Anaconda is back! Do you remember the original Anaconda movie? It starred Ice Cube, Jennifer Lopez, Jon Voight, and Owen Wilson as part of a documentary film crew. Everything goes sideways for them as a giant anaconda stalks them in the Amazon.
Que up 2025 and there’s a remake/sequel/spiritual successor to the cult classic. This time around, you have Paul Rudd as Ronald Griffin Jr., Jack Black as Doug McCallister, Steve Zahn as Kenny Trent, and Thandiwe Newton as Claire Simons. They’re all friends on a mission. What is that mission? To make a sequel to Anaconda.
Once again, everything that could go wrong for the aspiring documentarians does. They fall in with a bad actor; their snake is killed, and an even bigger snake stalks them.
It’s over the top. It’s silly. And, most of all, Anaconda is fun.
We’re going to examine the film to identify the leadership lessons in Anaconda. Will you join me for this Reel Leadership adventure?
Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Anaconda
1. You may not know your audience as well as you think you do:
Doug is a wedding video creator. He makes unique, fun, and memorable videos for couples getting engaged. To do so, he has to lay out a script he thinks the couple will like.
When Doug meets with a couple, he shares his game plan. The scene is in suburbia. There’s a sewer drain. Then there’s the scaly reptile that bursts out of it. It’s exciting, bold, and brave.
And the couple says it’s not right for them. Doug gets his audience wrong.
We can get our audience wrong, too. It may be that we don’t know our employees as well as we think we do. Or it could be that our message isn’t hitting well with our customers.
Review your message. Make sure it’s aligned with your audience. If not, go back to the drawing board for a revision.
Make the changes until you hit your audience.
2. You don’t have to be original or even good to make an impact:
Doug’s wife, Malie (Ione Skye), asks Doug what he wants for his birthday. He’s being evasive as to what he wants.
The pair arrives at their home. They walk through the door. And there’s a surprise birthday party waiting for Doug.
Griffin is there. The two hadn’t seen each other in years, as Griffin had moved to LA to pursue a movie career. But the two reconnect quickly.
Griffin had a special gift for Doug. An old CRT TV with the movie they shot when they were 13.
The movie, Squatch, wasn’t original. It wasn’t even good. Yet, it left an impact on Doug, Griffin, and their friends.
We think we have to be completely original to make an impact. The truth is that we don’t.
To leave an impact, you have to have heart, you have to care, and you have to do something.
What do you need to do to make an impact? Do you need to care more? Is your heart not in it? Or have you failed to act?
3. Griffin:
Not me, us.
Griffin tells Claire, Kenny, and Doug that he obtained the rights to film a new Anaconda film. He’s excited and wants them to be a part of it.
Doug asks how is he going to do it. Griffing corrects him.
It’s not Griffin, it’s all of them. They’re going to make it together.
Great leaders know they’re not the ones who make things happen. Who makes things happen? The people on the team.
It’s we, not me.
Remember this. Without your team, you won’t make it far. With your team, you can go farther than you imagined.
4. Find what lights you up:
Griffin had invited Doug to help remake the Anaconda movie. He had declined. Doug had responsibilities. He couldn’t set those aside.
Doug is watching his childhood film for the umpteenth time. Malie sees him watching the movie. She also notices that Doug lights up whenever he views it.
Malie knows Doug must do this. She tells Doug to make the film because it will bring him joy. She can see how much he loves making films whenever he’s watching something he’s made.
What lights you up? What brings you alive?
Are you doing it?
You’re going to make a bigger impact and find more joy when you’re doing something you love. You may have to change industries, careers, or even location. Yet, when you find what lights you up, go for it. You’re going to find a satisfaction you didn’t know you could feel.
5. Griffin:
It was never collaboration. It was never fun.
Griffin had moved to Los Angeles for his film career. He had minor hits and even landed a role on the television series S.W.A.T. in the season 3 finale. However, something was missing.
