Rogue One is a dynamic and exciting new Star Wars story that has broken box office records. Star Wars: The Last Jedi will hit theatres in December 2017. Packed into this great film are plenty of professional lessons for both the characters, the Rebellion and of course the Empire. Here are three career lessons from Rogue One.
Love your employer
Ever been seduced by the dark lure of bigger money, or other prestigious perks (fancy title) or less prestigious draws (shorter commute) to work for a company or organization that didn’t align with your values? In Rogue 1, scientist-of-the-people Galen Erso is strong armed by Imperial Director Orson Krennic to return to work for the Empire in order to build the Death Star, a space station-based superweapon capable of planets. It’s a bad employment fit all around. For Erso, it means years of work on a project he doesn’t believe in, no work-life balance and a pretty miserable existence at his Imperial research facility on the planet Eadu. Oh, and his wife was murdered and his daughter disappeared. For Krennic and the Empire, it’s strategically disastrous. While the weapons system gets built, it is built with a fatal flaw that eventually allows the Rebellion to destroy it. A lot of Empire staff and civilians lose their lives in a military disaster that’s got to hurt their bottom line (building a space station the size of a planet has got to be pricey). Professional lesson number one – make sure you and your organization are values aligned.
Avoid office politics
In the Empire, office politics in the Imperial command appear to be alive and well. Will Director Krennic pull off the construction of the project of the century? Will he get the credit from the Emperor that he feels he deserves or will he get screwed by his “boss” (cgi-Ified Peter Cushing) Grand Moth Tarkin. In order to avoid getting knee capped, Krennic goes over his boss’ head to Darth Vader (a man of great influence but outside the traditional org chart of the Empire). Ballsy. While Vader seems to get the message, it doesn’t stop him from strangling Krennic – a literal response to a figurative feeling of frustration that generally happens when you backdoor your superiors. What’s the lesson from all this? Even in a galaxy far, far away, office politics is alive and well… and to be avoided wherever possible.
Trust takes time
Remember the time when you defected from the other “company” and brought with you a secret message from a mole inside the rival company detailing a Machiavellian super) “weapon” (like a viral marketing campaign) ) that they were preparing to use to obliterate your market share and bring you organization to its knees? No – well what about the time when you started in a new team. While people were friendly enough, no one (especially your boss) was taking you into their confidence. This frustrated you because you had some good ideas and you felt they weren’t getting their due consideration. Welcome to cargo pilot Bodhi Rook’s world. Forging trust is built on experience. In Rogue One, Rook, Jyn Erso and pretty much every other character needs to take time to earn trust. They survive a sketchy Stormtrooper attack on Jedha and the eventual Death-Star-delivered-destruction of a nearby city and a bunch of other events. With these common experiences, they are forged as a team and eventually this pays off when a small army of rebels get their back.