19 Leadership Quotes And Lessons From Jurassic World

Jurassic World is everything a summer movie should be.  Big scenes.  Big action.  Big sound.  Big villains.  Some surprising twists.  And nothing but sheer fun.

While there is an underlying message of greed and our society’s lack of wonder and awe, it is not in-your-face at all.  This movie can be wrapped up in three words – Dinosaurs Chasing Humans!

The following are 19 Leadership Quotes And Lessons From Jurassic World:

1. Casting Vision Requires Connecting To Your Past Before Moving Into Your Future – The movie laid a solid foundation by opening with John Williams’s classic musical score from the original movie.  Then throughout the movie, several scenes tethered you back to the original film.
2. Excellence Becomes Average When It Is All You Have – Claire, overseer of the them park and played by Bryce Dallas Howard, told a group of potential investors, “No one’s impressed by a dinosaur anymore.”  This made me think.  Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, lived a perfect sinless life, died, rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven.  No other person or god ever did this.  Why is this not impressive enough?
3. Leaders Are Never Satisfied – They are always looking ahead.  Claire added, “Consumers want them louder, bigger, more teeth.”
4. New Generates Momentum – Claire continued, “Every time we unveil a new asset, attendance spikes.”  If you want to see a spike in church attendance or business sales, launch something new.
5. Without Healthy Systems You Have Inefficiency And Anarchy – A system is anything you do twice.  Lowery, a computer programmer in the Jurassic World offices, described his workspace as “A living system.  Just enough stability to keep it from collapsing into anarchy.”
6. Great Leaders Relinquish Control – InGen CEO Simon Masrani pointed out what all experienced leaders know, “The key to a happy life is to accept you’re never in control.”  Side note – the only control you will ever have in this life is to yield total control of it to Jesus Christ.
7. Great Leaders Are Humble – “Jurassic World exists to remind us how very small we are.” – Masrani
8. Poor Leaders Are Arrogant – When examining the cage Indominus Rex was housed in, Masrani asked, “So the paddock is quite safe then?” Claire responded by saying, “Yes.  We have the best structural engineers.”  To which Masrani replied, “Yeah, so did (John) Hammond.”
9. Decide To Build Quality Relationships Early – Owen, played by Chris Pratt, had built a relationship with the raptors by connecting with them as soon as they were hatched.
10. Not All Opinions Are The Same – Trust the experts, not the crowd.  Though Owen was a Naval behavioral specialist and had trained the raptors since birth, others in the organization discounted his thoughts to their own demise.
11. Leadership Is Always Temporary – So steward it well.  Pratt told the InGen medical staff, “You made them and now you think you own them.”
12. Struggle Is Necessary For Strength – InGen employee Hoskins reminds us a fundamental reality, “Struggle breeds greatness.”
13. Divorce Destroys Lives And Has Generational Impact – As two brothers were discussing their parents pending divorce, the older brother mentioned the benefits like receiving two of everything at holidays.  Then the younger brother, played by Ty Simpkins, said through a stream of tears, “I don’t want two of everything.”
14. You Can Choose Your Decisions.  You Just Do Not Get To Choose Your Consequences – As a Christian, I often tell people, “You can choose your sin.  You just don’t get to choose your consequences.”  When Indominus Rex escaped captivity and was headed toward the theme park and its 20,000+ visitors, Claire said, “I’m not going to turn this place into a war zone.”  Owen noting she did not have a choice, “You already have.”
15. The Only Lasting Leadership Model Is Servant Leadership – InGen head scientist Dr. Henry Wu explained his decision to engineer different types of dinosaurs, “Monster is a relative term.  To a canary, a cat is a monster.  We’re just used to being the cat.”
16. Successful Leaders Play To Their Strengths – When asked to do something outside his skill set, Owen said, “I was with the Navy.  Not the Navajo.”
17. The Importance Of Clarity – In an example of an extreme understatement, the public address announcer told the park’s attendees, “Due to a containment anomaly, all guests must take shelter immediately.”
18. Leaders Call Others To Greater Commitment – Claire told Lowery, “Why don’t you be a man and do something once in your life.”
19. There Is No Success Without Succession – If you are a fan of the Jurassic movies, I have great news for you.  Everything is setup for a fifth installment.  I am personally looking forward to it.

Go see Jurassic World.  You will have a great time.  Let me know what you think of the movie.

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