Welcome to another edition of Reel Leadership. It’s the place you’re going to find engaging leadership lessons from the movies.
This week, we’re exploring the new Jason Statham movie Shelter. Statham plays Mason, a recluse living on a remote Scottish island. He rescues Jessie (Bodhi Rae Breathnach) from the raging seas after she disobeys her uncle’s orders to deliver the crate and come right back.
Mason now has to protect the young girl, especially after he makes the mistake of going back to the mainland of Scotland to get supplies. He’s recognized for his past, thanks to the T.H.E.A. Program, a privacy-invasive MI6 security program used to find threats and track citizens. Once he’s detected, Mason and Jessie are on the run.
Shelter is the typical Jason Statham movie. Lots of action. A little bit of substance. But you know exactly what you’re going to get.
And what we’re going to get out of Shelter is a lot of leadership lessons. Let’s explore those.
Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Shelter
1. Not everyone will accept your gift(s):
Jessie and her uncle would make regular deliveries to Mason’s lighthouse. He would stay inside while Jessie would drop off a crate in his garage. There was no interaction.
On one such delivery, Jessie leaves a small wrapped present for Mason. She wanted to let him know she cared.
Mason left the gift. He didn’t open it. He rejected her gift.
We all have skills and talents. These are our gifts. They’re what we have to offer the world.
Here’s the thing… regardless of the gifts you offer, there will be people who reject them. They won’t want what you have to offer. They’ll push you away.
Learn to be okay with people who don’t want your gifts. It’s on them, not you.
2. Jessie:
Most people just say thank you.
After Jessie sees that Mason has left her gift unopened, she disobeys her uncle. She takes the present to the lighthouse door. She knocks and waits.
Mason answers.
Jessie is stubborn. And she’s right when she corrects Mason’s actions. She tells him that most people accept the gift given to them and then say thank you.
Your team members are bringing their gifts to the office or workplace every day. Have you thanked them?
You may think a paycheck is enough. It’s not.
Your people want to know that you find their work valuable. Something as simple as a thank you will go a long way.
3. Mason:
We need to get the swelling down.
Jessie’s small rowboat went down in a fast-approaching storm that rocked the island on which Mason was living. Not only did it take down her boat, but her uncle’s boat also capsized, and he drowned. It was a powerful storm.
Mason sees Jessie’s boat go down. He rushes out in his boat to save her. In the process, Jessie’s foot/ankle is badly injured. She has contusions and cuts. It swells up.
Mason wraps Jessie’s ankle after he sees the damage. He tells her they need to make sure the swelling goes down, or there will be trouble. They could take care of the other issues later.
Leaders see what the issues are. Then they tackle the issues in order of urgency.
Are you doing this? Are you seeing what takes priority, tackling that task, and then moving on to the next?
Develop this skill of understanding what takes precedence.
4. Mason:
Never operate from fear.
Jessie was scared of Mason, at least at first. He wouldn’t get her back to the mainland. He wouldn’t share who he was. This turned into fear.
After Mason went out of the lighthouse, Jessie scoured the kitchen cabinets until she found a knife. Mason came to her as she made terrified sounds in her sleep. She was having a bad dream.
As Mason touched her to make sure she was okay, Jessie pulled the knife. She was shaking, quivering, fearful. Mason quickly disarmed her.
Instead of berating her, Mason began to instruct her on what to do. And what not to do.
One of those instructions was to never operate from fear.
Fear is a leadership killer. You begin to operate out of the negative what-ifs. You find ways to always see the negative in what could be.
Stop operating out of fear. Start operating out of hope and expectancy.
5. Ask about your team:
Mason had been playing chess against himself. Odd, but he’s been on an island all by himself.
As he’s pondering the next move, Jessie tells him where to move the queen. It sets it into check.
Mason tells her that he never knew she knew how to play chess. Her answer?
You never asked.
Your team members have so many great talents. Many of those are hidden or not noticed by you.
How do you discover their talents?
Ask them.
Hold regular conversations with them. Seek out what their skills, talents, and even dreams are.
The more you know about your team members, the more you can allow them to use their skills and talents.
You won’t know until you ask.
6. Be prepared:
Mason knew he had to be prepared if MI6 or another government agency were to come for him. And he was prepared.
What did he do?
First, he set up a netting in the beach sand attached to a giant rock. He could push the rock down the hill, pulling the net and dragging the person in it into the sea. He had bright flood lights ready to be flipped on in case he was attacked by people with night vision goggles.
Mason was prepared. Leaders need to be prepared as well.
What could you do to prepare for adverse situations? Think about:
- Having the right team members with the right skills
- Planning and budgeting so you have enough to purchase items for your business
- Understanding what to do if things go south
The more you prepare, the more you can weather the storms of leadership. Prepare today.
7. Sometimes, you have to press the brakes on a project:
As Shelter progresses, we learn more about Mason’s past. He’s a disgraced MI6 agent who disobeyed orders from his superior, Manafort (Bill Nighy). Manafort sends MI6 agent James Workman (Bryan Vigier) to take out Mason and Jessie.
Workman pursues Mason and Jessie as they flee in a vehicle. It’s bump-and-go as they run into each other.
Then, Mason does something… he presses the brakes.
In pressing the brakes, Mason allows Workman to fly by him. Eventually, Mason causes Workman to crash. All because he was willing to ease off the gas and slow down.
We’ve been taught that we have to keep the gas laid down. We have to go at full speed.
That’s not the truth. It’s something that hurts many leaders. The constant pressure to go, go, go is not good.
Be willing to press the brakes. Let off the gas.
Leaders need to rest. They need time to reassess the situation.
Pressing the brakes allows you to do this.
8. Don’t follow bad orders:
The truth comes out as to why Mason has been blacklisted and tracked down. Mason had refused to take out an Iranian contact MI6 once used. The contact had helped the agency gain valuable information.
Mason felt that taking him out would be a betrayal of all the hard work the contact had put in. He had the order, but he couldn’t follow it.
You may be a leader within the organization, but there’s always someone above you. There’s someone giving you orders.
You’re going to have to evaluate whether or not the orders you receive are good or bad. Then you’re going to have to decide whether or not to follow those orders.
Whatever you do, don’t follow bad orders. Doing so will take you down a bad, bad road.
9. Mason:
I’ve seen who you really are.
Jessie begins to wonder if she’s more like Mason than she would like. Some of the actions she’d taken since meeting him led her to believe this.
However, Mason had seen the real Jessie. The actions she had taken to help others.
That’s the real Jessie. And he reminded her of who she is.
Pay attention to your people. See who they really are.
You’re going to have to help remind them of who they are. When you have actual history and knowledge of who they are, it’s much easier to bring them back to reality.
10. Mason:
I finally put humanity over blind obedience.
Mason confronts Manafort. Manafort tells Mason that he was the best agent he had ever led. That was until Mason broke the rules.
Manafort’s comment didn’t affect Mason. Mason knew that he made the right choice after so much time.
Mason had blindly followed the orders of the shadow agency within MI6. He finally broke from the blind obedience and made the right choice. He chose humanity.
We can’t demand blind obedience from our team members. Just like you can’t blindly follow those above you.
Allow your team members to disagree with you. Allow them to make decisions based on morality and humanity.
