Quotes And Leadership Lessons From The Commuter

A Reel Leadership Article

Every day Michael MacCauley (Liam Neeson) took the commuter train to and from work. On the day he was let go from his job, he didn’t change his ritual of riding the train. This is where the leadership lessons from The Commuter begin.

That fateful day things changed. Michael was a targeted man. Someone had a plan for him. A sinister plan.

leadership lessons from The Commuter

The Commuter was filled with a couple of great plot twists you didn’t see coming. Liam Neeson played his role perfectly as did the other cast members.

But let’s get into the leadership lessons from The Commuter before I get too far off base.

 

Caution: The Commuter spoilers below.

Quotes And Leadership Lessons From The Commuter

1. Karen MacCauley:

We’ll find a way. We always do.

The Case For Reading Fiction Books In The New Year

Epic stories that span the length of time. Space operas telling the story of a battle never won. Fantasy lands brought to life in vivid color through the minds of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and other fiction writers.

There’s a magic behind fiction books. One that draws readers into a story deeper than themselves. One that helps readers to remember and understand the story better than any non-fiction book will ever do.

Why leaders should read fiction books

I still remember the stories I read as a child. Peter Cottontail, the various Star Wars novels, the Tortoise and the Hare. These novels and fables told a story that engaged my imagination and helped me live in another world.

They also did something else. According to research, reading fiction books transforms the readers. Not only do they get taken to far away worlds, readers become something new.

What You’re Missing Out On When You Speed Read

I’ve always had a love for comic books. Reading the stories of the X-MenWolverine, Captain America, and Daredevil brought me to a whole new world.

The world of comics brought stories alive like I’d never seen before. Pages splashed with colors and beautiful images. Those images showing movement and energy.

Words and pictures melded together to engage me. Turning every page, I wanted more. I wanted to see what happened next.

Speed reading is awesome. But it makes you miss out on this.

But then I stopped reading comics. For years I didn’t pick up a comic book. Then, a couple of months back, I began visiting local comic book stores.

The local comic book store opened my eyes to epic events that happened during my separation from comics. Captain America had died. So did the Incredible Hulk. Wait, Captain America is back? And he’s a bad guy?

So much to keep up with. So much to take in.

You Don’t Need New

There are a lot of sparkly things out there to get our attention. From the latest productivity app to the newest course by the big name leader to the latest and greatest book on leadership, there’s always something vying for our attention.

Most of the time we give in. We grab the shiny, new object and adore it. Until we’re finished…

Study and dive deep, don't chase the new thing

Then we put it aside.

We close the book. We forget what we read. We move on.

We watch the video course. We absorb a little information. We move on.

We play with the app. We get bored. We move on.

Wash, rinse repeat.

We Like Shiny And New

The shiny objects are fun.

They promise to make us more productive or to increase our knowledge. They beckon us with their sexy covers or smooth promises.

Take The Steps To Become A Better You

There’s not a person out there who doesn’t want to improve their lives. It’s engrained in us. We want to be the best that we can be.

So why do so few of us actually take the needed steps to improve our lives?

Do amazing things

Image by Rama V.

Much like anything else in life, I think the answer is we over complicate what really needs to be done to be better.

We formulate grand schemes. We layout everything at once. We look at the big picture.

And then we get hit with the overwhelm.

Taking a look at the overall plan, we see no way to better ourselves. We become paralyzed with analysis paralysis.

Just like our answers should be simple, we can break down a better you through baby steps. Eventually, the baby steps will snowball into breakthrough.