Jurassic World: Everything a blockbuster movie should be. Big actors, lots of action, huge sound, rotten villains, surprising twists and fun. Oh, and did I mention dinosaurs?! But that’s not why I’m writing…
Whether you’re a dinosaur fan or not, we can learn leadership lessons from this movie. How you may ask? Here’s an example:
The movie caught my attention immediately by using the classic musical score from the original movie. As a fan of Jurassic Park I smiled and whispered ‘nice’. Throughout the movie, there were several call backs to the original. This reminds leaders that to build the future we must respect the past.
In leadership today, it seems that we often don’t honor the ‘giants’ whose shoulders we stand on. Honoring the past helps us avoid arrogance. I attended a conference I Dallas, where Steven Furtick, pastor of the Fastest-growing church in the US made this point beautifully. Steve said to Ed Young (pastor of Fellowship Church) and Tommy Barnett (pastor of First Assembly Phoenix) “I should go farther than you because I stand on what you’ve done. Thank you for what you’ve done for me.”
Humility mixed with a desire to do greater. Brilliant.
Jurassic World respected Jurassic Park and the foundation built by the franchise. Now let’s see what other leadership lessons we may glean from this blockbuster.
Here are some direct quotes from Jurassic World and the leadership lessons we can learn from them:
“Beware treating the awesome as ordinary.” – One of characters, Claire, said, “No one’s impressed by a dinosaur anymore. Consumers want them louder, bigger, more teeth.” Remember the wonder of one life changed, of hearing God’s voice, of the privilege of leading others. Not everyone has those experiences. Don’t ‘play marbles with diamonds.” Get just as excited about the 100th person as you did the first.
“We have to get people’s attention.” – Claire also stated, “Every time we unveil a new asset, attendance spikes.” To attract new people to church, we have to surprise them. It can be as simple as telling them they don’t have to dress up. Several surveys of unchurched people stated that the biggest objection to going to church was ‘nothing to wear.’ We launched a “These are my church clothes” mailing campaign for Easter.
The ad featured a ‘come as you are’ feel. The results were our largest attendance ever. We caught their attention with something different than they expected and leveraged that into overcoming an objection we knew they had. Marketing 101.
Leaders Should Be Humble – “Jurassic World exists to remind us how very small we are.” – CEO character Simon Masrani. When leading His church, we must always remember that God plan is so much greater than our little piece, and His Kingdom is so much larger than our individual church. Reminding ourselves that He is in charge, not us, can help avoid disasters.
Remain teachable – Trust the experts, not the crowd. Another character, Owen, was a behavioral specialist and had trained velociraptor since they were born, but people refused to listen to his insights on their behavior. Some of the most scandalous leadership fails could have been avoided completely by simply listening to others. We all need those “emperor has no clothes on[1]” moments.
Consider the Perspective of Others – When confronted about creating a ‘monster’ hybrid dinosaur in the film, scientist Dr. Henry Wu responded, “Monster is a relative term. To a canary, a cat is a monster. We’re just used to being the cat.” A good leader should always consider the perspectives of those without decision-making power. In churches leaders are often surrounded by other ‘core church people’ who think like them. A ‘groupthink’ results and other perspectives are not considered. For example: if you want to know why some people don’t attend church, you have to talk to some non-church people.
I could keep going, but you get my point. Get the DVD/Blue-Ray of Jurassic World and watch it again looking for leadership principles.
Share your thoughts in the comment section below and enjoy the movie.
Coming Next Week: What does the Bible say about dinosaurs? Were they real or made up by scientists with vivid imaginations to prove evolution?
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[1] The Emperor’s New Suit by Hans Christian Andersen, http://hca.gilead.org.il/emperor.html
There is No Box: 