Going into Masters Of The Universe, I wasn’t sure what to expect. It had been panned by some critics but praised by fans.
This time, the fans got it right. Masters Of The Universe was a blast. It was a way to transport people back to the feelings they had in the ’80s. To recapture the feel and love we had for the He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe cartoon from 1983 to 1985. It was a staple of childhood. Now, it’s reborn in the second attempt at a live-action adaptation. The first attempt was the 1987 version with Dolph Lundgren.
Masters Of The Universe tells the story of Adam/He-Man (Nicholas Galitzine). As a child, his royal parents, King Randor (James Purefoy) and Queen Marlena (Charlotte Riley), sent him away when Skeletor (Jared Leto) and his evil horde attacked Eternia.
Adam grew up on Earth. He went from being a young child talking about his homeworld to a young adult, still talking about the mythical land. Those around him thought he was odd, maybe a little crazy.
However, when he finds the Sword Of Power, he’s proven right. He’s not crazy. But there’s a kink in Adam’s plan: Beast-Man (Gary Martin), a villain from Eternia, shows up. He has to fight off the evil creature with the help of his childhood friend Teela (Camila Mendes). They have to flee from the creature as they board a spaceship to return Adam home.
From there, the movie hits its high notes. There’s action. There’s comedy. There’s a feeling of nostalgia as He-Man battles to return Eternia to greatness.
Let’s explore the leadership ideas and principles found in Masters Of The Universe!
Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Masters Of The Universe
1. You can be right and still be wrong:
Young Adam was in a training session with Duncan/Man-At-Arms (Idris Alba). During the session, Man-At-Arms holds up a wooden boa. He asks the students in front of him what it is.
One student is brave, or foolish, enough to answer. The young boy tells Man-At-Arms that the object he is holding is a stick.
While the student was right, the answer he gave was not the answer Man-At-Arms was looking for. The answer he was looking to hear was a boa staff or a weapon.
Be careful of always being right. Or trying to be right with snark.
You can be right. You can be wrong at the same time.
How does this happen?
- You deliver your message with an attitude
- You get the details right but not the heart of it
- You miss the humanity of it all
Be careful of being right and wrong at the same time.
2. Man-At-Arms:
When you fall, that’s your chance to stand tall.
King Randor interrupted the training session. He thought young Adam was not progressing as quickly as he should. He was going to show his son how to fight.
King Randor told him to pick up his weapon. He was going to spar with him.
His father knocked down Adam. He wasn’t getting back up. And his father was disappointed.
Man-At-Arms walked over to Adam. He tells him to get up. Stand tall. Be courageous.
When you get knocked down, do you stay down? Or do you get back up?
Great leaders never give up. They know they have to rise again and again. Over and over.
If you get knocked down, stand back up. Maybe even stand up taller than you did before.
3. Skeletor:
I want the power.
Skeletor approaches King Randor. He’s itching for a fight. He’s also itching for something else.
What is it Skeletor desires? Power.
Skeletor’s desire is an example of what not to desire as a leader. Great leaders rarely desire power.
What do great leaders desire? Great leaders desire to build new leaders. They desire to improve bad situations. They want to build things.
Be a leader who doesn’t crave power.
4. Some people will give you bad advice:
Adam tried to date. However, every time he would share his origin story. Guess what that did? His story freaked out his dates.
He’d go home to his roommate, Hussein (Christian Vunipola), and complain about the date. Hussein would ask him how it went. Then he’d ask if Adam had told his date about his “fantasy” homeworld.
Of course, Adam had. Hussein then tells Adam to stop it. He needs to be normal.
That’s such bad advice.
Normal won’t get you far. It’ll help you blend in. Being normal will rob you of who you are.
Let your freak leadership flag fly. Be unique. Be you.
5. You may have the tools. You won’t always know how to use them:
Adam receives a text message that someone has found the Sword Of Power. Adam rushes to meet the man. When he finds the sword, it’s in a store display.
A funny scene ensues as Adam tries to pry the sword from the Torak (what He-Man was originally going to be called) statue’s hands. He tussles and tosses. He rolls on the floor. Eventually, he’s able to get the sword free.
He tries to activate the Sword Of Power by saying the magical phrase: By the Power of Grayskull… I have the power!
But he messes up the phrase. The sword doesn’t activate. He looks like a fool.
