Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Bill & Ted Face The Music

A Reel Leadership Article

Dudes! It’s a most excellent time! There’s a new Bill And Ted movie and it’s available to stream right to your home stereo and video setup.

Bill And Ted Face The Music is the third movie in the Bill And Ted series. This entry comes 29 years after Bill And Ted’s Bogus Journey and 31 years after Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

The boys haven’t missed a beat. Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) are back with a mission. A mission to save the world and all of reality.

Bill and Ted with their arms extended wide in Bill & Ted Face The Music

Many other original cast members return. William Sadler takes up the mantle of Death, Hal Landon Jr. returns as Chief Jonathan Logan, Amy Stoch is back as Missy (Bill and Ted’s former step-mother), and George Carlin as Rufus.

Bill And Ted Face The Music is the feel-good movie we need right now. It will bring tears to your eyes from the laughter. It is so utterly ridiculous but so, so good.

Not only will you feel good after watching Bill & Ted Face The Music, you will feel like a better leader… If you watch it with the eyes of a Reel Leader.

Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Bill And Ted Face The Music

1. It can appear that you have failed:

Bill and Ted were told they would write a song that would unite the world. They tried so hard to do this. Still, regardless of the effort they put into writing the song, they just couldn’t do it.

They had failed

Or so they thought.

But they hadn’t. The time had not yet come for the final song. There was still going to be an epic uniting song that was created by the duo.

Timelines, dreams, and pathways are all great. They help us to know where we’re going. They can also give us deadlines for when things need to be done.

These deadlines can trip us up. Especially if we fail to meet them.

Is it a failure? Or is it just not the right time?

You have decide this. You may not have failed. The success may come at another time.

2. Trying harder won’t fix things:

Bill and Ted knew what their ultimate goal was. They had to write the song that would unite the world. They tried and tried and tried…

Each time, things got worse. Their musical talent waned and they created horrendous music.

Their hard work wasn’t paying off.

Sometimes, we can try harder and harder to beat a dead horse. The problem is the horse is dead. We cannot get it to improve.

Let’s stop beating the dead horse. Instead, let’s look at new solutions. What can we do to change our actions ever so slightly that will pay off with big dividends?

3. Ted:

Liz (Erinn Hayes) is right. We have been banging our heads against the wall for 25 years.

Liz is Ted’s wife. She’s noticed how much work the duo has put into creating the most epic song of all time.

Their work wasn’t paying off. It was causing frustration and hurt.

Liz’s words began to impact the way Ted thought about the music. He was feeling discouraged and was willing to give up at this point.

We’re thankful Ted didn’t give up! Because of his hard work, he saved the universe. Yet, there’s no shame in giving up.

There are times in our lives when we will have to throw in the towel. Know when it is time to quit.

4. Bill:

Be excellent to each other.

The Great Ones brought Bill and Ted to the future to face the music. Their time was running out and they needed a solution.

Upon their greeting, Bill gave his usual speel of “Be excellent to each other.”

His words should ring true for all of us. We all need to learn how to be excellent to each other.

If we were to take Bill’s words to heart, we would learn there’s so much more we have in common than we have differences.

Let’s be excellent to each other.

5. Rufus’s Watch:

Sometimes things don’t make sense until the end of the story.

There were so many things that didn’t make sense to Bill and Ted. They couldn’t understand why they couldn’t create the epic song that had been prophesied.

As you get to the end of the story, it makes sense why Bill and Ted couldn’t do it. They couldn’t create the song because they created the creators of the song, their daughters – Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine) and Thea (Samara Weaving).

Leadership requires so much from its leaders. We’re called to do anything and everything and so much of it doesn’t make sense at the time we’re doing it.

We struggle to see the forest from the trees. The work seems meaningless. We can’t understand why the bad things happen.

Then, at the end of our leadership journey, we discover what it was all about.

Be ready for the confusion. Be ready to not know what’s going on. In the end, it will make sense.

6. Assemble a great team:

Thea and Billie wanted to help their dads accomplish their mission. They were able to convince Kelly (Kristen Schaal) to give them her time traveling machine.

