Leadership Lessons From Unstoppable
A Reel Leadership Flashback Article (Guest Article by James Schreier)
Unstoppable is the 2010 film based loosely on a real incident of a runaway train. Generally praised for its action and described as a “great popcorn film,” it grossed $167 million. Unstoppable starred Denzel Washington as Frank Barnes, soon to be retired – unwilling forced by the railroad – and Chris Pine as Will Colson, a new conductor distracted by his personal problems. There are two other key players, Connie Hooper (Rosario Dawson) as the Yardmaster and Oscar Galvin (Kevin Dunn) as the VP of Operations for the railroad.
When a train leaves the railyard, unmanned, running at full speed, Frank Barnes and Will Colson begin several different attempts to stop the train before it would catastrophically crash on a high bridge with a tight curve in a community of 780K and located next to multiple fuel tanks.