Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Gemini Man

A Reel Leadership Article

Will Smith stars as Henry Brogan and Junior in the new film Gemini Man. Henry is an expert hitman who is being pursued by someone familiar yet unknown to him. This person is Junior, a digitally de-aged Will Smith.

When Henry discovers he’s being pursued by a clone of his, his mission becomes one to discover the truth. Throughout the rest of Gemini Man, Henry and Junior face-off multiple times…

Gemini Man promo image

Will they become allies? Will Junior kill Henry? Or will Henry kill Junior?

Those are all questions you will have as you watch the enjoyable Gemini Man. You will not only be treated to the answers to those questions when you watch the movie, but you will also be treated to many leadership lessons in Gemini Man.

This article will discuss those leadership articles. Prepare yourself for Reel Leadership.

Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Gemini Man

1. Plan your next move:

Henry Brogan is an expert assassin. He’s been trained by the best. He also worked with the best.

As Gemini Man opens, you see Henry practicing his craft. He’s measuring the wind speed, how fast the train is going, the location of the train, etc…

Henry is planning his next move. He needs to know these measurements so he can make the perfect shot.

When’s the last time you planned your next move? The move might be the next evolution in your business, a church plant, or how to leave your organization.

Every move a leader takes should be planned. You should have considered the implications for the move you’re making.

By planning, you’re able to take the right actions at the right time for the anticipated results.

2. Your next move might be delayed:

Uh oh… Just as Henry is getting ready to take the shot, a variable stepped into the equation. A young girl steps in front of Valery Dormov (as Igor Szász), Henry’s target.

What does Henry do? He delays the shot.

The delay costs him time. He has to recalculate. He has to figure out a new strategy.

Through all of this, Henry is able to take a new shot. This shot hits his target. His action was delayed, it wasn’t finished.

You may have laid out all of the pieces of your next move. You may think it’s the perfect time to make the move. Then something happens and you have to delay your move.

Learn to be okay with having to call an audible. Situations change all of the time. You may have to make a call you don’t like but have to live with.

A delayed move isn’t the end. It’s a waiting period.

3. Henry Brogan:

I didn’t feel the shot. Not like I should have.

Henry went to Del Patterson (Ralph Brown) to tell him he was done. As he does so, Del begins to ask him questions behind his reasoning.

Henry tells Del he’s done. This last mission shook him because his instincts and skills felt like they were waning. He wasn’t feeling his job anymore.

It was time for Henry to quit the world of assassins and hitmen. He knew it and he had a good reason for quitting.

There comes a time in every leader’s life where they have to make a choice. Do they continue to lead or do they hang their leadership hat up for the last time?

I believe if you begin to question the calls you’re making, if you no longer feel confident in the majority of your decisions, you need to consider stepping aside. It is hard to lead when your heart isn’t in it. You’ll fumble through leading others when you don’t feel it anymore.

4. Henry Brogan:

I just want some peace…

Henry also said this while talking to Del. Henry’s work wasn’t one that lent itself to peace. It was a very violent, very unrestful job.

It came time for Henry to get peace. The only way he saw this happening was to retire.

Leadership is a stressful business. There are major, life-changing decisions to be made. You’re the one who has to make those decisions.

Peace can be a hard thing to find when you lead. This lack of peace can be stressful and drive you crazy.

You need to find something in your life that will bring you peace.

5. Henry Brogan:

25 years of faithful service, you make some friends.

After Henry visited an old friend, Jack Willis (Douglas Hodge), he returned to the marina and confronted Danielle “Danny” Zakarweski (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Danny was the gatekeeper of the marina. She was also an intelligence agent.

During a “date,” Henry gave Danny a file. In the file were a copy of Danny’s driver’s license along with other personal information. He obtained these through an old friend he had nurtured a relationship with.

Relationships are important to a leader. They can help you make the right moves, get the information you need, and build key relationships with other business leaders.

Don’t let relationships slip as you lead. You will need personal relationships through your leadership journey.

6. Sometimes you can’t face what you’ve become:

Henry had an aversion to mirrors. He would look away from mirrors if he was in the same room as them.

There was something that pricked him when he looked into a mirror. He saw a reflection of the man he’d become. He didn’t like seeing this person.

Leading will change a person. There’s no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Leadership changes people.

Yet, you don’t have to let leadership change you for the worse. You can lead, lead well, and be changed into something great.

