Hold on to Your Butts: Leadership Lessons from Jurassic Park
The original Jurassic Park film was the summer blockbuster of 1993. I was 14 years old which put me at the top-end of age range to be captivated by this masterpiece. As an adult, I went many years without watching it, but since my third son, Josiah, first saw it (and other movies in the franchise), we’ve enjoyed the opportunity to watch it regularly, as it is one of his favorites. He fully plans to drive around in a Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler when he turns 16.
I love drawing leadership lessons from my favorite movies. It has been a while since I’ve written one of these, so I figured you were due. Here are my leadership lessons from the quintessential classic, Jurassic Park.
“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” – Dr. Ian Malcolm, Chaotician
The best aspect of Jurassic Park is the ethical dilemma. John Hammond had a grand vision realized by scientific breakthroughs and funding. At the behest of his investors, he surrounded himself with a diverse group of scientists. While Drs. Grant and Sattler were still awestruck with Jurassic Park, Dr. Malcolm was ready and willing to offer his skepticism through pithy comments in every scene.
As technology leaders, we can become similarly blinded. We cast the vision and secure the funding. Our teams break through the technical challenges and deliver. What makes us good leaders is our vision and drive. What makes us great leaders is our willingness to stop and consider the path. What are the long-term consequences? What do the Ian Malcolm’s of our world have to say? What are our enduring values that supersede and inform our goals?
Most of us do not face life-and-death consequences to our everyday leadership decisions, but they are nevertheless weighty. Take the time to feel the burden and make ethically-sound decisions.
At a point of frustration, John Hammond exclaimed, “You’re meant to defend me against these characters and the only one I’ve got on my side is the bloodsucking lawyer!” Fortunately, my colleagues in the legal department are not bloodsucking. However, good leaders take pause when they find themselves among the minority of their diverse team. This is the time to stop and listen, not to blindly charge ahead in frustration.
“Hold on to your butts.” – Ray Arnold, Chief Engineer
Some of you probably don’t remember that Samuel L. Jackson was in Jurassic Park. His role was Chief Engineer of Jurassic Park and he had very little screen time. “Hold on to your butts” might as well have been the strategic statement for the Jurassic Park IT organization. This is quite indicative of how the place was run. Ray didn’t have oversight of his team and couldn’t step in for them when they were gone. He had theories and suggestions, but no confidence that anything would actually work. Suffice it to say that you do not want to hire Ray to run your IT department.
The villain of Jurassic Park is Dennis Nedry, Lead Computer Programmer. He prided himself on his automation skills and capacity to manage two million of lines of code. He had no loyalty to his leadership and jumped at the opportunity to betray them.
John Hammond’s interactions with Ray and Dennis are uninspiring to say the least. He clearly had no rapport with either of them and just used them as a means to an end.
John Hammond: “All major theme parks have delays. When they opened Disneyland in 1956, nothing worked!”
Ian Malcolm: “Yeah, but, John, if The Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don’t eat the tourists.”
John Hammond spared no expense. He hired his team but didn’t lead them. He tolerated quality problems and operational issues, without any consideration of the dire consequences. John clearly had a vision but lacked the ability to build a team and guide them with values.
“Mr. Hammond, after careful consideration, I’ve decided not to endorse your park.” – Dr. Alan Grant, Paleontologist
The story of Jurassic Park is mostly about leadership failure, but there are models of leadership success in the story. Dr. Alan Grant is the best example in the film. He spent a lot of time early on confused, awestruck, and disoriented. He questioned his professional relevance as a paleontologist in a world where dinosaurs were no longer extinct.
Worst of all, he was thrust into a leadership position responsible for two children amidst extreme danger. He was quite obviously very uncomfortable with children.
For many of us, this setup should seem familiar. Every new pursuit of leadership is extremely disorienting and confidence-shaking. It takes time, but we eventually find our groove. Additionally, it is completely natural to question our professional and educational relevance, especially in the face of advanced technology. However, our skills and experiences always continue to come in handy. Finally, we do not always get to pick our team. Sometimes you get what you get, and good leaders know how to make their team rise to their potential.
As a leader, I could not imagine a worse team member than John Hammond’s granddaughter, Lex Murphy. She literally cried and screamed the entire movie. Dr. Grant overcame his own discomfort and led her each step of the way.
In the end, she saved the team. “It’s a Unix system. I know this,” Lex exclaimed. Then she proceeded to activate the door locks to protect the team from the raptors. She likely would not have had the confidence to do this if it wasn’t for Dr. Grant’s leadership along the way.
Those are my leadership lessons from Jurassic Park. In summary, John Hammond could have averted disaster if he had listened to his diverse advisors and developed his tech team, guiding them with enduring values. Dr. Grant was a great leader because he pressed through his disorientation and discomfort, then rose to lead his team to save the day. Go forth and do likewise.
Do you like learning leadership lessons from classic movies? Check out some of my other articles here:
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