Over the years, director Steven Spielberg has been fascinated by aliens. You can tell it by the movies he’s made.
Before Disclosure Day, Spielberg has had three films centering on the idea of aliens:
Disclosure Day continues the theme of aliens and what it means to mankind. In fact, Disclosure Day looks at the challenge of revealing the existence of aliens to the world. Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth) does everything in his power to prevent Hugo Wakrefield (Colman Domingo), Dr. Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor), and Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) from revealing the truth to the world.
Noah believes it will shake the world to its core. The mental weight people will feel will be unimaginable.
However, Hugo, Daniel, and Margaret feel it’s their duty to reveal this information at the right time. Do they? They might.
There’s a lot to unpack in Disclosure Day. We’re going to unpack the leadership lessons you can find in it today. Brace yourself. You may not be ready.
Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Disclosure Day
1. Noah Scanlan:
History has no reset key.
The movie opens with Daniel rescuing Jane Blankenship (Eve Hewson) from Noah and his agents. As they’re fleeing, Noah tells them “history has no reset key.”
He warns them of this because he knows what they plan to do: Release documents regarding aliens.
If this data is released, there’s no going back. There will also be fallout for governments covering up their existence.
Noah gets one thing right: There is no reset button.
Once you say something to your employee, that’s out there. Once you complete an action, you’ve done it. You can’t go back.
There’s no resetting your actions in life.
2. Asking questions is okay, even if it drives people crazy:
We discovered Jane had been a nun. She returned to her convent, where we met Sister Maura (Elizabeth Marvel).
Sister Maura and her cover her history with the church. Jane tells Sister Maura that she used to drive the nuns crazy. Sister Maura retorts that all she did was ask questions.
Do you find questions to be annoying? Unnecessary? Distracting?
They can be. Questions can also be useful.
Don’t be afraid of asking questions. Don’t be afraid to attempt to answer them.
Questions are normal. They help you uncover things.
3. Daniel:
People have a right to the truth.
Jane and Daniel had had a relationship. However, there were a lot of secrets during their time together.
Both were upset.
Daniel wondered why Jane had never told him of her time as a nun. Jane demanded that Daniel tell her more of what he was doing.
There were a lot of secrets. Daniel didn’t answer her demand at that time other than to tell her that people have a right to the truth.
Your people have a right to the truth. Whether you like it or not.
Your employees are giving you their lives. Yes, that’s right. By agreeing to work for you, they’ve agreed to give you a portion of their life.
The least you can do is to give them the truth. Stop hiding:
- Company performance
- Pending layoffs
- Customer history
The more truthful you can be, the more your employees will trust you.
4. The issues you create will make others a part of the issue:
Daniel had taken data regarding the existence of alien life. He now had a personal issue with the private government contractor Wardex, whom he had worked for.
More than that, people in his life had now become part of the issue. Wardex came looking for him and anyone related to him.
When you cause an issue in the organization, it goes beyond you. The issue reverberates out to your employees. Their families. Your family. Your customers.
Issues are never isolated. They spread out from the center and impact others.
Know this.
5. Daniel:
Margaret was a weatherperson for a local news station. During her weather segment, she began making weird clicking noises. She was speaking an alien language.
Daniel reveals what she had said after watching a video of her. Margaret was saying: Don’t be afraid of what you don’t know.
Powerful words!
There’s a lot we don’t know. There’s a lot we will never know.
Should we be scared of it? No. We shouldn’t be scared of what we don’t know. We should seek to understand and learn.
What don’t you know and are you afraid of it?
6. Resist bad leaders:
Noah used an alien artifact to enter the minds of those he could picture. He did this to Jane.
As Noah attempted to get information out of Jane, Jane clutched a crucifix tightly. So tightly that she began to bleed.
She was able to hold out. To resist. Unfortunately for Daniel, she could only resist for so long.
Whenever there’s temptation to do the wrong thing, resist. Resist with all you’ve got.
You may pray to God for more strength. You may seek advice from trusted advisors. You may seclude yourself.
Do what you must to resist temptation.
7. You may have to be restrained:
Daniel and Jane both know that Jane has been compromised. Jane does something about it.
She goes into the bathroom of where they’re staying. Out she walks with a white bathrobe. She begins to pull the belt out of its loops.
Jane then looks at Daniel. She tells him that he can’t trust her anymore. She has him tie her to the bed.
Jane is now restrained.
Leaders don’t like to be restrained. They feel it is an affront to their authority. Yet, having restraints on your leadership powers is not that.
Giving others the ability to restrain your actions is a boundary all leaders need.
You have to be willing to give up control. To give up power. Especially if you’re beginning to abuse it.
8. Knowing your employees’ pasts is powerful:
Margaret can look at people and see their past and the people in their lives. It’s a powerful tool she uses to escape from Noah’s soldiers.
As she’s walking away, she looks at Noah. She takes on the form of his wife. For another soldier, they see their father. Yet another, they see their daughter.
Each time they see someone from their life, they almost crumble before Margaret. Knowing their past is powerful.
I want you to take the time to get to know your employees. Whether that’s one or two or you have hundreds.
The more you know your employees, the more you can do. You’re not going to take advantage of the knowledge you have. You’re going to use it to help them and help you.
How does that work?
When you know what motivates someone, you can reward them for doing what’s needed. That benefits both you and them.
9. Hugo:
You have the gift but you don’t know have the control.
Hugo built a replica of Margaret’s childhood home. She wondered why he would do this.
Hugo tells her that she has the gift. But she doesn’t have the control.
Many people have the gift of leadership. They can gather people around. They can get others to do things they normally wouldn’t.
However, they’re missing something. They’re missing control of themselves.
Leaders have to be aware that they need control over what they do and how they use their influence. Work on controlling yourself and your influence.
10. Get the information out:
Daniel tells the director of the news station to call New York. They need to see what Margaret is reporting on. The information couldn’t stay local.
Margaret then begins her report. New York sees it. They begin to broadcast it to the world along with other news stations.
You can’t keep information close to the vest. When it’s important news, you have to be willing to share it.
Whether that’s to your employees via your HR portal or sending out an email. You may need to hold company meetings via Microsoft Teams. Or you may need to hold a press conference to share it to a wider audience.
If there’s important information, get it out ther.e
