Leadership Training from Benjamin Button

I went to see a great movie last week with Tom and Melissa, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

The movie was both sad and inspirational in several ways. One of the funniest parts of the movie is an old man who lives in the home where Benjamin is raised who repeats the phrase "Have I ever told you I've been struck by lightning seven times?" He's old and each time he recalls this the movie reveals the strike in a quick flashback of him being struck in a different way. At first glance it's funny but I think one of the messages underneath the humor is don't be surprised by the unexpected. Learn to accept it, deal with it and move on or even better, laugh at it as the movie asks us to do.

A couple other quotes really say a lot in terms of leadership and business:

“We are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss”

“Life can only be understood looking backward. It must be lived forward.”

"We were meant to lose people. How else would we know how important they are?"

And the very best quote that I hope to remember everyday, one that has more application to leadership and change than anything I've read in a very long time is near the end of the movie. When Benjamin is looking back on his life he says:

For what it’s worth, it’s never too late, or in my case too early, to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit... start whenever you want... you can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that stop you. I hope you feel things that you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life that you’re proud of and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.
-Benjamin Button