Moviegoers once again returned to the theaters to watch Tom Hardy’s latest outing as Eddie Brock/Venom. Venom: The Last Dance tells the third and final act of the Venom trilogy.
- Catch up on the leadership lessons from Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage
It starts by showing a new character, Knull (Andy Serkis), who is the King In Black of the symbiotes. He’s been locked away on the prison planet of Klyntar. But now he wants out.
He begins to seek out Venom, the holder of the Codex. If he gets Venom, he can free himself from prison.
Thus, we’re thrust back into the world of Marvel and Sony’s Venom. There’s much more to the film, but this gets you the idea.
You’ll also find plenty of great leadership lessons in Venom: The Last Dance. As Venom rushes into battle, protects others, and makes some poor choices, you’ll be able to see yourself in his choices and avoid some costly mistakes in the future.
Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Venom: The Last Dance
1. Take the time to introduce new people:
The film opens on Klyntar, the prison world holding Knull. He’s a new character for moviegoers. He’s also a relatively new character to the comic book world, having been introduced in Venom #3 (hmmm?) in 2018. So, he’s only been around for 6 years.
We see Knull in what is called The Void. We’re given a bit of his backstory, so we’re not lost as to who he is.
It was a great picture of what we need to do when we enter into a new organization or someone enters our organization. Give people our story! Give people the story of new people!
When you do this, you will clear up many questions, give people a look into who you/they are, and make the transition much smoother.
2. Eddie Brock:
I wasn’t born with them.
Eddie/Venom’s story starts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He’s sitting at a bar with the bartender (Cristo Fernández). He’s suddenly sucked through a wormhole back to his home universe. There, the bartender is buff.
Eddie works on making a mess of the bar while making himself a drink. Venom’s tendrils appear from behind to help with the drink-making. It’s a disaster.
Bottles are breaking. Liquids are flowing. Profits are being lost.
The bartender looks at Eddie and wonders out loud what the tendrils are. Eddie answered that he wasn’t born with them.
Most leaders are like Eddie. We aren’t born with the skills to be a great leader. We have to work and obtain those skills.
Know that you’re probably not a natural leader. It’s okay. You can obtain the skills, grow yourself, and become the leader you want and need to be.
3. Not everyone will be hurt in the same way:
We get a flashback to when Dr. Teddy Paine (Juno Temple) was younger. She’s on a beach with her brother. They’re enjoying a storm coming in over the water and talking about their dreams.
As the storm gets closer, the two begin to run in fear. The storm is going to overtake them. They could be struck by lightning.
The two clasp hands. Lightning strikes Dr. Paine. The electricity travels through her body and into her brother’s. This jolt of lightning leaves Dr. Paine with a scar and her brother dead.
Her brother dies. She lives. While she was hurt, her brother bore the brunt of the damage.
We may think every decision will impact everyone the same way. They won’t.
Some people will be hurt more by your decisions than others. Most of the time, the amount of damage won’t be controlled by you.
Be aware your actions will hurt others. Some more than others.
4. Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor):
We contain them. You study them.
Strickland and Dr. Paine work at the same facility – Area 51. It’s where they contain and study oddities. Sometimes aliens, sometimes other things.
As Dr. Paine begins to show concern for the creatures there, Strickland tells her it’s not his purview to worry about that. He and his people are there to capture the creatures. That’s it. Dr. Paine’s job is to study them.
While I didn’t care for Strickland or his view on things, he made a valid point with his quote. He understood his role. He understood Dr. Paine’s role.
When questions arose, he pointed to those distinct roles. They mattered to him.
You have a specific role to play in your organization. So do the people on your team. And others in the organization.
Ensure you have the right people on the right teams doing the right things.
5. Consider your customers:
Dr. Paine and Stickland had to go through a decontamination process to access the level of Area 51 containing the symbiotes. Dr. Paine goes through all the procedures while Stickland tries to avoid many of them.
When he did this, Dr. Paine reminded him that it wasn’t for their safety. The decontamination process was for the safety of the symbiotes in their care. They could bring in germs and diseases that the symbiotes may be unable to handle.
There are so many things to consider when leading we can overlook the importance of considering our customers and employees. These are the people we’re interacting with regularly.
Do you consider their ideas? Do you wonder how they’re doing emotionally, physically, and spiritually? What about how they’re getting along with life in general?
