Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Fast X

A Reel Leadership Article

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Fast X is the latest in the Fast And The Furious movie series. It’s another mindless but fun movie that can bring valuable insights into ourselves, our ideas, and the people we care about. Once more, Fast X is all about family. 

This time around, we see how family can cost you. Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) has built quite an extensive family. Every movie seems to bring another family member into the fold. 

In Fast X, we see many of the family members return. We get to see Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Mia (Jordana Brewster), Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Ludacris), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), Jakob (John Cena), and Han (Sung Kang) return. Even Jason Stathom makes a return as Shaw. Each of these characters becomes a liability to Dom. Add in Little Brian (Leo Abelo Perry) and Dom is in trouble when Dante Reyes (Jason Mamoa) comes looking for him.

Jason Mamoa as Dante in Fast X. His arms are stretched out wide.

Dante wants payback. One of Dom’s heists led to the death of Dante’s father, Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida). Though, we discover Dom wasn’t the one who killed Hernan. It was Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) who pulled the trigger.

All of this leads to a fun, adrenaline-fueled film that will make you laugh and cry simultaneously. This time around, the movie doesn’t make you want to peel out of the movie theater in your car. That’s the one letdown of the film.

More important than all of that is the fact that Fast X helps us understand why family is important and many other important leadership lessons. Let’s dive into those lessons.

Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Fast X

1. Our actions have consequences:

Fast X opens ten years in the past. Dom and Brian (the late Paul Walker) are committing a heist against the Reyes family. They’ve set a trap where they steal a whole vault from the family.

This heist led to the death of the elder Reyes, Hernan. Dante saw everything play out.

Now, 10 years later, Dante wants revenge. Dom has to pay. He has to suffer.

We never know when we’ll have to pay the price for our actions. There are consequences for every action that we take.

Some of the consequences will happen right away. Others, they fester, they stew, and then they come to haunt us.

Be aware that your actions today may reap consequences years later.

2. Our team may not know the whole plan:

Brian and Dom pull the vault behind two vehicles during the vault heist. They’ve latched onto the vault with strong cables that withstand the brutal pull of the cars.

The police eventually catch up to them. They begin to pursue Brian and Dom. While pulling the vault over the bridge, it looked like the pair were caught.

They weren’t.

Dom had a plan Brian didn’t know about. Brian would release his cable and take off. Dom would be left behind.

Brian was incredulous. That wasn’t part of the plan! Or so he thought. Dom had it planned out from the beginning. He even told Brian this before he cut Brian loose.

Yet Dom’s plan worked. They both escaped safely.

We desire to tell our team the whole plan. However, there are times when we can’t tell them everything. 

We know what’s coming. We know the way things need to play out. We also know that everyone can’t know the plan.

So, we tell them just enough to get things done.

Don’t be scared to hold back some details when needed. There are times when it is appropriate to keep secrets.

3. Dominic Toretto:

No one starts at the finish line.

Dom was teaching Little Brian how to drive a car. Little Brian was doing pretty good, too. He was a natural like his father.

However, he made a mistake. It wasn’t costly or dangerous. Still, Little Brian was upset at himself for drifting incorrectly.

This upset him. Dom, being a good leader, shares a secret with Little Brian. He tells him that no one starts at the finish line.

Remember this! You don’t start at the finish line. The leaders you respect didn’t start at the finish line. Everyone is working toward the finish line.

Keep striving, keep pushing. You’re working toward a goal. You don’t start there.

Don’t beat yourself up when things don’t go your way. Correct your course and keep at it.

4. It’s okay for leaders to be afraid:

Little Brian asked Dom why he was never afraid. This wasn’t the truth. Of course, Dom was afraid.

In a conversation with Letty, he shared that he’s scared of a lot of things. He’s scared of losing Little Brian. He’s afraid of losing Letty. He’s terrified of losing his family.

It’s okay for Dom to be scared. His fear drives him to push himself to be the best he can be. He also doesn’t let the fear stop him.

Be okay with being afraid. Use what you’re scared of to push you forward.

Your fear is an indication of what is important to you. Listen to the fear but don’t let the fear control you.

5. The best leaders don’t leave people behind:

Dom’s family had been hired to steal a vehicle in Rome. The team of Tej, Ramsey, Roman, and Han fly to Rome to take care of the mission.

