Badass of Green Gables

I always consider myself lucky to find myself in PEI in the summertime.

One of my favorite things to do in PEI (besides eating seafood and going to the lovely beaches) is to watch the long running musical, Anne of Green Gables: The Musical™ at The Charlottetown Festival. If you are fuzzy on the details of the storyline, here is a recap here – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Green_Gables.

As I watched this production with my daughter this summer, there were two things that struck me:

#1 – Anne Shirley (aka Anne of Green Gables) is a badass.

#2 – The whole story is based on a contract gone wrong.

#1 – Ann(with an E) is a badass

The word “badass” is thrown around these days in entrepreneurial circles as a call to action. Anne Shirley was certainly a badass way ahead of her time.

Anne clearly knew WHO she was, WHAT she wanted and was NOT AFRAID to go after it.

Anne(with an E) did not get discouraged by meddling neighbours, her early nemesis Gilbert or even the death of her beloved Matthew. I love her fierce friendship with Diana. Anne’s resilience was really inspiring to me.

#2 – We Clearly Requested a Boy

 Let’s be honest. This musical would not be as successful as it has been if it focused on the contract dispute that underlies the plot.

“We Clearly Requested a Boy” is one of the songs from an early scene of the musical. Uncle Matthew and his sister Aunt Marilla Cuthbert had “sent word” to an orphanage in Nova Scotia that they wanted a boy to help out on the farm. Instead, they received Anne, a girl.

Many business owners have similar and unfortunate stories about misunderstandings when they did not receive what they had requested.

While oral agreements can form a contract, the details can easily be misinterpreted or remembered differently by the parties.

While it all turned out well in the case of Anne Shirley (eventually), my advice to business owners is that sending word or otherwise conducting your contracts in an informal manner can come back to bite you like a spiked bottle of raspberry cordial. GET IT IN WRITING.