Over Your Dead Body is a dark comedy from director Jorma Tacconne and writers Tommy Wirkola, Nick Ball, and John Niven. When a dysfunctional married couple goes to a secluded cabin for a weekend getaway, with ulterior motives, things go crazy.
The couple, Dan (Jason Segel) and Lisa (Samara Weaving), plot to murder one another. It’s their way out of their relationship. It’s a great backdrop for the rest of the story: a story of survival.
Let’s look at the leadership lessons from Over Your Dead Body.
Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Over Your Dead Body
1. Don’t overplay your hand:
Dan is talking to a female coworker before he and Lisa leave for the weekend getaway. He tells the coworker that they’re going to a cabin. Then he pushes the fact that Lisa is going on a hike. He also shares how dangerous he thinks the hike will be.
Dan’s conversation comes across as forced. As if something is going to happen to Lisa. Maybe he’s even plotted her death.
The truth was, he had.
He overplayed his hand, I believe, when he shared with his coworker about the trip and how Lisa’s hike was going to be sooooo dangerous. It would make him a prime suspect if he succeeded.
You’re going to be in a position where you know more than the frontline employees. You’re going to have insights into the business, future dealings, and the direction the organization is headed.
Not everyone in the organization will know this information. Not everyone in the organization should know this information.
It’s easy to be a Dan. To share. To overshare and overplay your hand.
2. Michael (Paul Guilfoyle):
I wish a war upon you.
Michael is Dan’s father. He’s seen war. And he’s slowly dying.
When Dan visits his father, Michael tells him that the war has made a man of him. He wishes he had died in the war.
Then, he drops a hard truth: He wishes his son would see war.
Michael believes the hardship of war would change his son’s life.
Leaders don’t wish harm upon their people. However, they do wish they will experience things that will make them better people.
For Michael, it was war. For your people, it will be the difficulties they face day in and day out.
Let them make their way through the challenges. Don’t get them through them.
3. Keep looking:
Lisa and Dan get to the cabin. Lisa searches for the key that is supposed to be above the doorframe. She struggles to find it.
Dan encourages her to keep looking. She moves her search radius to the left. There… there is the key! She’s found it because she kept looking.
Are you willing to continue looking even when you’re stuck? When things don’t look promising? When you don’t know what to do next?
I want to encourage you not to give up. If you know something is close to success, keep looking. Keep working at it.
4. Lisa:
Well… be nice then.
Dan and Lisa are cooking in the kitchen. Dan wants to give Lisa one final nice meal. Even that doesn’t go right.
Dan begins complaining to Lisa about how she’s preparing the garlic. She’s smashing it. Dan tells her to chop it.
But he doesn’t say it nicely.
Lisa picks up on this. It’s been a running theme in their marriage. Their communication has sucked and he’s been less than nice to her.
You need to be nice to the people you lead. What does this mean?
- Treat them with respect
- Allow for mistakes
- Watch your tone
- Hold them accountable
Too many people treat others with disdain. Their tone is condescending and abusive. They treat the people they lead like they’re stupid.
Let’s be more nice.
5. People know more than you give them credit for:
Lisa was able to beat Dan to the punch. As Dan approached with a cloth full of chloroform, she stood in a room practicing lines. Dan thought he had her. He didn’t.
Lisa waited until the last minute. She stopped practicing her lines, turned toward Dan, and hit him with a taser. Dan wakes up tied to a chair.
Dan’s shocked! Lisa is as well. She begins to question Dan. Why would he want to kill her?
Dan answers bluntly: Ceviche.
That turned out to be Lisa’s favorite dish. It’s also a dish she experienced with her Peruvian coworker, with whom she had an affair.
Yes, Dan knew Lisa had been unfaithful! That was his reason for wanting to kill her. She didn’t realize Dan knew she had cheated on him.
We don’t give the people we lead enough credit. We think they only know a little bit.
In reality, the people we lead know much more than we think they do.
People talk. Stories are shared. People find out.
Don’t think your people don’t know what’s happening. If you have a question about whether they do, ask them. Be up front. It’s what you would want.
6. Truth comes out:
Dan had asked Henry (Jake Curran), an acquaintance of his, to help murder his wife. He told Henry that he would give him half of the life insurance policy he had on Lisa. Henry would make an easy $50,000.
Lisa’s tied up, but she’s not going down without a fight. She tells Henry to wait. The number Dan had given him was wrong.
The real life insurance policy? $1,000,000.
Dan thought he could get away with misleading Henry. He did. For a bit. Then the truth came out.
Guess where else the truth comes out? The truth will be revealed to your employees, one way or another. That’s why being an honest leader is so important.
You don’t have to share everything with everyone. But you can’t lie to your team. Make sure you’re giving them the truth.
7. Trying to look rich will break you:
Pete (Timothy Olyphant), Todd (Keith Jardine), and Allegra (Juliette Lewis) had broken into the cabin before Dan and Lisa’s arrival. It’s the reason the key wasn’t exactly where Lisa thought it should be.
Who were these three? Pete and Todd were escaped convicts. Allegra was a correctional officer who helped them escape. She was also in love with Pete.
The trio tied up Dan and Lisa. They demanded money. Lisa tells the convicts that they have no money. They were broke.
Why? Dan was in the movie business. He spent all of their money trying to look rich and impress those around them.
Ouch.
That’s the reality of so many people, though. They are around others who present as wealthy and they believe they have to appear wealthy, too.
Be careful if you’re trying to look rich. You’re going to find yourself in a world of hurt (and debt) if you continue this route.
8. Lisa:
How did we get here?
Lisa and Dan are now tied together, their backs to one another. Lisa begins to wonder aloud: How did we get here?
She recounts the love they had for one another. They had a good life. Now? They’re at each other’s throats.
What happened? How did they get here?
I’ve seen many leaders wonder the same question. How did the business begin to fail? Where did they go wrong? How could so many people leave?
It’s a slow burn to get to that point.
You slowly change over time. The little things become big things. Then, it feels like the world is crashing down.
You don’t get to disaster all at once. You arrive there little by little.
Make sure you’re paying attention to the little things.
9. Dan:
This is all my fault.
Dan and Lisa are hiding together. Allegra and Pete are coming after them. Dan begins to confess.
He tells Lisa this is all his fault. He was wrong.
How did Dan get there? He felt like a failure. He didn’t know how to fix what was broken. He just gave up.
Be different than Dan.
If you want to be a great leader, you can’t give up. When the going gets tough, figure out what the problem is. See how you can fix it.
There is a solution. You only have to be willing to look for it.
10. What was meant to harm you can help you:
Dan had placed a bag of rocks in their boat. He planned to have Lisa killed and then her body would be dropped into the lake with the rocks holding her body pieces down.
The rocks were meant to hurt her. But they didn’t. They helped save her.
Dan and Lisa fled from the convicts. However, Pete tracked them down to the boat. A fight ensues.
Dan is on the ropes. He’s about to be maimed by Pete. This is when Lisa uses what was meant to harm her to help her.
She grabs the bag of rocks. She wraps it around Pete. She tosses him overboard.
What was meant for harm was used for good.
You may see pain, hurt, and difficulties all around you. They’re causing you major issues.
What if these things weren’t the death of you? What if they were there to help you?
Look at what’s challenging you. What could you do to use them to benefit you?
