The 5 business lessons of The Nightmare Before Christmas

But as I worked on a corporate strategy plan, I suddenly saw the tale in a new, ghoulish, light. Jack, after all, decides to dramatically change his business culture, but he does it all wrong. Even so, his failure – and ultimate redemption – provides reminders for all leaders who periodically get sick of making the widgets they make and decide to veer in a vastly different direction.

So when you take in all those “fun” size candies to the office on Tuesday, remember to take these lessons with you:

1. Successful corporate culture often involves magic not visible to the naked (executive) eye. Jack stole Christmas trees, gifts, ornaments and gingerbread – trying to figure out how the holiday works – with test tubes, books and yes, the dissection of a teddy bear. “What does it mean? What does it mean?” he laments. But instead, his mind’s eye twists Christmas through the Halloween lens, producing gifts with black ribbons, toys with vicious teeth, paper spiders, and skeleton reindeers. (Although my daughter kind of likes the “toy” python that completely consumes its family’s Christmas tree.)

2. New ventures typically don’t go well if they’re a leader’s momentary whimsy. Jack presents his new vision to Halloween Town, with a pretty thin idea of how it’s all going to work – more of a show of one than a road map for the many. He doesn’t plan anything very well – most notably he picks three children for the Very Important task of kidnapping Santa Claus. Instead, they initially kidnap the Easter Bunny.

3. Leaders, like the Pumpkin King, need to make sure their supporting executives aren’t town criers for negativity toward their projects. Every time, Jack disappears, the mayor is always driving through town with a bull horn telling everyone in town what horrible fate has befallen Jack and his plans. The mayor is wrong every time.

4. Instead, leaders need listen carefully to the quiet naysayers. Jack has painfully shy Sally, who is in love with him, who foresees catastrophe. She even throws obstacles – most notably a fog potion - in his path to try and stop him from his ruinous Christmas run. But Jack is too consumed with his vision and his ego to hear anything she says.

5. If you fail, quickly dust yourself off, learn from your mistakes and move toward new successes. After dropping bat hats, shrunken heads and massive pythons under the tree, Jack’s coffin sled and his little skeleton reindeer are shot down with what seems to be a slight overreaction by the military. He crashes into a cemetery and is cast into the arms of a stone angel. Literally fallen from grace, he realizes his errors. But Jack also quickly realizes he can take all the excitement and energy and knowledge he’s gained - and make next year’s Halloween the best ever.

Oh, and one bonus lesson: Never, ever, steal Santa Claus.

Diane Lore, who will be a pirate captain this Halloween, is a senior communications and executive branding consultant in Atlanta. She’ll be digging out all the Almond Joys from her kids’ trick-or-treat bags without remorse.