The movie Jurassic Park has a famous scene where paleontologist Dr. Grant, played by Sam Neill, discovers dinosaurs can now be produced through genetic engineering. He then tells his cohorts, “I think we’re out of a job.” To which the wise-cracking Dr. Ian Malcolm, played by Jeff Goldblum, responded, “Don’t you mean extinct?”
What few people know is Malcolm’s quote was not in the original script.
It has been reported the quote originated from director Stephen Spielberg’s on-set conversation with the movie’s visual effects supervisor Phil Tippett. After watching an early CGI scene of a T-Rex chasing a herd dinosaurs, Speilberg immediately knew computer-generated images would dramatically change the special effects and movie industry forever.
He said to Tippett, “You’re out of a job.” Tippett replied, “Don’t you mean extinct.”
As producers heard this conversation, they realized the exchange was perfect dialogue for movie itself. The rest, as they say, is cinematic history.
The Leadership Lesson
Here is the lesson all leaders can learn from this exchange – Great ideas come to life when great minds give great ideas to a great team who can execute and is willing to change. Let me explain.
The Perfect Conditions
There were a set of perfect conditions in place in the story above. If these conditions can be recreated in your current environment, you can see great ideas come to life as well.
- Great ideas often come from great minds. So have as many smart people around you as possible.
- Great ideas come from A LOT of good ideas. So have as many as possible. Tippett’s quote on extinction flowed from evaluating their previously-shot scenes.
- Great ideas come to life when you are willing to change. Spielberg and the movie’s producers were willing to change their already-excellent script.
- Great ideas come to life when they are given to a great team to execute. This is important. Execution is where great ideas go to die. Having a team of talented people like Jeff Goldblum is a must if you want to see your ideas come to life.
To repeat, great ideas come to life when great minds give great ideas to a great team who can execute and is willing to change.
Do you have these conditions in place? If not, I would recommend redshirting your great ideas until you do.
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Therefore, the fundamentals of leadership are more important than ever. The quotes in this book deal with the basics of leadership. If you want to be the best leader you can possibly be, click HERE or on the image provided to download this FREE resource. The lessons learned from last year, if applied, will sustain you for years to come.