4 Things Tom Cruise’s Frustration Showed Us That Being A Leader Is Stressful
By: Nicole Sudjono
Tags: Leadership, Movies, Business, Motivation, Self

1) They Have To Repeat Themselves nearly ALL THE TIME

“We want the gold standard. They’re back there in Hollywood making movies right now because of us! Because they believe in us and what we’re doing!!!”

Today, we live in a world where there is just too much information to be stored in our heads. There is just not enough memory to remember them, and too much information will only gain you no audience at all. That is why leaders must repeat themselves nearly all the time.

It may sound annoying to repeat what you say all the time, parents understand this very much, but it’s necessary.

Repetition is the key to successful communication, it has a great power especially for learning, and important in speeches to motivate others. Leaders must also redefine their way of repeating themselves so that they won’t bore their followers: simple and concise. That way, it reminds their colleagues and followers what they are fighting for.

In Tom’s case, he knew that he is creating a blockbuster movie. Perhaps the crews forgot? Who knows.

In the ranting showed above, we can see that he repeated himself three times in a different way: creating a great quality movie. First, he told them that they are of a high standard. Second, he reminded the crew that they (I’m not sure who Tom meant by ‘they’ but I’m assuming stakeholders or producers)are the reason why Hollywood is back in business. Lastly, he ended it by telling them that there are people out there entrusting their project to work.

Another example of his repetition of the message was when he threatened to fire his crews, and he delivered it repetitively and some with different context:

I have told you and now I want it and if you don’t do it you’re out. If I see it again you’re fucking gone — and you are — so you’re going to cost him his job, if I see it on the set you’re gone and you’re gone. That’s it. Am I clear? You understand what I want? Do you understand the responsibility that you have? Because I will deal with your reason. And if you can’t be reasonable and I can’t deal with your logic, you’re fired. That’s it. That is it. I trust you guys to be here. That’s it. That’s it guys.

As you can see here, because of how serious the Covid cases are in the US, Tom had to ensure that all his people are safe. There cannot be a protocol broken, otherwise, it’d cause the whole movie to add more cost if they had to delay the project just because if someone broke the protocol.

2) They Work Later Than Others

I’m on the phone with EVERY f*cking studio at night, INSURANCE COMPANIES, PRODUCERS!!

Simon Sinek once said:

“Leaders are the ones willing to look out for those to the left of them and those to the right of them. When it matters, leaders choose to eat last.”

Leaders who prioritize others first before themselves will gain even more followers. In the working world, in order to have the people you hire to be comfortable having you as their leader, you are going to have to prioritize their well-being before yourself.

As written in the quote above, it showed that Tom worked harder and later than others, telling everyone that he had to speak with a lot of people to get their movie in process in this kind of time.

Because, like any leader would think, who else will do it if not him? Sure, maybe he hired people to deal with the other stakeholders, but ultimately, he’s the one who must be making the decision.

Doing this is exhausting. It’s messy and a lot of work to do. But leaders must do it for everyone if they want the business going, especially for Tom’s case. Who else would be dealing with insurance companies and producers than himself?