Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Nobody The Movie

A Reel Leadership Article

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I slept on the recent movie Nobody (you can rent it on Amazon). After watching Nobody, I am regretting my choice. However, with a movie named Nobody, it is hard to fault someone for skipping over it.

Nobody is a great, smart revenge movie that brings more to the table than movies it has been compared to. You might hear Nobody compared to great movies such as John Wick (pick up my leadership lessons from John Wick on Amazon!), Die Hard, and Taken. While Nobody shares similarities with these great movies, Nobody stands alone in the way it delivers the tale. In the end, you’re left thinking “Man… they did something I wasn’t expecting. They did it with style and smarts.”

I hope you’ll go and see Nobody. I also hope you’ll enjoy what’s coming next.

Today, we’re going to explore the leadership lessons in Nobody.

Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Nobody The Movie

1. Start with the end in mind:

Nobody starts with the end in mind. We see Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) handcuffed and in an interrogation room. There are two agents in the room with him.

Hutch is bloodied and looking rough. This is the beginning of the movie. It is also the end of the movie.

It always fascinates me when a movie starts with a portion of the ending. It tells you they thought about where the movie was going to go and they want you to think of where the movie could go.

When we lead with the end in mind, we are leading toward a goal. We have the endzone in sight. We know what we’re striving for.

If we don’t start with the end in mind, we wander aimlessly. We don’t know what success would look like. We don’t know when to call it quits.

Make sure you’re thinking of what the end looks like.

2. It takes self-control to resist your urges:

Hutch and his family were robbed by two masked assailants (Humberly González as Lupita Martin and Edsson Morales as Luis Martin). The pair break into his home with a gun drawn. Edsson is attacked by Hutch’s son Blake (Gage Munroe).

As the two are tussling, Hutch sneaks up on Lupita. She has a gun trained on the pair fighting. Hutch has a clean shot to smack Lupita with a golf club. He resists the urge to take Lupita out (we discover why later in the movie).

Hutch was ripped apart by his family for not taking action. They felt he should have protected his son. Yet, his self-control was right.

You will be tempted to act quickly. We believe quick action is the hallmark of a leader. I want to challenge you that this assumption is incorrect.

The true hallmark of a leader is self-control.

Self-control allows you to step back from your primal urges. You’re able to assess a situation and decide what is the proper course of action.

Learn to assert self-control.

3. Abby Mansell (Paisley Cadorath):

Why would I be?

Abby is Hutch’s daughter. After the attack, Hutch asked Abby if she was scared.

I loved Abby’s answer. She answered with the love of a child. She told her father that she wasn’t scared because he was there.

Leaders are like a father. They are there to help guide, protect, and grow new leaders.

When you’re around, your people should not be scared. They should be calmed by your presence.

4. Little things change lives:

Abby began to look for her kitty cat bracelet. The bracelet had been in the bowl with the spare change the robbers had stolen.

This small act set Hutch off. He finally broke.

Hutch went after the robbers. He had seen their tattoos. He went around to the local tattoo shops to track the duo down. Eventually, he did.

Thus, began Hutch’s wild and crazy adventure of revenge.

While we won’t go off the deep end and began tracking down people to get back a stolen kitty cat bracelet, we are more like Hutch than we’d like to admit.

Our actions are caused by the small actions of others. We tend to react rather than respond.

Because we react to the small things in life, we are controlled by these small things. Our lives are changed by small things.

Recognize this as you begin to react to the situations around you. Let’s stop letting the small things change our lives.

5. Understand whom you’re dealing with:

Hutch went to multiple tattoo shops until he found the one that had tattooed the robbers. There, he was confronted by multiple people ready to hurt him.

This didn’t deter Hutch. He was ready to take on the world.

It was then that a veteran (Stephen Eric McIntyre) in the shop saw Hutch’s tattoos. Hutch had a tattoo of two playing cards, a 7 and 2 of spades. When the veteran saw the tattoos, he thanked Hutch for his service. He left the shop. And then he locked the doors.

The veteran understood who Hutch was. He respected him and gave him room.

Do you understand the people you’re dealing with? This could be the vendors your organization gets their supplies from. Maybe it is the people you lead. Or it could be the man you report to.

If you understand whom you’re dealing with, you get a better idea of how to deal with difficult situations.

You might be like the old man and realize you need to step out of the room. You might realize that you need to confront issues head-on. Or you might need to be kind and gentle.

By understanding whom you’re dealing with, you can remove a lot of conflicts.

6. Your tools can be used against you:

A band of Russian thugs crash their car while the bus Hutch was riding in was at a red light. These Russian thugs enter the bus and begin to cause trouble. Hutch helps get the others off of the bus and then begins to teach the thugs a lesson.

One of the thugs brought a knife to the fight. He stabs Hutch but leaves the knife in Hutch’s side. Hutch pulls the knife out and uses it against the remaining thugs, including Teddy (Kuznetsov (Aleksandr Pal).

We think the tools we have can only be used by us. We’re wrong when we think this way.

Every tool at our disposal is a tool that can be used against us.

We have to be careful how we use the tools. If we use them inappropriately, they can be used against us.

7. Leaders can have fun:

Yulian Kuznetsov (Aleksey Serebryakov) was the man behind the Obshak Club. It was a place that money was laundered and hidden.

Yulian was a man who liked to have fun. While a bad leader, he showed his people that leaders can have fun.

He got on the stage. There, he sang and danced. He had a great time.

The other Russians were concerned. They thought Yulian’s fun and games meant he couldn’t protect what was there’s. Yulian showed them how ruthless he could be.

We can’t disconnect our fun side from our leadership side. They can work in tandem.

Be willing to have fun with your team. Show them you’re able to bust a move, belt out a tune (our pastor has been showing us he can do this in the last couple of sermons), or play a game.

We’re not called to be stiff and rigid. We’re called to be our whole selves.

Let’s show the people we lead that we’re fun.

8. Hutch:

When you made that tackle, you had my back. I’m proud of you.

While Teddy was disappointed in his dad, Hutch was proud of his son. Hutch knew it took courage to take down one of the robbers.

Hutch took his pride a step further. He didn’t hold in his pride. He shared how proud he was with his son.

I’m sure you are proud of your team. They’re good people, right? They do amazing work…

But, what do you do with the pride you carry for your team? Do you hold it in and saw nothing? Do you complain (it sounds weird but people do this!)? Do you share it with others?

I want you to begin sharing how proud you are with those you lead. Let them know you see what they’ve done. Let them know you appreciate their hard work and talent.

9. We can receive bad information:

Hutch began his violent spree because his daughter believed the robbers had taken her kitty cat bracelet. Abby had told Hutch the bracelet was with the money.

Abby was wrong.

The kitty cat bracelet had not been taken. It had been dropped underneath a couch in the basement.

Uh oh…

Are we like Hutch? Do we act on bad information?

We can spring into action without the correct information. We want to be quick to act.

Sometimes, being quick to act means we’re acting on bad information.

Make sure the information you’ve received is correct before acting.

10. It takes a team:

Hutch bought a business from his father-in-law. He set traps for the impending Russian attack.

However, he wasn’t alone.

Hutch had help. He had a team.

His father, David Mansell (Christopher Lloyd who played Doc from Back To The Future), and Harry Mansell (RZA) were willing to join him. They faced down the Russians.

You cannot lead alone. You need a team.

First, you need a team because you can’t lead if you don’t have a team. Second, you need a team because leading isn’t a solo sport. Leading requires you to lean on people around you for the things you cannot do.

Don’t be afraid to form a team. This team will help you thrive as you lead.

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