Last week, I looked at the leadership lessons in The Accountant. Well, if you enjoyed a look at that movie, you’re in for a treat. Today, we’re looking at the leadership lessons from The Accountant 2, a sequel to the first film.
The Accountant 2 sees a lot of the original cast returning. We get Ben Affleck as the autistic Christian Wolff, Jon Bernthal as Christian’s brother Braxton, Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Marybeth Median, and J.K. Simmons as Ray King. It’s a great returning cast from the original film. Some of the original characters have been replaced but they flowed smoothly.
In The Accountant 2, Ray King is murdered. If you remember, Ray was the Treasury chief and an ally to Christian’s contact, Justine (now played by Allison Robertson and voiced by Alison Wright). Ray would then look into the issue and take care of things.
King’s murder sets Christian on his mission: to find the murderer and solve Ray’s last mystery. The mission takes him —and us, as viewers —on a wild ride. The twists, turns, and surprises are great. Sometimes, even in front of you.
All of this leads to excellent leadership lessons in The Accountant 2. Follow along, we’re going to explore those now.
Quotes And Leadership Lessons From The Accountant 2
1. Great leaders and employees know how to have fun in their careers:
The Accountant 2 opens with a bingo game. There’s a bingo caller (Robert Keith). He’s having a great time with his job.
What’s he doing? He’s interacting with the crowd and cracking appropriate jokes. When he calls a number, say B4, he follows it up with something silly like not the F4 jet. Or G56 was she worth it…
He knew how to have fun and engage with others.
When’s the last time you enjoyed your career? Has it been a long time? If so, it’s time to find the fun and joy again.
You might try:
- Creating a list of things you enjoy
- Trying to joke with some of your coworkers
- Telling yourself there’s fun to be had
The more you look for enjoyment in your work, the more you’ll enjoy going to the office or working from home. Find what brings fun to work.
2. Anaïs (Daniella Pineda):
What do you want, King?
Anaïs meets with Ray at the bingo hall. She asks him what he wants.
Ray shows her a photo of three people. They’re a family: a mother, a father, and a son. Anaïs tells Ray she doesn’t kill families.
That’s not what Ray wanted. He wanted Anaïs to help him find the family, as they may have been human trafficked.
Leaders, are you okay with your team asking you point-blank what you want? It’s an excellent way for them to find out exactly what you need.
Don’t be afraid or concerned if a team member asks you this. They’re looking for clarity. Give them the clarity they desire.
3. Look for ways to optimize your organization:
Christian attended a dating conference. When the matches were made, most of the women went to meet with him.
Why? Because he looked at the questions, examined the website, and figured out a way to optimize his answers to get the most results.
Date Organizers (Kristen Ariza and Jeremy Radin) were not happy. They cornered him to find out what happened. He told them:
I optimized my profile.
Christian found a way to optimize the system he was working in. What would happen if you could find a way to optimize your systems? I bet you could:
- Improve organizational efficiency
- Reduce overhead
- Improve customer satisfaction
- Improve employee well-being
Look for ways to optimize everything in your organization. The more you optimize, the better you get.
4. Batu (Andrew Howard):
One day, she’ll remember who I am and what I did.
Batu was a bad, bad guy. He was the human trafficker in The Accountant 2. And he had trafficked Anaïs.
When Anaïs tried to escape, she was in a car accident. That car accident changed her life. The car accident triggered acquired savant syndrome in someone who was once an ordinary person.
What did she gain? She gained the ability to fight, kill, and escape dangerous situations.
But…
It also came with memory loss. Batu understood how dangerous Anaïs would be once she regained her memories. The way he had treated her, the things he had done, were not pleasant.
While Batu was a bad leader, his quote can be useful to leaders looking to grow. Why? Because it reinforces the fact that bad leaders harm their followers.
When it finally clicks with a team member, the bad leader better watch out. They may lose a great team member, get bad reviews, or a revolt may develop.
Your actions will come back to roost. Make sure you’re leading well.
5. People will show up when you ask:
Christian came to help Marybeth with Ray’s death. He is willing to help Marybeth investigate and find the killer(s).
Marybeth began to wonder why Christian would come to help. Christian’s answer was simple:
You asked.
There’s power in asking others something. When you ask people to show up, there’s a good chance they will.
Don’t be afraid to make the ask. People aren’t out to get you. They’re there to help you succeed.
Make the ask.