Adam had the right tool. He had forgotten how to activate it.
Leaders face this problem often. We get the new, shiny tools. We get a power player on the team. But we don’t know how to use them to their maximum strength.
When you get a new tool, when you get a new employee… learn about them. Study them. Figure out what makes them effective.
The more you know about the tools at your fingertips, the better you’ll be able to activate them.
6. Teela:
I would manage your expectations.
Teela helped rescue Adam from the rampaging Beast-Man. They make it back to Teela’s ship. Adam tells Teela how excited he is to go back home.
This is where Teela stops him.
Teela tells Adam he needs to manage his expectations. Eternia is not what he remembered. Skeletor has changed the landscape.
Think about your onboarding process. You probably hype up your organization. Understandably so.
However, what happens after you hype up the new employee? They’re often let down. They discover they’ve been sold a bill of goods.
Or maybe you’ve been promised the new hire is amazing. They’re going to improve processes, change the culture, and increase sales. Then, womp womp, things don’t change.
Expectations…
We have to manage our expectations. We have to help manage the expectations of those we bring on.
When we or those we lead have improper expectations, the experience can:
- Be a let-down
- Be a shock
- Be frustrating
Let’s manage expectations better. Both ours and those we bring onto our team.
7. The Sorceress (Morena Baccarin):
Say the words.
Adam has a new foe he must face. That foe? Trap Jaw (Sam C. Wilson). He’s a fearsome foe.
What does Adam do? He tries to use his Human Resources training and skills to de-escalate the situation. Trap Jaw wouldn’t listen. He kept attacking.
The Sorceress appears. She tells Adam to say the words. When he does, Adam changes into He-Man.
Our words are powerful. They can de-escalate tense situations. Or they can give us the power to end challenges.
Learn the power words you wield. Use them when needed.
They can transform you. They can transform those you lead.
8. Great leaders stand their ground:
Adam arrives at Snake Mountain. He’s willing to hand over the Sword Of Power to Skeletor. But only to Skeletor.
Goat Man (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson), a guard for Skeletor, tells Adam to hand over the sword. Adam wouldn’t budge.
Evil-Lyn (Alison Brie) appears. She takes away Man At Arms and his battle robot companion, Roboto (Kristen Wiig). Goat Man confronts Adam again. Once again, Adam stands firm.
Do you back down when you face confrontation? Do you waver in what you believe?
Great leaders don’t.
They know their values. They know their value. They also know what’s worth fighting for.
Be willing to stand your ground when trouble comes.
9. We can confuse what others want for us:
Adam finally gets to see his father again. He tells King Randor that he’s no longer the weak little boy he remembers. He’s now the man his dad had always dreamed he would be.
Or was he?
King Randor asks Adam what kind of man he wants his son to be.
Yes, King Randor wanted his son to be strong. He also wanted his son to be strong in spirit, kind, loving.
There’s more to leadership than brute strength. There’s the ability to understand how people are feeling.
Leaders have to be both strong and gentle at the same time.
10. Know you have the power to lead well:
Skeletor and He-Man battle. They fight over the Sword Of Power. Skeletor eventually takes the sword. He breaks it. The power is gone. Adam is knocked back to Earth. Powerless.
Or is he?
The Sorceress appears to him. She asks him what he must say to transform. Adam tells her, “I have the power!”
We think we lose our power when we lose our tools. Maybe we think we lose our power when we lose our best people.
That’s not true.
The power is inside of you. You’ve had it all along. Know that you have the power to lead well.
11. There’s a time to talk. There’s also a time for action:
Adam returns to Eternia. He first tries to reason with Skeletor. Skeletor is having none of it.
That’s when He-Man utters the line:
The time for talk is over
He-Man then takes Skeletor to task. He utterly destroys him. He’d tried to do it the kind, gentle way. When that didn’t work, he used his strength.
It’s funny, many people are talking about how woke Masters Of The Universe is. I saw it differently.
Masters Of The Universe shows us there is a time to try to talk things out. To figure out a nice compromise.
Talking things through can work. But sometimes talk only goes so far. When that happens, the time for talk is over.
You may have tried to coach your team members. You used your words to show them what is wrong with their actions. They don’t listen.
It’s now time for your talk to be over. You have to act.
This could mean sending them to training sessions, or it could mean firing the employee.
Talk is good. But there also needs to be action.”