We can’t forget that the people we interact with matter. They’re going through the same issues you are. Be aware of what they’re going through and what you can do to help them.
6. Venom:
Only one way to find out!
While wandering the desert, Eddie and Venom come upon a horse. Eddie wonders how fast Venom could make the horse go without killing it. Venom answers as only Venom can: Only one way to find out!
Venom infects the horse with his symbiote. It becomes Horse Venom.
He’s able to test out the horse’s speed and endurance. Let’s just say the horse can go fast.
I like Venom’s attitude toward trying new things and testing limits. He believes there’s only one way to find out: by testing.
Where and what do you need to test? Are there things you don’t understand? Test them. Are there areas you’re unsure about? Test them.
By testing, you can see how far you can go.
7. Your lack of empathy can hurt:
Strickland sent his men out to collect Venom. The team ran into an issue bigger than Venom: Knull’s forces.
Strickland loses three good men between Venom and Knull’s creatures, called xenophages. He shares this with Dr. Paine. Dr. Paine, showing a moment lacking empathy, asks him if he was able to collect any samples.
Ouch…
People die and all Dr. Paine thought about was collecting samples. Strickland was hurt by this (much like Dr. Paine was hurt earlier in the film by Strickland’s lack of empathy).
We have to be empathetic to those we lead. We must try to understand what they’re feeling, going through, and considering. When we do this, we can connect with them on a deeper level that helps them know we care about them.
Do your work to be empathetic to others.
8. Eddie Brock:
You know, it’s okay to be scared.
Eddie and Venom meet a hippie family. They include:
- Martin Moon (Rhys Ifans)
- Nova Moon (Alanna Ubach)
- Echo Moon (Hala Finley)
- Leaf Moon (Dash McCloud)
The family is on a trip to visit Area 51 before it is decommissioned. They give Eddie a ride to Las Vegas before continuing to Area 51.
Eddie talks to young Leaf. Leaf is actually scared to meet an alien. He doesn’t know what the creature would be like or do to them.
Eddie talks kindly to him. He shares that it is okay to be scared.
Guess what?!? It’s okay to be scared as a leader.
There are massive challenges you’re going to face. These challenges will push you beyond your comfort zone. They will make you think you can’t do it.
That’s okay. Embrace the fear. Walk toward the fear.
The more you get used to the fear, the easier it will be to push through.
9. Leaders can do some pretty stupid things:
Mrs. Chen (Peggy Lu) has appeared in all three Venom movies, including Venom 3. Eddie and Venom meet Mrs. Chen in a Vegas casino where she’s winning big. She sees Eddie’s state and tells him he can clean up in her penthouse suite.
Eddie takes her up on the offer. While in the room, Mrs. Chen tells Venom she wants to dance.
Eddie says this is a bad idea. The xenophage can track Venom when he fully transforms. If he dances with Mrs. Chen, the xenophage would be at their location quickly.
Venom disregards this. He chooses to dance with Mrs. Chen.
Guess what happens next? The xenophage crashes the party!
We can know the right actions to take. The right things to say. The right way to treat people.
And then do the exact opposite.
It’s not because we’re stupid. But we do act in stupid ways.
Pay attention to what you’re doing. Consider the outcomes.
Do less stupid things.
10. Reality may not meet your expectations:
Martin was so keen on meeting or seeing an alien. When he finally does, he says that “aliens suck.”
He expected that aliens would be fascinating. They’d be exciting, thrilling!
What were they? They were scary.
His expectations did not meet reality.
How like leadership is this? We think leadership is going to fulfill us. It’s going to be fun, exciting, and enjoyable.
Then we realize leadership goes beyond those things. Leadership includes holding people accountable, taking the brunt of mistakes, and learning to adapt.
While leadership is a great experience, we can go in with the wrong expectations.
11. Strickland:
Still living your brother’s dreams?
Strickland was talking to Dr. Paine. He questioned why she was studying the creatures at Area 51. Was it because she was chasing her dead brother’s dreams?
This is a question we need to ask ourselves. Why are we leading? Are we chasing someone else’s dreams?
We can get into a position of leadership not because we want to lead, can lead, or should lead. We’re leading because someone else dreamed about leading. Whether that’s them leading others or they believing we can lead.
Make sure you’re not leading because someone else dreamed it for you. If that’s the case, you may not lead well.
