Each person has to find their unique way of being and celebrate it, whatever it is.  As our problems get resolved, we start to shine brighter and brighter.

As a Customer Success Manager for Microsoft, I can relate to this.  I deal with the same challenges at the corporate level.  It would be easy to treat digital transformation as a serious of "IT projects" and ignore the fact that these are really driving "cultural changes" taking place in the way employees collaborate to sell to and service their important customers.  We do a series of enablement activities (akin to changing wardrobe, interior, cuisine and grooming on the show) but ultimately we are invested in trying to help our customers break out of their stagnant working habits into a more positive and confident incarnation.  We are impacting the workplace culture using IT.

In the dojo as well, we sometimes reach plateaus.  We feel we are not making progress or are stuck in bad habits (especially working too much and missing class).  Maybe we think we are there to master punching and kicking and stick fighting or knife defense.  The reality is that we use those tools for Personal Transformation.  We build confidence so we can remove the blockers we face in any area of our life and never be afraid to go for our goals everywhere including the dojo.  All of us have been victims of fear, and learning to face and overcome those fears is the key to personal freedom.  The martial arts is a means to an end; an end where we find ourselves fulfilled and happy in every other aspect of our lives.

The Fab 5 are amazing people.  I hope they keep changing the world.