We once again return to the world of Jurassic Park. In what is now the seventh film, Jurassic World: Rebirth looks at an aspect of the world that we hadn’t seen before. An island that was home to experiments to create hybrid dinosaurs.
In Jurassic World: Rebirth, mercenaries and an innocent family are put in harm’s way. The family is exploring the open seas when attacked by a dinosaur. The mercenaries are put in harm’s way when the one who put the expedition into motion cannot be trusted.
Everything that happens in Jurassic World: Rebirth can be viewed through the lens of leadership. Let’s see what leadership lessons we can find in the new film.
Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Jurassic World: Rebirth
1. The Little Things Matter:
Early in Jurassic World: Rebirth, we see a flashback to a laboratory experimenting on dinosaurs. They’re working to crossbreed dinosaurs into something more exotic.
We see a lab technician eating a Snickers bar. He is working to open the door with one of his labmates when he drops the Snickers wrapper. The wrapper is sucked into the airlock.
As the man walks through, the wrapper continues to follow him. The wrapper is sucked into the air vent of the door. This event triggers a chain reaction, causing the laboratory to shut down and releasing the Distortus Rex.
What is a Distortus Rex? Think of a cross between an Alien Xenomorph and a Star Wars Rancor. That’s what it is. And it’s deadly.
The little wrapper allowed for the D. Rex to escape and wreak havoc.
It was a seemingly insignificant thing that caused a major disaster.
When we’re unaware or unwilling to pay attention to the little things, major disasters happen. The little things can be minor moral infractions, allowing poor behavior to persist, or disregarding the advice of others.
The more we let the little things slide, the more we’re letting significant issues grow. Take care of the little things as they happen. If you don’t, you might have a major meltdown.
2. Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson):
That sounds vague.
Zora Bennett is a mercenary. She is hired to handle business… any kind of business.
Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) approaches her early in the film. He’s looking to get to the experimental island of dinosaurs. What’s his endgame? To collect DNA from four specific dinosaurs. Their DNA will help create medicine to cure many of the world’s illnesses.
One caveat: The medicine wouldn’t be cheap and it would make Martin’s organization wealthy beyond belief.
Martin begins to make the offer to Bennett. He purposely stays vague about what he’s looking for. And Zora calls him on it.
She tells Martin that he is vague. She needs more details.
Guess who else needs more details? Your team.
They’re not looking for someone who’s vague all of the time. They’re looking for a leader who can provide them with the necessary information so they can complete the task.
Don’t be a leader who withholds valuable information. Stop vague-booking. Be an information giver.
3. People will lose interest in you:
Martin and Zora go to meet a museum worker named Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey). He’d been working in the archaeology and dinosaur section of the museum. We see he’s packing up the exhibit.
People have lost interest in the wonders of dinosaurs. They’ve become common and no longer interesting.
Henry is disturbed by this. Yet, he also understands things change. People often grow away from specific fields as they mature. Dinosaurs are one of those.
We want to always be in the spotlight. There’s a desire to be known, seen, felt. However, as we stick around longer, we become common. Our team members know they can count on us. But they also know we’re not changing much.
It’s okay to grow old in a company and have fewer people pay attention to you. It’s part of growing up and getting older.
People are going to stop listening. That doesn’t mean you stop leading. It means you start leading other groups of people.
4. Seek out the best:
We next see Martin and Zora meeting with Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali). Duncan is a mercenary as well. He’s also a covert operations team leader.
Zora and Duncan have a long history. They are familiar with each other and their skills. Zora also knows that Duncan is the best at what he does.
That’s why it’s shocking when Duncan says he’s going to back out. He can’t do it… Maybe it’s that he won’t do it.
Martin questions Zora. He thought Duncan was her guy. He thought Duncan was the best. Why wouldn’t he go through with the mission?
There’s no question that Duncan is the best. He really is. He’s waiting for something more, though.
When looking for new employees, do you look for who’s available? Or do you look for who’s the best?
There’s a difference. Available people typically aren’t the best. They’re just warm bodies looking to fill a spot. The best ones, you have to seek out. Sometimes, you have to poach them from a rival organization or offer them the right incentives for their work.
Find the best. Your organization will benefit from it.
5. Know your worth:
Duncan had said he was out of the mission. Was he? Nope.
Zora and Duncan had concocted a plan. They would work together to secure the most money for Duncan and his crew for their work.
Martin had already promised Zora $ 10 million. He had promised Duncan and his team a lot less. Zora gave a suggestion. Martin should double the amount to match what Zora was getting paid.
There wasn’t a lot of haggling. Martin quickly agreed to double the amount. He was ready to play ball.
Then, in a humorous scene, Bobby Atwater (Ed Skrein) enters the scene. He tried to get Martin to double up, but Zora told them they’d already gotten the desired amount.
Do you know what you’re worth? Many times, you or your team are vastly underpaid.