The duo went throughout time and picked up the greatest musicians. They recruited:

  • Louis Armstrong (Jeremiah Craft)
  • Jimi Hendrix (DazMann Still)
  • Mozart (Daniel Dorr)
  • Ling Lun (Sharon Gee)
  • Grom (Patty Anne Miller)

These musicians were talented. They were a great team.

Who are you looking to recruit for your team? Are they talented? Are they willing to work together?

There are multiple aspects to forming a great team. Talent is but one piece. Cooperation…. Creativity…. Initiative…

These are all things that make up a great team.

7. We all make mistakes:

The Great Leader (Holland Taylor) had sent a robot, Dennis Caleb McCoy (Anthony Carrigan) to kill Bill and Ted. He was on a mission and he wasn’t going to fail.

Except he did. He made mistake after mistake.

First, he killed Chief Logan. Then he killed Thea, Billie, Louis Armstrong, Jimi Hendrix, Mozart, Ling Lun, Grom, and The Great Leader’s daughter Kelly. Finally, he went to kill himself and wound up killing Bill and Ted too.

Whoopsie!

These were big mistakes. He made multiple mistakes. However, he also helped them recover from their deaths.

Mistakes will happen. Even you will make mistakes.

We can’t let our mistaktes stop us from leading. We have to keep going.

8. Dennis Caleb McCoy:

Wait… I have a name. It’s Dennnis McCoy.

The robot didn’t know his name at the moment of his creation. Throughout the movie, he discovered what his name was.

This change him. He no longer wanted to be the killing machine he was created to be. He wanted to be something more.

Names mean something. When you give someone a name, the name can impact the way they work.

Name someone stupid and you will get a stupid employee. Choose to name someone a top performer, there’s a good chance they will perform better.

Choose great names for your team members.

9. Chief Logan:

Well then, I should start helping you instead of criticizing you.

Chief Logan didn’t believe Bill or Ted had traveled through time or to hell. He thought they were telling fibs.

They weren’t. They had really traveled to the places they talked about.

When Chief Logan met them in Hell, he began to believe them. He also realized he needed to stop criticizing Bill and Ted and begin helping them.

Is it time you start believing your team? Is it time you start helping them rather than criticizing them?

It is. It is time to step up and be the leader who trusts and helps.

You will see a return on your belief in your team.

10. Sometimes a leader has to wait outside:

Thea and Billie wanted to talk to Death after Bill and Ted failed to gain his trust. To do this, Billie and Thea asked their dads to wait outside.

The girls then went in to talk to Death. Their conversation moved the needle more than Bill and Ted’s.

Leaders want to be the center of attention. They believe they have the answers.

The truth is, leaders don’t always have the answers… Or the relational equity to deal with certain situations.

There are times when leaders need to wait outside while someone with a lower status go and talk through an issue.

11. Death:

I am sorry that fame went to my head. It was intoxicating.

Death apologized for his actions. He had let fame go to his head. He was drunk with fame.

The same can happen to leaders. Even the best of leaders.

The more success, the more fame we achieve the more likely we are to become intoxicated with the power we gain.

Let’s make a pact to not let power go to our heads. Let’s be leaders who are able to recognize when we’re going over the edge.

12. Death:

You don’t just get to rock. You have to earn the right to rock.

We could replace the word rock with the word lead. Doing this would be the truth.

We can’t just lead. We have to earn the right to lead.

You do this through gaining relational equity, being there for others, and finding ways that work. When you do this, you earn the right to lead.

13. Leadership isn’t about you:

Bill And Ted Face The Music appeared to be about Bill and Ted. It wasn’t.

The song to write wasn’t theirs. Thea and Billie were the ones to write the song and bring the band together.

It’s easy to get caught up in the title and position of leadership. There are books out there that will tell you leadership is about the leader. It is… to a point.

Then it becomes something different.

Leadership isn’t about you in the end. Leadership is about the people you help become the next generation of leaders.

Be a builder of leaders. Make leadership about others and not yourself.

Where To Watch Bill And Ted Face The Music

Amazon Video

iTunes

FandangoNow

Google Play

Vudu

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