Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Godzilla Minus One

A Reel Leadership Article

My latest book, Reel Leadership, is now available on Amazon. If you love movies and leadership, you will love this book.

Godzilla has been terrorizing audiences since 1954 when he debuted in Godzilla. Now, in 2023, it feels like he’s returned to his roots in Godzilla Minus One.

Godzilla Minus One is a complicated movie with lots of themes. Guilt, shame, love, loss, triumph, forgiveness, and more are packed into the two-hour, five-minute runtime.

The film is set in the 1940s during and after World War Two. Kamikazee pilot, Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), returns his plane to a Japanese military repair outpost. The problem? Shikishima’s plane wasn’t damaged. He was fleeing from the battle and didn’t want to die. He wanted to survive.

Giant monster with spikes on back attacking a city and scowling

Shortly upon landing, the irradiated monster Godzilla appears, killing most of the other soldiers on the island. This leaves Shikishima with more shame.

The Consequences Of Concealment

Can you think of the last time you sinned or made a mistake? You probably had a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach. You were scared someone would discover what you did or how you treated someone.

The feeling caused you to reel back in fear. You felt the only thing you could do was to conceal your actions and hope no one noticed what you did.

Woman looking through a small opening of a leaf

Photo by Drew Graham

Concealing your poor choices, actions, and sins will do you no good. In fact, concealing your actions will often lead to severe consequences.

Why We Conceal

You may not think you conceal much when you first think about this topic. Yet, I want to challenge you to think about what you’re concealing.

Quotes And Leadership Lessons From A Quiet Place

A Reel Leadership Article

I missed A Quiet Place in the theaters. After watching it this past weekend, I’m kicking myself for waiting so long to see A Quiet Place (buy it on Amazon).

The movie takes place sometime in the future where the world has been decimated by monsters who have hyper-sensitive hearing. This has forced the world to go into hiding and to remain virtually silent.

The Abbott family in A Quiet Place movie

Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, in A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place tells the story of Lee Abbott (John Krasinski), his wife Evelyn Abbott (Emily Blunt), his daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds), and son Marcus Abbott (Noah Jupe) as they try to survive in this harsh world.

Through the trials of the Abbott’s, you will jump, cry, and maybe even laugh. More than that, you will find Reel Leadership lessons in A Quiet Place.

What To Do When A Leader Fails

We know that all leaders are human. They’re frail and they have the ability to fail.

But since they’re in a position of leadership, we overlook the fact that they’re human. And that they can fail.

Leaders will fall, will you help restore?

Image by Dee Ashley

Realize All Leaders Can Fail

I think the biggest thing we can do when a leader fails is to remember that all leaders can fail. Even those you look up to the most.

When you put leadership failure into the perspective that it could easily have been you, you begin to look at the failed leader in a new light.

He’s you but in a different position. The failed leader made bad choices that led him to a place they never thought they’d be.

Each little step away from the truth leads further and further into a rabbit hole that’s hard to get out of.