After his sudden passing, this week, the world has reflected on the impact of Adam West’s wonderful work as the original Batman. Not only did he bring onomatopoeia to the forefront of TV excitement, he humanized the Caped Crusader in a way that made the show a worldwide success. He was a lighter, campy render on the character versus Nolan’s tortured ‘Dark Knight’ Batman, or the most recent, square-jawed, snarly, Ben Affleck version. Whoever the Bat, Bruce Wayne’s alter ego is cool, smart and high tech – he is also ultimately, nothing without Robin.
There have been countless dynamic duos through history. From The Lone Ranger and Tonto to Starsky and Hutch, from Thelma and Louise to David Hasselhoff and his talking car, KITT,
Imagine James T. Kirk with no Spock. Specifically imagine the (more severe) trouble the Enterprise crew may have found themselves in without that pointy-eared, Vulcan side-kick shamelessly challenging his Captain, “You might want to rethink that plan, Jim.”.
In the bowels of the FBI, Fox Mulder was so desperate to believe in little green men, conspiracy theories and government cover-ups that he needed the pragmatic grounding Dana Scully offered him through her science and skepticism. He would have achieved very little without her, and her eyes would not have been open to ‘other things’ without him.
Great leaders need great sidekicks and great radio people are the same – both on and off the air. Dynamic Duos bring the best out in each other. They think inversely, they have opposing strengths and weaknesses and they challenge each other’s thoughts, ideas and strategies. At the heart of it, they approach things differently because they are wired differently.
It’s key that the other half of your dynamic duo has far different skills and core qualities from yours. Whether he or she is your APD or morning show co-host; sharing the same goals is vital but when faced with a challenge, you should approach the solution from vastly divergent angles, each bringing your unique mindsets and talents to the puzzle at hand. Great duos prove that we are always better together than they are alone.
Find your ‘Robin’, cherish the relationship, you will both be stronger for it.
Boom!