6. Marybeth Medina:
It’s been my experience that people want to be appreciated
Christian and Marybeth are waiting for Braxton to show up. Christian had called him in to assist with the investigation into Ray’s murder.
While waiting, Marybeth and Christian talked about Christian’s relationship with Braxton. It’s revealed they hadn’t seen each other in 8 years… Probably since the ending of the first The Accountant movie.
Marybeth shared something important with Christian. She shared what most people want. People want to be appreciated.
Let that sink in. People want to be appreciated. When people aren’t appreciated, they stop showing up, no matter how great an employee they may be.
Start showing appreciation to your people, above and beyond the paycheck you give them. They desire you to show your appreciation. Showing appreciation can be as simple as a kind word, a gesture, or a note.
Don’t lose your best people because you can’t show them you appreciate them.
7. The best and brightest might not be typical:
We discover that Justine is no longer just Christian’s assistant. She is now running a special agency out of the Harbor Neuroscience treatment center. There are all sorts of kids helping her track down people.
These kids aren’t your typical kids. They’re living with neurodivergence. They don’t think or act the way you think a kid should.
Instead, they see the world in a different light. This difference helps them with their work for Justine. Their skills are exceptional. They’re hackers and more!
It’s easy to overlook someone with neurodivergence, a physical handicap, or deformity. We tend to want people who are similar to us. Hiring someone who is different takes a lot of work.
Yet, some of the best and brightest aren’t your typical candidates. They might struggle to communicate verbally, have strange tics, or leave you feeling a little off.
Don’t dismiss these candidates because they’re not what you’re expecting. Find out more about them. See what they can do.
Then make your decision. But know you may miss out if you judge a book by its cover.
8. Watch for patterns. Then mimic them:
Braxton and Christian go out to a country bar for a night of fun. It wasn’t Braxton’s idea of fun but it’s where Christian chose.
Angie (Dominique Domingo), a bartender, approached Braxton and Christian. She asks Christian what his favorite country song is so the band could play it. You could totally see she was flirting with him.
Christian struggles. He offers up songs that aren’t country. After a while, Angie leaves and goes out to the dance floor where she begins to country line dance.
As Angie dances, Christian watches. He sees a pattern to the dancing. Then he makes his move.
Christian enters the dancing line. He’s having fun and doing a pretty good job of dancing to the songs.
He saw the patterns. Then he mimicked.
Almost everything has a pattern to it. If we watch long enough, we can gather enough knowledge to recognize the pattern.
You can then follow the pattern. Whether it’s email marketing, pleasing customers, or making sales. There’s a pattern.
Find the pattern. Then mimic.
9. Go to the source:
Marybeth meets with Dr. Trace Williams, played by Joe Holt. He’s the doctor who had treated the mother in the photo.
At first, he’s reluctant to talk to Marybeth. Doctor-patient confidentiality and all that. Eventually, he begins to open up.
Dr. Williams tells Marybeth of a woman who was in a car accident. She’d been brought in and gained chess skills after the accident.
She had what they call acquired savant syndrome.
More than chess skills, the woman had gained tactical skills. She fought her way out of the hospital.
This woman was the one she had been tracking in the photo from Ray’s apartment.
What did Marybeth do? She went to the source. She knew where the woman in the car accident had been taken. So, she went to see the one who treated her.
How does this apply to you? You need to go to the source. Whether it’s rumors circulating within your organization, employee strife, or internal turmoil.
When you go to the source, you cut out the middleman. The noise. The incorrect information.
Find the source. Get the information you need from there.
10. Great leaders worry more about the mission than themselves:
The human traffickers take the kids they have kidnapped and load them onto a bus. The bus was to be taken to a shallow grave where they would be murdered.
Braxton and Christian had already tracked down the traffickers to a place in Juarez, Mexico. They fought their way through the compound where Braxton was shot.
The bus was already on its way to the kids’ final resting place. Christian asked Braxton if he was okay. Braxton replied that Christian needed to go get the kids. Stop worrying about me…
When you’re hurting, do you think more about yourself or how you can serve the organization? You’re going to be hurt while leading… you can’t let that change your focus from the organization to yourself.
Since you’ve chosen to step into a position of leadership, you have to worry more about the mission than yourself.
Don’t get me wrong, you can’t neglect yourself. You have to care for your needs. However, you have accepted a position that requires you to also look out for the organization and people within it.
Make sure you tend to your people.
