In James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown, Timothée Chalamet plays the role of music legend Bob Dylan, a musician who has recorded 60+ albums. He’s from Minnesota but traveled to New York in 1961. He wants to meet the folk talent of the day.
He starts with Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) in the hospital. There, with Guthrie, is Pete Seeger (Edward Norton). Dylan busts out his guitar and plays a song for Guthrie. Guthrie, suffering from Huntington’s Disease, couldn’t verbally acknowledge Dylan’s performance. However, his physical reaction tells Seeger and Dylan that Guthrie appreciates Dylan’s performance.
From there, Dylan forged a friendship with Seeger that led to him playing at the Newport Folk Festival multiple times. And then damaging his relationship with Seeger.
Dylan’s story is fascinating as we watch him rise from a complete unknown to a superstar who was recognized everywhere he went. More than that, we see how fame and success changed him.
A Complete Unknown is a great tool for leaders to learn from. It shows what to do and what not to do, and it shows how fame and success can negatively affect someone.
Will you join us for a Reel Leadership journey?
Quotes And Leadership Lessons From A Complete Unknown
1. Get multiple angles before making a decision:
Pete Seeger is in court. He’s been charged with writing subversive music. The government was out to get this man who wanted peace.
During the case, Seeger told the judge she should listen to the song before she made her decision. The judge refused, saying she didn’t want to hear it.
As a leader, you can’t make proper judgments without all the details. This means you have to listen to multiple perspectives and opinions when making a decision.
Never make a decision based on one side. Get multiple sides before making a decision.
2. Bob Dylan:
Well, this is one I wrote for him. For you.
When Dylan met with Guthrie, he played a song for him. More than that, Dylan had written the song specifically for Guthrie.
Why did Dylan do this? He respected Guthrie. Guthrie was a far-away mentor and hero of his. He wanted to do something special for him. And he did.
What are you doing for those who have impacted your life? Are you recognizing their impact? Are you giving credit where credit is due?
You can write a letter to those people who have had a major impact on your life. You can go visit them. You can even write about them online and show it to them.
Find ways to pay respect to those who have impacted your life.
3. Pete Seeger:
A really good song can get it done without the frills.
Seeger was a folk musician. His music was simple yet impactful. It stripped away much of the frills for a no-nonsense feel.
As Seeger drinks with Dylan, he begins talking about folk music and its style. He shares that the best songs don’t need a lot. They don’t need frills and thrills. They need impact.
A really good leader can get the job done without frills. What are the frills in leadership?
They can be:
- The latest tools and technology
- Flashy clothes
- Fancy cars
- A corner office
- Recognition
What added frills are you trying to rely on to avoid being a great leader? As you remove the frills, you begin to see who and what you are.
4. Keep your voice directed in the right direction:
Dylan goes to the Columbia Recording Studio to record the song Fixin’ To Die. The studio begins to record the song when his agent, Albert Grossman (Dan Fogler), stops Dylan. He’s doing it wrong.
What did Dylan do wrong in the recording of the song? He kept turning away from the microphone. They couldn’t catch his voice. He wasn’t focused on where to direct it.
Leaders do this all the time. They get distracted, and they shift where they’re trying to project their voice.
Their message becomes muddled. It’s no longer clear, directed, or focused.
Leaders have to keep their voices directed correctly.
5. Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning):
What do you want to be?
Dylan and Sylvie went on a date. They saw a movie and began to discuss the film.
Sylvie thought the star of the film had found herself. Dylan saw it differently.
Dylan believed the movie star had changed herself… Reinvented herself.
He believed she made a distinct choice about who she wanted to be in the film, which led to the discussion of changing oneself and discovering one’s identity.
Sylvie’s question is important for us all to ask ourselves. It’s pointed, direct, and powerful.
What do you want to be?
Have you answered this question? Have you considered what it means for you, your organization, and your family?
Think about this today. What do you want to be?
6. Sylvie:
Are you God?
Sylvie had to go on a school trip. She’d be gone for multiple weeks.
Dylan was upset by this. Sylvie wouldn’t be by his side. He’d be lonely.
He tried to be coy. He told Sylvie God had created the world in 6 days. Why couldn’t the trip to Rome take less time?
Sylvie retorted with a question. Did Dylan consider himself God?
While Sylvie meant for the question to snap some sense into Dylan, Dylan responded with a yes. He had high thoughts of himself.
We can’t be Dylan. We can’t think that we’re God and our word rules. That we can get things done in His timeframe.
Beware of letting the god-complex seep into your life. It’s easy to let it infect your mindset, it’s extremely hard to remove the god complex thinking from your life.
7. Success can pulverize you:
Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook) wrote Dylan a letter recognizing his talent. The two soon became pen pals.
In one letter, Dylan is brutally honest with Cash. He tells Cash that fame pulverized him.
Ouch.
Who would have thought fame could be damaging? I’ll tell you who… those who have experienced extreme levels of fame, especially those who experienced quickly.
Fame, success… They’re great but not all they’re cracked up to be. They can take you to high places you never thought you could go. They can also bring you crashing back to reality, hurting.
Beware of chasing fame. That fame and success can pulverize you.
8. People want to know why they can’t do great things:
Dylan and Sylvie have broken up after Dylan has several affairs, one with folk singer Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro). Yet, Dylan keeps floating in and out of Sylvie’s life.
In one of those float back in moments, Dylan tells Sylvie that people always ask where the songs come from. He recognizes that real question. It’s not where do the songs come from, but why didn’t they think of them?
This is an important lesson to grasp. People don’t want to know where things come from. Or even how things happen. They want to figure out why they’re not happening to them.
You can help your people reach and achieve those great things. They won’t have to continue to ask where “great songs” come from. You can show them how to achieve and create them.
Be the leader who guides others to success. Help people understand how to do the things they need to do.
9. You may no longer fit at your organization:
Dylan had been changing his sound over the years. He’d begun to stray from the folk music that brought him fame to more experimental sounds. He began to use electric guitars, fuse in jazz, and other musical changes.
Dylan’s changes didn’t sit well with the board of the Newport Folk Festival. Seeger, who was on the board, asked Dylan not to play his new music. They wanted him to play his folk songs.
Dylan had a choice to make. He could play his old music or ruffle feathers by playing his new music. A chance encounter with Johnny Cash led him to play the new music.
The reactions were mixed. Some audience members loved it. Others booed him. The Newport Folk Festival board hated him.
He no longer fit the mold of the festival.
We may outgrow our current organization as we grow, learn, and change. We may no longer fit where we once found a home.
Understand this. Keep an eye out for this.
If you’re changing and no longer fit in your organization, look for an organization that you do fit within. There are plenty of them.
10. Bob Dylan:
What did I win?
Dylan goes to leave the hotel where he was staying for the Newport Folk Festival. As he’s leaving, Joan Baez tells him he’s won.
Great, right? Not so much.
Dylan thinks about what he’s done. He wonders what he really won. Did he really win?
We may try to change our organization to grow, change, and evolve, and we may even achieve this.
However, we may be left wondering whether or not we really won.
When promoting change, you must ask yourself: What did you win? Did you win anything at all?
Sometimes, innovation and change aren’t what’s best.