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on August 6, 2011 in Church Leadership, Great Teams

On June 15th here in the Atlanta area, a 2-year-old monkey escaped from the Yerkes National Primate Research Center Field Station which is associated with Emory University.  Should I be concerned?  After watching Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, perhaps I should.

Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes is a completely implausible but fun movie that I enjoyed going to see.  Good storyline, great special effects, and some quality action at the end.  I’ll give it an “8”.  My wife gave it a “2” so you decide.

The following are ten leadership quotes and principles that I took from the movie.

  • “People invest in results not dreams.” – Steven Jacobs, played by David Oyelowo, puts into words what many leaders feel.  Leaders do not waste time and resources.  They value accomplishment and steward their time and resources accordingly.
  • “You know everything about the brain except how it works.” – This was told to the James Franco character, Will Rodman, after a research failure.  Leaders understand there is a difference between exposure and experience.
  • Failure Is Not Final – Though Rodman failed, he continued his practices and achieved a level of success.  You can too.
  • “You are controlling things that weren’t meant to be controlled.” – This is a specific application to Christian leaders.  God cannot be controlled or made quantitative.  His Kingdom is always moving forward, always advancing, and cannot be boxed in.  This leads to the next point:
  • “Some things aren’t meant to be changed.” – In prevailing organizations, mission and vision should never change.  Methods, however, should constantly change.  In fact, mission and vision are never fulfilled without ever-changing methodology.
  • Eyes Are A Window To The Soul – The best part of the movie is the facial expressions of Caesar, the highly intelligent chimpanzee that eventually leads an uprising of primates.  As leaders we focus a lot of what people say and do.  However, the best indicator of a person’s intentions is found in their eyes.
  • “Apes alone weak.  Apes together strong.” – This was spoken by sign language by Caeser to an orangutan during the movie.  A three-stranded cord is not easily broken.  The collective efforts of a team are always more effective than any single individual.  Leaders are teambuilders.
  • Leaders Help Others Win – A key moment in the movie is when Caesar gives a box of cookies to another primate.  The purpose of this was so this primate could increase his influence by giving cookies to all the other monkeys.  In essence, Caesar gave his 2nd tier leader the tools needed to be successful.  Leaders, perhaps you need to hand out some “boxes of cookies” this week to your core leadership!
  • Unleash Your High Capacity Leaders – The strongest ape in the group was a caged gorilla.  Confinement made this gorilla incapable of displaying his skill, strength, and giftedness.  Caesar earned the gorilla’s respect and made his team stronger by releasing him from his constraints.  Leaders, there are high-capacity people in your organization that you need to free up!  This will increase your influence and respect while making your team perform at a higher level.
  • Greed Destroys – Because of financial greed, people were placed in harm’s way.  Greed gives birth to recklessness which ultimately puts your team and organization in a perilous situation.

This is a fun movie but also contains quality leadership applications particularly in the area of teambuilding.  What did you think of the film?

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