The problem? This mission was a set up by Dante. 

He hired the team to steal an armored vehicle with a powerful bomb inside. Once Tej and Ramsey are in the vehicle, Dante takes control. 

He sets the vehicle on a crash course with the Vatican. 

Han and Roman see this. They circle back to stop the rampaging vehicle and save their friends. They weren’t about to leave anyone behind.

When your team is in trouble, do you hang them out to dry or hop into action? Han and Roman lept into action. That’s what leaders do.

They take action and care for their team when needed. They don’t let danger, fear, or anxiousness overtake them. Instead, they channel this into the fuel they can use to overcome the obstacle at hand. Then they jump in to help their people.

6. The majority isn’t always right:

Aimes (Alan Ritchson) was the head of the Agency. He’d taken over when Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) went missing. 

Now, Mr. Nobody’s daughter, Tess (Brie Larson), is petitioning Aimes not to go after Dom’s family. She believes they’re innocent.

Aimes puts the issue to a vote. A majority of the Agency agrees to wipe out Dom’s family. 

They were wrong.

This is why we have to be careful when we follow the majority. The majority isn’t always right. They’re wrong, a lot.

Listen to the still, small voice within you when you hear the majority speak. What does that voice say? Is it agreeing? Does it question what’s happening?

Sometimes, the majority is wrong.

7. It’s wise to have reserves set aside:

Dante drained the bank accounts of everyone on the team. He took what he thought they’d taken from him.

This left everyone on Dom’s side in a financial disaster. They had no money to live. More importantly, they had no money to go after Dante.

Except…

One team member did. Roman kept a stash of cash in case of emergency. This stash of money allowed the team to get the tools they needed to fight back against Dante.

We run our businesses and lives on such a thin margin that any interruption to our cash flow can be disastrous. That’s why we see so many companies and organizations struggle. They never set aside cash reserves for emergencies.

If you don’t have reserves set aside, begin planning out a way to have reserves. These reserves will help when issues arise. Imagine how much better your organization would have been if you had had financial reserves set aside.

That’s the power of reserves. It saves you when trouble comes knocking.

8. Even when we feel like we’re not a leader, we can do leader stuff:

Roman felt defeated. He thought he was leading the team to something special in Rome. Instead, he set off an international debacle.

Over and over again, Roman made bad choices. But he kept coming back. 

While Roman was lamenting, Tej spoke up. He told Roman that Roman’s resiliency and actions were those of a leader. He took action, then responsibility, and then apologized.

Those are things that leaders do. Tej recognized this.

You will run into issues that make you feel defeated as a leader. You’re going to question yourself and your effectiveness.

Keep making decisions based on the information you have on hand. Keep doing what’s right.

You’ll be doing what leaders do.

9. Jakob:

I’m out of this race.

Jakob had been taking care of Little Brian. However, Dante kidnaps Little Brian from his car during an intense chase.

Dom showed up and began to pursue Dante. Jakob realizes his gas line was shot. He didn’t have the fuel to keep going. He was going to bow out of the race.

Sadly, Jakob made a choice that would end his life but also freed up the resources Dom needed to get his son.

We’re not meant to lead indefinitely. We must recognize that leadership is a privilege, honor, and responsibility we won’t always have.

We have to recognize when to bow out of a leadership position. When we realize this, we allow other generations of leaders to step into the role of a leader.

10. Dominic Toretto:

I’m really proud of you, son.

Little Brian listened to his father. He escaped from the clutches of Dante by remembering what Dom had taught him about seeing the line.

Dom called out to Little Brian. He jumped from Dante’s car into Dom’s. He was now safe, or so we thought.

Great leaders aren’t afraid to let their team members know they’re proud of them. They understand the power of those words: I’m proud of you.

Say those words regularly. Love your people with praise for their great work and how it makes you proud.

11. The ending of a story isn’t always pretty:

The ending of Fast X was messy. Not in a story way but in a closure way.

Dante was able to take down the plane carrying Roman and the others. Dom and his son were trapped in the water as the bridge was blown. It appears Dante has won.

And the movie cuts to the credits.

Ouch!

Messy. But effective. 

The ending of your story won’t always be the Disney version. People won’t always be happy. Things won’t resolve themselves. There will be loose ends to tie up.

Expect a great ending but be prepared to face a messy, unresolved ending.

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