Inception is the finest movie I’ve seen since The Blind Side.  Except for three words that were said which really disturb me, I recommend this movie to anyone who is tired of a popcorn experience and wants an intellectual challenge.  It’s Oscar worthy!

After watching Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and now Inception, Chris Nolan is currently the most creative Director in the film industry.  I love the pacing of his movies and the tension that builds.  You know you are being taken somewhere with the quick editing and great score.  You just don’t know where but you also know the payoff will be fantastic.  I wonder if the people sitting in our Sunday morning worship experiences feel like that?  Just a thought.

As leaders, what are the takeaways?  There are several which I will post in two parts.  Below are the first five: 

  1. No One Can Steal Your Dreams – My daughter sings in the Children’s Church where we worship.  As she tried out for that role, there is always concern as a parent as to how to properly handle that issue if she doesn’t make the team.  Fortunately, the director said “If God put a song in her heart, who am I to take it away.  We always find a place to let the children use it.”  Are you a leader who helps facilitate making dreams a reality or do you take them away? 
  2. Respect Your Audience – I love what Claudia Puig stated in her USA Today movie review earlier this week “Hollywood films generally regard audiences as below average in intelligence.”  Nolan challenges my intelligence and I appreciate that.  Pastors and other leaders, your audience appreciates you challenging their intellect just in case you are tempted to dumb down the message to “connect with them”.
  3. Excellence Beats The Economy Every Time – I attended the 10:40 AM IMAX showing and the movie was about 75% full.  These are challenging economic times but people will leverage their resources to places of perceived value. 
  4. The Power Of An Idea – One of the great themes of the movie was how a single idea can take root, become viral in our mind, and then significantly influence our life’s choices.  Proverbs 23:7 states “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he”  What thoughts and ideas are you letting become viral?
  5. Positive Ideas Defeat Negative Ideas – It was interesting that as a strategy was being developed to defeat the antagonist Fischer, the mission became to plant positive ideas into his mind about an aspect of his inheritance over negative ones.  Amazing insight from the makers of this movie!  As leaders who influence people, I wonder what incredible results we could experience by continually communicating positive thoughts based in reality into the lives of those we lead!   

Tomorrow, there will be 5 additional leadership lessons that you don’t want to miss.  To receive that and future posts automatically, simply subscribe or click here.

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