Flight Risk is a new thriller starring Mark Wahlberg as Daryl, Michelle Dockery as US Marshal Madolyn Harris, and Topher Grace as informant Winston. It’s a tense flight as we discover Daryl isn’t the pilot he said he was. Instead, he’s a hired hitman to take out Winston.
It’s amazing how much tension, action, and leadership Mel Gibson packed into Flight Risk as he directed the film. It’s a wild ride, one that may be too intense for some viewers.
We’ll examine the great leadership lessons in this new movie. The twists, turns, and stunners will make you a better leader.
Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Flight Risk
1. When tensions are high, we’ll misread the situation:
Flight Risk starts with Winston’s arrest. He’d been working with the mob but then turned state’s evidence. In another twist, he tries to flee from the government.
That comes to a screeching halt as the U.S. Marshalls find him holed up in a cabin in the Alaskan wilderness.
Madolyn begins to take Winston into custody when there’s a pop, pop, pop. Gunshots!
Nope…
The popping was Winston’s soup in the microwave. It was overdone and beginning to explode.
The sound could have been mistaken for gunshots. That’s what the U.S. Marshalls did when they misread the situation.
What situations have you misread when tensions have run high? Did you accuse a valuable team member of doing something dubious? Did you jump the gun when things became tense?
We tend to jump to the worst-case scenario when things are stressful. We go to the default fight or flight. This causes us to misread the situation.
Be aware of how you respond to situations where tensions and emotions run high. They can lead you to make the wrong call.
2. Madolyn Harris:
It’s for your own safety.
Madolyn and Winston boarded the chartered plane. Madolyn got Winston situated and strapped in. Then Daryl boards the plane.
He told Madolyn he normally boards the plane first. Madolyn told him not this time. This time, they boarded first for his own safety.
While we soon discover it wasn’t Daryl that needed to be protected, Madolyn’s words are still valid.
There are methods and procedures people follow in organizations. It may be the way you count the offering given during your church service, double counting product before it goes out the door, or checking your code twice before releasing an update.
These are good things to do. However, sometimes, other concerns override your standard procedures.
Be willing to change things up. It could benefit you.
3. Pay attention to things that are out of place:
Madolyn noticed Daryl had a nick on his neck and was bleeding. She doesn’t say or do anything at the first sighting.
Shortly after, Madolyn sees more blood. She begins to think something isn’t right. And she would be right.
Daryl wasn’t the pilot they had chartered. He was a hitman hired to take Winston out.
We’ve all had situations where we noticed something was out of place or didn’t feel right. Many times, we ignore those feelings. We chalk it up to being paranoid or hyper-vigilant.
You can’t do this. You must pay attention to your intuition when seeing something out of place.
Dig a little deeper. See if your gut is right. If it isn’t, no biggie. If it is, you can save a lot of grief and heartache.
4. Winston:
Who’s going to know?
Winston wanted to live. He began to haggle with Daryl. He told Daryl he had a stash of cryptocurrency he would be willing to give him.
Continuing, Winston tells Daryl no one has to know. Daryl could fly away. He could enjoy a life of leisure with the millions he would have.
While this line of reasoning may seem reasonable, it’s the wrong way to think.
When asking, “Who’s going to know?” don’t use it as a way to get out of things. Instead, use it as a way to consider who your actions are going to affect.
This line of thinking will stop you from doing a lot of bad things.
5. Madolyn:
Just let me think for a second.
Madolyn tasers the heck out of Daryl. Viewers see a nice burn mark on his neck. It doesn’t look like he’s getting up anytime soon.
With Daryl out of commission, someone has to fly the plane. Madolyn takes over the flight controls. She’s trying to figure out how to fly them to an airport safely.
Winston begins to throw a barrage of questions at Madolyn. He wants to know what they’re going to do next.
Madolyn stops him. She says she needs a moment to think. To process.
Leaders are barraged with questions all of the time. They have to think quickly on their feet. Your team may not be as ready to answer the questions thrown at them.
Give them a breather when asking questions. Ask one or two at the most. Allow them to process what you’re asking. They might have to recall events or actions they’ve taken.
The more you allow your team members to think, the better they can respond.
6. Leaders will need help:
Daryl is out. He’s not moving any time soon. However, Madolyn needs to move him.
She begins to try to shift his body. His dead weight won’t budge.
Begrudgingly, Madolyn asks Winston for help. With Winston’s help, they move and secure Daryl.
You may think you must do everything independently because you have the title. Stop it! Get that thinking out of your head!
Great leaders know a secret: They can’t do everything alone. They must be willing to find others to help.
It may be hiring a consultant, bringing on a team member with more experience, or asking a mentor a question. Great leaders know they need help and are willing to find people to help them.
7. Madolyn:
All we can do is change how we respond in the moment.
Daryl had a dossier of information about Winston. Including who his mother is and where she lives.
This scared Winston.
He began to rethink his lot in life. The choices he made, who he associated with, and more.
The problem is that Winston cannot change his past actions. The only thing he can do is change how he responds in the moment from now on.
You’ve probably made some poor choices in the past. You may wish you could change what you have done. But you can’t change what you’ve done. You can only learn from it.
Going forward, you can change how you respond to what’s happening in the here and now. You can make better, wiser decisions that bring better results.
Stop living in the past. Start marking better choices.
8. Leaders need to use humor to diffuse tense situations:
Madolyn had contacted her boss, Caroline Van Sant (Leah Remini), to let her know about the situation. Caroline tells Madolyn she will contact someone to help her fly the plane.
Enter Hasan (Monib Abhat, voiced by Maaz Ali)! Hasan is a pilot who helps Madolyn fly the plane to a landing strip.
He begins by asking Madolyn her altitude and flight speed. She answers him. Then Hasan busts into the humor. He asks her if she wants to go to dinner after she lands.
During their future conversations, Hasan continues with the humor. His humor lightens the tension.
Humor, when used correctly, can be great for leaders. They can help diffuse tense situations.
Laughter, joy, and smiles can make difficult situations easier. While you won’t want to crack a joke while laying someone off, you may want to bring levity to the situation if someone makes a mistake and needs to laugh.
Understand and use humor correctly.
9. You don’t have to repeat past tragedies:
Madolyn opens up about losing a previous informant. This informant had wanted to shower by herself. Madolyn allowed her to but handcuffed her to the shower. This was when tragedy struck.
A Molotov cocktail was tossed into the hotel room. The room quickly caught fire. Her informant burned to death.
Now, Daryl had regained consciousness and stabbed Winston. She began to ask Hasan how to get to the airport quicker. She needed to save Winston.
Despite using more fuel, she decided to increase the plane’s speed. This allowed her to reach the airport more quickly and save Winston’s life.
We’ve all made mistakes while leading. Some of those have been tragic.
We replay those events over and over again in our minds. We see the mistakes we’ve made. The good news is you don’t have to make the same mistakes twice, you don’t have to experience new tragedies.
10. It’s okay to run out of fuel sometimes:
The plane runs out of fuel because Madolyn increases the speed. This seems like it’s a bad thing.
Hasan encourages Madolyn it’s not. It’s actually a good thing.
Because Madolyn doesn’t know how to fly or land a plane, trying to land with no fuel is a plus. The plane would be less flammable.
Have you ever felt like you were running out of fuel? Like you couldn’t keep going?
It could be a good thing. You might be in for a crash landing you can survive because you’re not operating with a full load.
Understand that while operating on empty is rarely a good thing, it can save you in certain situations.
