In 1988, Tim Burton released Beetlejuice. It was a hilarious horror/comedy film about a recently deceased family disgusted by a new living family moving into their home. They hire a ghoul, Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton), to scare the family away.
Almost 40 years later, Tim Burton and Michael Keaton return to the world of Beetlejuice. That same family is now in need of Beetlejuice’s help. Winona Ryder returns as Lydia Deetz, along with Catherine O’Hara as her mother, Delia. Joining the family is Jenna Ortega as Astrid Deetz, Lydia’s daughter.
This time around in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Delia, Lydia, and Astrid return to Winter River. Delia’s husband has passed away. The trio now has to tie up loose ends on the family estate. That is until Astrid opens a portal to the other side…
Their journey is one of spooks, kooks, and laughs. You’ll feel like you’ve been transported back to the first time you watched the original Beetlejuice, but this time, you’re a Reel Leader. You will watch Beetlejuice Beetlejuice with your leadership hat firmly on your head.
And you won’t be disappointed. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is full of leadership lessons… if one is open to them.
Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
1. Use what you’re good at:
Lydia is now hosting a reality show called Ghost House. In this show, Lydia explores haunted houses and tries contacting the ghosts.
In the episode she’s recording, she’s helping Jody (Rebecca O’Mara) and Emmett (Adam Speers) Welch with their ghost problem.
Why was she doing this? Because she can see and communicate with certain ghosts. Her talents allowed her to excel at this.
What are you good at? What skills and talents have you noticed you have?
These talents are your skillset. They can help you thrive in the business world and beyond.
Discover your talents and use them.
2. Beware of enablers in your life:
Lydia believes she’s seen Beetlejuice in the real world. She begins to freak out. To cope, she heads to the bathroom, where she is going to pop some pills.
Her boyfriend, Rory (Justin Theroux), enters the bathroom and throws the pills away. He looks like he’s going to stop her from taking them.
Wrong…
After throwing the pills away, he digs them out of the garbage can. He hands her a pill, then pops one himself. He’s an enabler.
Enablers don’t help you overcome your issues. They feed into them.
Beware of these people in your life. Personal and business. They will take you down rather than raise you up.
3. Leaders can survive a lot (but not everything):
Charles was Delia’s husband and Lydia’s father. He loved to explore and birdwatch. On one such trip, he was flying back when the plane he was on crashed. He survived the original plane crash.
The plane crashed into the ocean. He didn’t drown. He survived this by holding onto a piece of the airplane wreckage.
What finally took him? A shark attack.
Charles survived a lot. A plane crash. Drowning. But not the shark.
We can feel like Charles. Maybe even feel invincible. We’re not.
We can only survive so much before it’s time to go. You’re going to survive mergers, employees leaving, and more.
Yet, eventually, your time will come. Know when it’s your time to move on.
4. Delia:
We need to unpack our grief.
Astrid thought her family was going to Winter River for a few days for Charles’ funeral. She was wrong.
They would have to stay longer.
Not only did they have the financial side of things, they had emotional issues to unpack. They would have to deal with their grief.
Leaders, you have grief to deal with. You may not like to admit it but we’re often hurt by what’s happening in our organization.
It could be company gossip, the loss of an employee, or falling profits. These things can cause grief.
Deal with the grief. Learn to unpack grief.
5. Leaders speak a different language than their employees. Learn to speak their language:
Father Damien (Burn Gorman) approaches Delia. He begins to try to comfort her. But he fails.
Why did Father Damien fail to comfort her? Because he spoke in religious terms, Delia didn’t understand.
After Father Damien spoke his words, Delia asked him what he said. None of it made sense.
Your team members often feel the same way as Delia did. They have a glazed-over, confused look on their face… and they’re honestly confused because of what you said.
When you use leadership buzzwords, management speak, and more, you’re confusing people. If you find yourself saying things such as:
- Let’s hire unicorns!
- We need to understand our KPIs.
- There’s a paradigm shift happening.
Be sure to clarify what you’re talking about. People around you may be scared to speak up to get the clarification they and others need.
6. Lydia:
This ability didn’t come with instructions.
Astrid is upset with Lydia. Lydia could talk to so many different dead people. One she couldn’t was Atrid’s dad, Richard (Santiago Cabrera).
At Charles’ funeral, Lydia sees Astrid sitting alone on a bench. She walks over to see what’s going on.
This is when Astrid lights into Lydia. She confronts her and asks why Lydia can’t see her dad. Lydia answered that her abilities didn’t come with instructions.
While there are plenty of leadership and personal development books out there, they’re not full-on instruction manuals for what you’re doing. You’re going to have a playbook but not an instruction book.
As you lead, be aware of this. You’re going to stumble through parts of leadership because it’s ever-evolving. Still, you can lead well.
7. Astrid:
Her work was killing her. She didn’t even realize it.
Astrid met a boy named Jeremy (Arthur Conti). He was living in a home not too far from where her grandfather had lived. While riding her bike, she crashed through a fence and hit a tree containing the treehouse Jeremy was hanging out in. They struck up a friendship and planned to meet up.
On Halloween, Astrid appears dressed up as Polish-French physicist Madame Marie Curie at Jeremy’s house. Madame Curie discovered radium and polonium, radioactive materials. This woman’s work literally killed her.
Many leaders don’t realize their work is killing them. They go into the office and spend hours upon hours with their team, giving up on sleep, healthy activities, and more to succeed. By failing to take care of themselves (and their families), they’re killing themselves.
They lose what makes them who they are. They may even lose their families.
Make sure you’re not killing yourself with your work. While leading well is important, so is your health.
8. Find people you can relate to:
Charles enters the afterlife waiting room. He’s told to take a number and wait. After taking a number, he goes and takes a seat.
Who does he sit next to? A surfer who was missing his legs. He’d had his legs chewed off by a shark.
Why is this ironic? Because Charles had part of his torso chomped by a shark. The two were similar. They could relate to each other.
Who in your organization can you relate to? Is there anyone? If not, you need to find others you can relate to.
This will help you when you need to discuss situations or gather ideas. These people will help you process what’s going on.
9. Bad leaders get their people to do things they don’t understand:
Jeremy turns out not to be the nice guy Astrid thought he was. In reality, Jeremy had killed his parents and died when he fell out of his treehouse.
Worse… Jeremy wanted to live again. He’d do anything to make that happen.
He befriended Astrid so he could exchange her soul for his. To do this, Jeremy had Astrid recite a chant to exchange souls. Jeremy would live, Astrid would go to the afterlife.
Make sure you’re helping your team members understand what they’re doing. Don’t have them do underhanded, illegal, or immoral things.
10. Your team may not understand why you do the things you do:
Astrid had been upset at Lydia for not being able to see her dad. She thought her mom was a phony. Lydia wasn’t.
After going to the afterlife, Astrid got to see her father. Piranhas had eaten him. He was just one of those people Lydia couldn’t see.
Upon returning to the living, Astrid apologizes to Lydia along with thanking her for saving her. She didn’t understand what her mom could and couldn’t do. When she realized she could do what she said, this shifted how Astrid viewed her mom.
You’ll have people on your team who don’t understand what you’re doing or why you’re doing the things you’re doing. You’re going to have to help them through this. You’re going to have to help them see the reason why.
Don’t be afraid to share things with your team. The more you do, the more you open their eyes to the reality of what’s going on. Sharing will also help them understand what and why you do things.