We find out what was missing when Doug and Griffin are sitting at a bar during the filming of the Anaconda reboot. The duo discusses filming and how amazing it’s been. Griffin tells Doug it has been so different from LA.
What made it different? Doug felt he made a difference filming the movie. There was collaboration. There was fun. There was something special.
Want to make your organization better? Want to set it apart? Try adding more collaboration.
When people are interacting, making changes, and making a difference, you get buy-in. People want to be where they are a part of something bigger than themselves.
Giving them the ability to collaborate does that.
6. Always look for the next opportunity:
Ana Almeida (Daniela Melchior) had fled from a shady bunch of guys. She stole the boat that Doug and the crew were going to use and pretended to be related to the captain.
The guys pursuing her eventually catch up to her (and the crew!) while they’re in the Amazon. Ana pulls out a gun and begins to shoot at her pursuers.
Doug sees this as an opportunity to film a couple of amazing scenes. He tells Kenny to film it. They have to capture the action.
Are you looking for the next opportunity? It may be a career movie or it may be finding the next breakthrough technology for your organization.
Great leaders aren’t stagnant. They’re not trying to keep the organization together.
No, they’re looking for the next opportunity to catapult the organization.
Look for the next opportunity. If you don’t, you’ll miss it.
7. Doug:
We came here to make Anaconda. Now we’re in it.
Doug tells his team they all need to go home. They had planned for one thing: to film a movie.
What they hadn’t planned for was real-life danger. It went well beyond what any of them had agreed to do.
Things went from play to real, real quickly.
We go into work looking to get through the day. We think it’s going to be the same-old, same-old.
Then something changes. Things become real.
Be ready for things to shift. Great leaders want things to be real for their people, not just mundane.
8. Great leaders understand the need to shift:
As things began to change in the Amazon, Doug saw an opportunity. He could shift the focus of the new Anaconda film from the snake to a real bad guy.
He stayed up all night rewriting the script. He gave the cast a new villain.
Doug shifted the script.
When things change within your organization, are you willing to shift? Or do you want to stay the course?
Leaders must be flexible. They have to see what’s changing and shift when needed.
If you’re unwilling to change, you’ll flounder.
9. Leaders get things wrong:
We discover that Ana isn’t who she claimed to be. Instead, she’s a gold smuggler. Those bad guys chasing her earlier? They were the police.
As one of those agents holds Ana at gunpoint, Griffin sees a chance to save her. He takes a shot at the agent pointing a gun at Ana.
POP!
He hits the agent in the leg. He’s down. But Griffin got the wrong person. He got it all wrong.
Griffin made a call. He got it wrong. Guess who else gets things wrong? Leaders.
Yet you have the opportunity to course-correct. To make things right.
You will get things wrong. Don’t let it stop you from moving forward.
10. Others will be jealous of you:
Doug and Griffin have a heart-to-heart talk. Doug shares that he’s been jealous of Griffin.
Griffin had the balls to go to Los Angeles. He was willing to play big.
Doug didn’t have it in him at that point. He stayed in his hometown despite the desire and plans to go to LA to film a movie with Griffin.
When you lead, others will look at you differently. They’ll see you as someone who gets the job done.
As they see that, they may look at themselves and see something different. They see someone who has been fearful, cowardly, unmoving, jealous even!
Leaders who make a difference will unintentionally make others feel jealous. It’s okay. That’s on the people failing to take action.
11. Don’t get caught up playing the leader:
Griffin had his moment, as well. He realized he had been playing the hero. He was trying to be the big shot.
What he hadn’t done was pay attention to his friends. He forgot what’s important.
I’ve seen far too many people become like Griffin. They get a title and it all goes to their head. They forget about their friends, family, and the important things in life.
Check yourself today.
Make sure you’re not playing the leader and ignoring what’s important. If you’re ignoring the important things, change direction. You can still get back to the important things.
