Project Hail Mary is based on the Andy Weir book of the same name. In the film, science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling, who recently played Ken in the hit film Barbie) finds himself alone on a spacecraft. He awakens light-years from Earth. And there’s a problem…
He doesn’t know why he’s on the ship. He doesn’t know what his mission is. He’s lost in space.
Slowly, parts of his memory come back. We see these flashes of memory through flashbacks to his time on Earth.
All Grace knows is that there’s a threat to Earth. He’s the last man standing to stop it.
Let’s take a look at the leadership lessons in Project Hail Mary. There’s plenty.
Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Project Hail Mary
1. If you don’t use your leadership skills, you will lose them:
Grace wakes up on a medical table on a ship in space. He’s confused. He’s not sure what’s happening.
As he regains consciousness, we see there are some issues. Grace can’t speak. He also struggles to walk.
Why? His body hasn’t been used in many years. His body doesn’t remember how to function. He’s lost the skills he once used so effortlessly.
Guess what? The same thing happens to your leadership skills. They’re a use-them-or-lose-them type of thing.
While some of your skills may remain, they’ll be rusty. You’ll stumble and fumble your way through learning them again.
Best practice: Continue to use your skills to keep them sharp.
2. Grace:
Where am I?
Grace mutters the words “Where am I?” after waking up. They’re not clear. Barely able to be understood.
However, despite his many years in a coma, Grace knew one thing: He wasn’t on Earth anymore.
He begins to question where he is. The sooner he understands this, the sooner he can get to work on a solution.
When’s the last time you asked yourself, “Where am I?” It’s a great question to ask.
Asking “Where am I?” helps you to orient yourself to the situation you’re in. You might discover you’re neck-deep in a bad project, or you may find you’re closer to solving the problem you’re working on than you thought.
Ask yourself this question and then examine where you are.
3. Find out what you can gamify:
Grace was a science teacher at a school. He appeared to be pretty gifted in getting students to open up and answer questions.
What was his secret to getting students to open up? He learned to gamify the learning process.
Grace created a game where a beanbag/hacky sack was lava. If someone were to toss the bag to you, you had to answer the question quickly. His students appeared to love this.
What can you gamify in your organization? Can you make mundane or challenging tasks more fun? You probably can.
Look for creative ways to bring a game aspect to the office. You may:
- Create quests (tasks) that require teamwork
- Start a point system where the top performers get a special bonus
- Find ways to create quick to-do lists that have rewards tied to accomplishments
The more you gamify, the more your team may be motivated to get things done.
4. Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller):
What did you learn?
Stratt and Carl (Lionel Boyce) recruited Grace to join a government program to study alien lifeforms. More importantly, their study aimed to find a way to stop the Astrophage from consuming the sun. They had discovered a lone planet unaffected by the microbe. They had to find out why.
Grace was allowed to study the Astrophage, but he was confused. He didn’t think he was making progress. All of his theories were wrong.
Stratt didn’t care that Grace was wrong. She wanted to know what he had learned.
When something goes wrong at work, do you point fingers? Or do you ask questions? Do you ask the right questions?
Instead of getting angry, upset, or defensive, ask the question: “What did you learn?” The question allows for introspection. Your team members can look at the situation and figure out what went right, what went wrong, and what went sideways.
Consider what was learned, not the mistake or incorrect assumptions.
5. Grace:
I wish I wasn’t alone…
Grace is seen giving a eulogy for the two other astronauts who were on the ship. They were:
- Yao (Ken Leung)
and - Ilyukhin (Milana Vayntrub)
The crew had passed away while traveling through space. They were never to wake again.
Grace began to feel an overwhelming sense of loneliness. He was all alone. He never wanted to be alone.
Ask any leader, and they will tell you that leadership can feel extremely lonely at times. The loneliness is something they dread.
No leader wants to be alone.
There’s something you can do about it. Find people you know and trust to stick by your side.
6. You can feel like you’re in the wrong seat when you’re not:
Grace makes his way through the Hail Mary (voiced by Priya Kansara). He gets to a seat and his body begins to sink into it. Mary speaks up. She calls him a pilot.
Whoa! That’s not who Grace is. He doesn’t have pilot or captain training. She’s wrong about who he is.
While she may be wrong, she really was just early in calling him what he was. Grace learned to pilot the Hail Mary. He wasn’t in the wrong seat. He just wasn’t ready.
It’s easy to feel confused and anxious when you’re starting out in leadership. You may feel that you don’t have the skills, knowledge, or ability to lead well.
You may be right. That doesn’t mean you can’t grow into the things you need to be.
Don’t be afraid to sit in the seat before you’re ready. You can grow into the leader your team needs you to be.
7. Things may appear scarier than they are:
Grace’s ship connects with an alien spacecraft. A tunnel is erected between the two vessels.
Grace makes his way through the tube until he reaches the alien ship. There, he is scared by an alien, Rocky (voiced by James Ortiz).
Over the course of the movie, Grace learns Rocky isn’t scary. He’s friendly and on the same mission as he is: to save his planet from the Astrophage.
Rocky appeared scary. He wasn’t. In fact, Rocky and Grace became great friends.
What’s scaring you today? Is it the thought of trying to lead your team of 4 in a direction you’ve never been? Do you fear the financial situation your organization is in?
Whatever you’re scared of, step back. Reexamine the scary thing.
Once you refocus, you may discover that the task in front of you is much less daunting than you first thought.
8. You’re similar to other leaders:
Grace and Rocky had both been sent to understand the Astrophage. Both had been sent with a crew. Both experienced the loss of their crews.
Grace and Rocky were similar. More similar than they knew at their time of meeting.
You’re more similar to the leaders around you than you understand. If you take the time to talk to them, you will discover:
- Your stories are more alike than unalike
- The challenges you face are very similar
- Your desires are the same
Get to know the leaders around you, even if they’re not in your organization. You’ll find companionship in their presence and understand that there are others out there like you.
9. Great leaders are willing to give up their dreams for those they lead:
As Grace and Rocky forge their friendship, Grace shares that he is actually sad he won’t be able to make it back to Earth. Rocky says it’s okay. There’s a way Grace can go home.
What’s that way? Rocky will give up some of his fuel so Grace has enough. Rocky was willing to give up his time (it would set him back 6 years) so his friend could also get home.
Do you know what you’re willing to give up to see your team succeed? Are you willing to give something up?
Far too many leaders have become selfish. They only see what’s in it for themselves. They stop caring about those they lead.
That’s not great leadership. Great leadership says it’s not about me. It’s about them, the team.
Be a leader who is willing to give up what you desire so others can see the finish line.
10. You can succeed even when you think you can’t:
Grace had felt like a failure his whole life. He was always doing the wrong thing. He could never make true progress. He wouldn’t make a good astronaut.
His actions throughout the film show that he didn’t know who he was. He was a great man who did what he thought he couldn’t. In the end, he saved the Earth.
Our mindset is important. Maybe one of the most important things you need to focus on and correct. However, your mindset won’t determine your success.
You can push past what your mindset is. You can do the things you know are right. In doing so, you will succeed despite what your mind is telling you.
Push through. Do what needs to be done. You’ll discover you can do more than you think you can.
