When a mystery man from the future (Sam Rockwell) arrives at a small diner, the world changes for every person there. He’s on a mission to recruit the perfect combination of people to prevent the future from being taken over by a rogue AI.
He has to choose wisely. If he doesn’t get the right combination of people, he won’t be able to save the world.
He knows… He’s done this 117 times before.
We’re going to explore The Man From The Future’s story through the lens of leadership. Will you join me on this quest?
Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die
1. The Man From The Future:
I traveled here today to tell you that things do not go well for you in the future.
The Man From The Future didn’t just tell people what was going to happen. He traveled, taking the time to move from one place (or time) to another to warn the people of the danger.
He wasn’t idle. He was active.
Leaders aren’t idle. They’re active.
They move to where they need to be. They’re willing to leave their normal to change what needs to be changed.
2. The Man From The Future:
Progress is only progress if it makes things better.
The Man From The Future’s time had seen what many would call progress. Technology had evolved. People were living in Artificial Intelligence.
It would seem things were great. But they weren’t.
The progress that had been made had only made the world worse. Not better.
What is the progress you’re making doing to your organization? What is it doing to your family?
Is it making things better? Is life improving?
Check to make sure you’re actually making progress. And that the progress you’re making is improving things.
3. You may have to try again and again:
The Man From The Future told the diners that he had done this before. Things hadn’t worked out in the past attempts.
How many attempts? 117.
The Man From The Future wouldn’t give up. He tried again and again. Failure after failure.
His goal was to get things right despite how many times he had to try.
What’s your failure rate? Do you give up after the first attempt? Or do you continue on? Trying again and again?
Great leaders know they have to fail forward. They are not deterred by a misstep or failure. They keep going.
Don’t give up after a failure. Find a new way to try again.
4. Someone has to say YES first:
The Man From The Future tells the diners he needs people to step up for the journey. It wasn’t going to be easy. There may even be death.
At first, no one volunteered to join the crazy man’s quest. Then, a dair-haired woman raised her hand. It was Susan (Juno Temple).
She was the first to say yes. Then the others began to volunteer.
- Ingrid (Haley Lu Richardson)
- Mark (Michael Peña)
- Janet (Zazie Beetz)
- Scott (Asim Chaudhry)
- Bob (Daniel Barnett)
They all said yes after Susan stepped forward.
If you’re struggling to find people to do the work, just find one. Convince one person that your mission and vision are worth following.
Many people are afraid to be the first to say yes. It takes one person to agree.
Then the dominoes fall.
People step up after they see someone else go first. It’s getting that first person that is the difficult part.
5. Leaders won’t know everything:
As The Man From The Future’s team is trying to escape the diner, the police surround it. They have to decide which exit to take.
He knows that the exits are covered. What he doesn’t know is that there’s a hidden exit in the office.
Susan knew this, though. She shares it with The Man From The Future.
Despite his 117 attempts, he had never known about this option.
It’s hard to know everything about the business. Despite how long you’ve been in the industry you’re in.
Don’t be afraid to admit you don’t know something. You can’t possibly know everything.
6. You can’t recreate what you lost:
Susan’s son was killed in a school shooting. While at the hospital, three women approach her. They hand her a card that leads her to 142 Hope Way.
There, she finds a facility that clones lost loved ones. She decides to have her son, Darren (Riccardo Drayton), cloned.
She thought it was what she wanted. However, she soon discovers the new Darren wasn’t the son she had known. He was different.
Susan couldn’t recreate what she lost.
We may lose a great employee, a fantastic work culture, or a loved one. We long for the old days, the glory days.
We strive so hard to make the present like the past. And we fail.
The truth is, we can’t recreate what we lost. We have to live and lead with what we have.
7. Leaders will often do what they tell their teams not to do. Don’t be that leader:
The Man From The Future finds his group being chased by two men in pig masks. Those men are Karl and Doug.
The chase leads the group to an area that The Man From The Future had never been to before.
He tells the group to be quiet. Don’t make any noise.
You can guess what happens next.
The Man From The Future moves. He kicks a bucket. There’s noise.
He did what he told his team not to do.
Does this feel familiar? How many times have you told your team not to do something only to do it yourself?
We’ve got to be better. We can’t expect our team to listen to us if we do what we say they shouldn’t do.
8. Sometimes you have to move your people:
The pig men continue to hunt The Man From The Future’s group. They park their car and chase them on foot. But one of them forgot to set the parking brake.
As Karl is about to kill the group, the car comes rolling down the parking ramp. The car slams Karl against a concrete wall, slowly breaking the wall until the car falls into the dumpster the team had jumped into.
Ingrid stood there, frozen in fear. The Man From The Future had to jump and move Ingrid himself. If he hadn’t, she would have been crushed by the car.
You may think your team will do what’s needed. But that’s not the case all of the time.
There will be times when you have to move your people around. You will have to tell them what to do. When they don’t listen, you may have to move them.
The move could be to a new department, station, or even organization.
It’s okay to move people if they’re unwilling to do what needs to be done.
9. The Man From The Future:
You’re either part of the problem or part of the solution.
The Man From The Future knew that a young boy was about to create the AI system that would destroy the world. He had never made it to the boy. This time, he did.
The boy (Artie Wilkinson-Hunt) had already begun to create the AI system when they walked into his room. The Man From The Future didn’t know where to plug in the safeguard device.
Susan was shocked. How could The Man From The Future not know what to do?
His answer? It’s the most complicated computer system in the world! You’re either part of the problem or part of the solution.
That’s true. Truer than most of us realize.
We’re either part of the problem. Or we’re part of the solution.
Which one are you going to be?
10. Leaders will have to push through the pain:
Ingrid was allergic to technology. She would get noise bleeds, headaches, and extreme pain when she was around anything with WiFi.
However, she was part of the group. She knew the dangers. And she worked through the pain, especially at the end of the film.
The AI system had trapped Susan and The Man From The Future. They couldn’t move.
Ingrid picks up the box containing an AI version of Susan’s son. She pushes through the pain until she can plug him into the bad AI.
It hurt, but she knew what was at stake. So she did it anyway.
Leadership is not only dangerous, but it can also be painful. You’re going to hurt when you have to let an employee go. You’re going to hurt when you have to scale back on your vision. You’re going to hurt when you have to give up personal time to do the work that’s needed.
Are you willing to face the pain of leadership?