Bad leaders often find themselves avoiding the mirror. They don’t like seeing what they’ve become. It isn’t what they imagined.

Be cautious as you lead. Make sure you’re making decisions you will be proud of.

7. The 1% can bother you:

Danielle had been told Henry was a rogue agent. He’d killed members of his team. And he was on the run.

This story seemed a bit fishy to Danny. Especially after meeting Henry.

Danny told Henry she was 99% sure he wasn’t rogue. There was still a 1% probability in her mind. This 1% bothered her.

Believing fully in someone will give you the confidence to go all out for a person. Having less than a full belief in someone will leave nagging thoughts in your mind.

You may begin to question their loyalty. You may not give them enough of a challenge. Or you may let them go after an honest mistake.

The 1% unbelief in someone will make you treat them differently than if you fully believed in them. Be careful about the 1%.

8. Broken trust is hard to restore:

Henry had trusted Del with his life and work many times. When Henry discovered Del had betrayed him, Henry was broken. The man he’d trusted wasn’t who he said he was.

This caused Henry to not believe Del when Del told Henry to come back in. He would protect him…

Yeah right. Henry wasn’t having any of that. Henry’s trust in Del hadn’t been restored.

When you break the trust of your team, you will have to work extremely hard to restore the lost trust. Your team needs to be able to believe in you. They want to believe in you. You need to help them believe in you.

To do this after breaking trust, you will have to work hard. You will have to show your team you made a mistake and it won’t happen again.

To avoid breaking trust, you need to be upfront and honest when you screw up. Own up to your mistakes. Be open with your team. Help them to see you’re trustworthy.

9. Look for a diplomatic approach:

Henry had been arrested. He was taken to the local police department. Who knows what was about to happen.

You then see Henry being walked out of the police department by a female officer. She puts him into a police car with Marino (E.J. Bonilla) in the driver seat.

Marino was a pilot Henry had been friends with and used for a flight earlier in the movie. The officer was a disguised Danny. He was willing to help Henry out.

Once Henry was in the car, Marino and Danny begin to chat about their approach. Danny took the diplomatic approach. One that didn’t involve violence. Marino, on the other hand, wanted to go in guns a-blazing.

Danny’s diplomatic approach caused a lot less suffering.

Every situation will have a diplomatic approach or a strong-arm approach. Strong-arming every situation will be dangerous and cause a lot of pain. Using diplomacy to diffuse situations will help both parties win.

Look for ways to diplomatically resolve conflict. You don’t have to bulldoze everyone. You can work peacefully to resolve many issues.

10. Yuri Kovacs (Ilia Volok):

You have fears… doubts…

Yuri was sharing why Clay Verris (Clive Owen) was trying to clone Henry. Clay saw the imperfections of Henry.

Fear… Doubt… Anxiety…

They prevented Henry from being the best he could be. Take those away and Henry could be a perfect killing machine.

That’s what Clay worked towards and made progress with Junior (Henry’s clone).

We can let our fears and doubts get in the way of leading well. We can use fear and doubt to stop us from making decisions.

You need to be willing to let go of your fear, of your doubts when making decisions. You need to be able to decide on a course of action despite what you’re feeling.

11. When you learn the truth, it’s hard to continue on your current course:

Junior didn’t realize what was going on. Clay was raising him to become the perfect assassin and to take out the man he was cloned from.

Once Junior realized what was happening, he had to make a decision. Does he stay the course and continue a madman’s dream or does he do the right thing?

Junior chose a higher path. He chose to do the right thing and help Henry.

If you’re leading and you discover your current ways aren’t working, you will correct course. Why? Because you know going down a bad path will hurt.

Choose to change course when you find out something is wrong. Don’t keep doing the same thing over and over again when the results aren’t right.

12. Henry Brogan:

You don’t want those ghosts.

Junior was ready to kill Clay. He had him prone on the ground. This is when Henry stepped in.

He told Junior to not kill Clay. The pain, guilt, and shame he would feel weren’t worth it.

There would be ghosts in Junior’s life had he pulled the trigger.

Wise decisions help minimize the ghosts in your life. If you choose to make wise decisions, you will help prevent pain and suffering in your life.

Be willing to be a bigger man. Choose not to pull the trigger.

Question: If you’ve watched Gemini Man, what leadership lessons did you take away from the movie? If you haven’t seen the movie, what Reel Leadership lessons from Gemini Man that I shared resonated with you? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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