Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Death Wish

A Reel Leadership Article

I’ve often wondered what I would do if I was ever put into a situation like Bryan Mills from Taken or, now, Dr. Paul Kersey (Bruce Willis) in the new Death Wish movie. Would I want to extract revenge for the pain brought upon me or the deaths I had to witness?

Bruce Willis in promotional image from Death Wish

As a man, these questions often flood my mind. And I love watching movies explore this thought process. Death Wish tells the story of Paul Kersey, a doctor whose job it was was to save lives. Only to have his wife brutally murdered and his daughter shot and left in a coma.

What would you do? That’s the question Death Wish gets you thinking about.

And, if you’re intentional, it’ll also get you to think about leadership.

Caution: Death Wish spoilers below.

Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Netflix’s Bright

A Reel Leadership Article

In the 2018 Netflix original movie Bright, a human cop is forced to partner with an Orc. The cop is Daryl Ward (Will Smith) and the Orc is Nick Jakoby (Joel Edgerton).

Tension is high between the various races of Orcs, Elves, and Humans. Being paired up with an Orc meant Daryl Ward was in for a world of trouble.

leadership from Netflix's Bright with Will Smith

Bright begins with Daryl being shot during an armed robbery. His partner, Nick, was busy buying a street burrito for Daryl. After a brief hospital stay, Daryl is back in the squad car with Nick riding shotgun.

While the language was very strong (multiple F-Bombs were dropped), the story was intriguing. The buddy cop twist was different. And, of course, there are plenty of leadership lessons in Netflix’s Bright. Let’s take a look at those leadership lessons below.

Caution: Spoilers for Netflix’s Bright below.

3 More Reasons Your Leadership Is Ineffective

I’ve never met a leader who says he longs to be forgotten. He wants to be remembered. And what does he want to be remembered for? Every leader wants to be remembered for being effective.

Yet there are so many leaders who struggle with being effective.

They flounder trying to get their teams to follow them. They lack the ability to move their vision forward. And they never get anything done.

Catch yourself before you become an ineffective leader

Image by Mark Miller Gilbert

But what causes this leadership ineffectiveness? Previously, I’d shared 5 reasons your leadership is ineffective. Those 5 reasons were:

You fail to listen to your team

You fail to do what you say

You fail to cast a clear vision

You fail to influence

You fail to communicate clearly

These reasons are still valid for ineffective leadership. Lack of communication, listening, follow through, vision casting, and influence impacts leadership negatively. However, there are more reasons why your leadership is ineffective.

Why I Write On Leadership And Entertainment

Two things that don't seem to go together... But do

If you listen to conventional leadership wisdom, there’s two things that don’t go hand in hand. Those two things are leadership and entertainment.

So many of the big named personal development and leadership bloggers strongly discourage readers from partaking in watching TV, going to the movie theater, listening to music, and other forms of entertainment.

leadership and entertainment can go together

I bought into this for the longest time. I stopped watching TV, going to the movies, and listening to music. All of this was eschewed for the consumption of leadership and personal development materials.

But after years of consumption, I realized something wasn’t right. I was missing something from my life. The joy I previously had was gone…

Why I Write On Leadership And Entertainment

So, what’s the reason I write on leadership and entertainment? When I discovered what was missing from my life (small bursts of joy through the arts) I took a look at what was going on.

3 Killer Questions To Ask If You’re Serious About Learning

The art of asking questions seems to be dead. Finding someone who asks great questions, ever more scarce than finding someone who asks questions.

There’s something sad about that. I’ve found something fascinating.

Those who are serious about learning are always asking questions. And they’re asking specific types of questions.

Questions to learn

Be A Question Asker

The funny thing is, I can be one of those people who struggle to ask questions. I’m fearful.

I’m scared that people will think I’m dumb. Or that I don’t understand what’s going on.

My wife is different. She loves to ask questions. She’s fearless that way.

She’ll ask questions about characters in movies. She’ll ask questions about Bible passages. She’ll ask questions about anything that comes to her mind.

Be like my wife. Be a question asker.