It’s one of the main reasons to job hop. Your wages increase a lot more by switching jobs than by sticking with a single employer. As a leader of people, you may not like this fact, but it’s the truth.
When you know your worth, you won’t settle for being underpaid and underappreciated. You will seek out an organization that also recognizes your worth.
You don’t have to stick around where you’re not valued. Seek out a place that values you for the contributions you can make.
6. Duncan Kincaid:
Do something that matters while you’re still here.
Duncan continues his conversation with Zora. He drops a truth bomb that explodes!
What was that truth bomb? He wants to see Zora do something with her life that truly matters.
Both of them had been chasing the money for far too long. That’s what mercenaries do. Yet, there’s more to life than money.
You have to make a difference.
Money sounds good. Until you realize money only goes so far. Eventually, money won’t bring you lasting happiness. There are other things.
One of the things that will bring you fulfillment is a sense of purpose. Doing something that matters.
What matters in the end?
- Helping others
- Treating people well
- Doing the right thing
- Creating something of value
What are you doing that matters?
7. Great leaders are willing to change course to help others:
The Delgados, Reuben Delgado (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), daughters Teresa (Luna Blaise) and Isabella (Audrina Miranda), and Teresa’s boyfriend Xavier Dobbs (David Iacono), send out a mayday call after a Mosasaurus attacks their sailboat. They’re letting other ships in the area know that they’re in danger. Duncan’s ship hears the mayday call.
Duncan instructs his crew to redirect the ship toward the specified coordinates. He knows they must help the stranded family. However, Duncan encounters resistance from his crew.
Why did they resist? They wanted to hunt the Mosasaurus first. Then they could go back to help. Duncan knew it could be too late for the family if they did that. They had to get to them right away.
And that he does. He forces the team to change course. He makes them go to the family. It was the right thing to do.
Changing course can be difficult. Challenging even. You have a specific business strategy you’re following. It looks like it is working.
But then something happens in a team member’s family. Or yours. Or you see it is hurting someone on your team.
You feel that tug to change course. To change directions.
Don’t ignore the tug. Doing the right thing, helping others, is never the wrong course of action. You won’t regret it in the end.
8. Henry Loomis:
What would I do with mutant dinosaurs from an accounting aspect?!?
Martin tells Henry what the island really is. The island was used for experiments on dinosaurs. To create new breeds that would interest people.
Sometimes, those dinosaurs weren’t customer-friendly. They looked hideous. They were overly aggressive. People wouldn’t like those.
So… The laboratory kept those dinosaurs locked up. They would be there to do more experiments. The laboratory could write those dinosaurs off as a research and development project.
Martin then asked Henry what he would do with those dinosaurs. Henry was confused. They were living creatures. Was he supposed to look at the bottom line or the ethical line?
We get so caught up in the bottom line. We look at everything as a number. Sometimes, more than we should.
Products become numbers. Research and development is a number. Production is a number. Eventually, we start to see people as a number.
We must maintain fiscal responsibility, but we also can’t view people as mere numbers. They’re more than that. They bring their skills, wisdom, and emotions to the table.
Remember, people are more than an aspect of accounting.
9. Zora Bennett:
What would the alternative be?
Earlier in Jurassic World: Rebirth, Henry presented the idea of not allowing Parker-Genix Pharmaceutical Engineering, Martin’s company, to obtain the dinosaur DNA. Instead, they could keep it and release it to the public.
Zora didn’t like the idea when she first heard it. However, the more she saw Martin’s true side, the more she had to reconsider. So much so that she approached Henry and asked what the alternative was to handing the DNA to Parker-Genix Pharmaceutical Engineering.
Henry saw many possibilities. One of those was making the dinosaur DNA information open source. Organizations from around the world could access the information and develop affordable life-saving drugs.
Are you asking what the alternatives are to the situations in your organization? Are you looking for different solutions?
Great leaders are always considering different possibilities. They know there’s not one path to success. There are multiple ways to succeed.
Look for alternatives to your methods. There might be something better out there.
10. Leaders make themselves the target:
The D-Rex was going to attack Isabella. It was attracted to the lights that were going off at the abandoned laboratory. Duncan recognized this.
To save Isabella, Duncan grabs flares. He lights one and gains the attention of the D-Rex. He lures the D-Rex away from the remaining crew members.
Duncan didn’t have to do this. However, he knew it was the right thing to do. He had to become the target so he could save the remaining people on the island.
It’s hard to accept this. Putting yourself in danger isn’t the first thing people think about. It’s often self-preservation that comes to mind.
However, great leaders know that their safety comes second to that of their employees.
Leaders will put themselves in the line of fire when it comes to questioning why something failed. They’re willing to take the big hits so their team members can continue working.
Don’t protect yourself over your team members. Your responsibility is to protect them when possible.
