If you've already started on your journey with your own business, you'll know that the path isn't always a smooth one. Even world-famous entrepreneurs including Richard Branson, Steve Jobs and many more faced numerous obstacles, rejections and setbacks before reaching their goals.
The aspiring entrepreneur needs a whole suite of skills for success including:
- Leadership
- Business management
- Creativity
- Teamwork
- Communication
- Critical and strategic thinking
- Time management
- Organization
While all of these are useful, the one essential characteristic that you will need is
resilience - and inspiration for this can come from an unlikely source…
Becoming The Main Character
Resilience is something that a lot of our favorite movie characters have bucket loads of and we can learn a lot from some great iconic and
best educational films. While going to the movies might seem an unlikely way to gain inspiration for your entrepreneurial journey, many film heroes can teach us valuable lessons about harnessing the power of motivation and perseverance to achieve our goals.
So, without further ado, let's take our seats, break open the popcorn and check out our Top 8 inspirational movie heroes:
1. Rocky (1976)
“Life's not about how hard of a hit you can give…it's about how many you can take and still keep moving forward”.
Everybody loves an underdog and audiences in the 1970s were transfixed by the tale of Rocky Balboa (played by Sylvester Stallone), an unknown boxer who fights his way to success. Against all odds and some seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Rocky's resilience and self-belief eventually result in his achieving his ambitions.
This movie perfectly demonstrates the importance of persistence in achieving your goals. Rocky doesn't win because of his talent alone. His success is the result of relentless training and discipline and a simple refusal to quit.
What Rocky teaches us:
- You will face countless obstacles such as funding issues, competition, product failures and more - but you can overcome them
- You may not be the strongest or the most talented in the market but this shouldn't be a barrier to success
- You will make mistakes but you will learn from them
- If you keep moving forward and refuse to give up, you will succeed
2. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
“We ALL have to climb mountains, you know. Mountains that go way up high, and mountains that go deep and low”.
In this inspirational movie which is based on a true story, Chris Gardner (played by Will Smith) overcomes financial struggles and homelessness in order to build a new life for himself and his five-year-old son. In this story, problems, disappointment, frustrations and hopelessness are no match for Chris's unbreakable spirit as he fights to find a stable job and reclaim a happy life for himself and Christopher Junior.
What The Pursuit Of Happyness teaches us:
- Achieving your goals will meet with setbacks but you can overcome them
- Rejection is no match for resilience
- Creative problem-solving skills will take you a long way
- Belief in yourself and your vision is essential
3. The Social Network (2010)
“Everybody on campus was using it. ‘Facebook me' was the common expression after two weeks and Mark was the biggest thing on a campus that included 19 Nobel laureates, 15 Pulitzer prize winners, 2 future Olympians and a movie star”.
These days, Mark Zuckerberg is one of the most famous people on the planet but success hasn't always been easy for the Harvard graduate. This film follows Mark's (played by Jesse Eisenberg) journey as he battles diversity with ambition, adaptability and innovation to make Facebook the gigantic success that it is today. Despite a seemingly endless string of criticisms, betrayals and a massively expensive legal battle, Mark wins out through resilience and innovative thinking to become a true shining example of a successful startup.
What The Social Network teaches us:
- You won't start out with a perfect product but success will come from refinement and hard work
- Creative thinking can win the day
- Friends and business don't always mix so be careful who you trust
- Conflict resolution is half of the battle when it comes to success
4. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
“You need to see things as they are, not worse than they are, then see them better than they are - and make them that way”.
This controversial and cautionary (almost) true story of Jordan Belfort highlights the dizzy heights that can be achieved through relentless drive, persuasion and bottomless resilience.
Like him or loathe him, Jordan Belfort (played by Leo DiCaprio) possesses stellar persuasive, risk-taking and strategic thinking skills. While some of Jordan's business practices may be questionable, his persistent drive and ability to bounce back from failure do not fail to impress.
What The Wolf Of Wall Street teaches us:
- It's important to not take bad luck personally
- True resilience is not just about survival but about values and integrity in pursuit of your goals
- Building ethical practices is building for the future
- Never stop learning if you want to achieve your goals
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5. Erin Brockovich (2000)
“Not personal? That is my time, my sweat and my time away from my kids - if that's not personal, I don't know what is”!
Based on a true story, this powerful movie tells the tale of a lowly legal assistant with no formal law education who takes on a powerful corporation and wins.
Erin Brockovich (played by Julia Roberts) is an ordinary woman who, driven by a sense of justice, proves that resilience and determination can drive impactful change, however powerful your foe. Faced with naysayers and countless obstacles, Erin's resilience and determination drive her to find creative ways to succeed in achieving justice for victims of contamination.
What Erin Brockovich can teach us:
- Don't be intimidated by your competition, however powerful they may be
- Advocating for others is just as important as personal success
- Self-belief is essential for achieving your goals
- If you keep fighting you can change the world for the better
6. The Founder (2016)
“While you two boys were content to sit back and become a couple of also-rans, I wanna take the future. I wanna win. And you don't get there by being some ‘aw shucks guy sap'. There's no place in business for people like that”.
McDonald's is one of the most recognizable companies in the world today with a daily revenue of $20.5 million and this film highlights both the triumphs and setbacks faced by founder Ray Kroc (played by Michael Keaton).
Ambitious and determined, Ray's vision and persistence helped him to grow McDonald's into the global empire that it is today - but it wasn't all plain sailing. While Ray undoubtedly achieved massive success, he also faced some pretty sticky ethical dilemmas along the way.
What The Founder teaches us:
- Learning the art of strategic thinking is vital for global success
- Resilience and determination are essential tools against adversity
- The quest for success needs to be balanced with integrity
- A degree of ruthlessness may sometimes be necessary
7. Ford vs Ferrari (2019)
“There's a point at 7,000 RPM where everything fades. The machine becomes weightless. Just disappears. And all that's left is a body moving through space and time. 7,000 RPM. That's where you meet it. You feel it coming; it creeps up on you, close in your ear. Asks you a question; the only question that matters. Who are you?”
This movie tells of the battle royale between two sports car giants who revolutionized the automotive industry - Ford and Ferrari.
With outstanding performances by Matt Damon and Christian Bale, Ford vs Ferrari follows Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles as they battle corporate skepticism and technical setbacks to build a car that defies all expectations through gritty resilience and innovation.
What Ford vs Ferrari teaches us:
- Sometimes you need a single-minded approach when fighting for your vision
- Having the courage to take calculated risks will often pay off
- Standing your ground however much the odds are stacked against you is key to achieving your goals
- Passion will usually prevail!
8. Moneyball (2011)
“Let them make the mistakes. When your enemy's making mistakes, don't interrupt them. They're giving you an out. Just giving it to you. Take it. Say thank you”.
When the Oakland A baseball team hits a rocky patch, General Manager Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt) takes the unprecedented step of using data analytics to create a competitive team despite financial snags and doubting colleagues.
This biographical sports drama highlights the ways in which looking at a problem from a different angle can lead to success. Despite being surrounded by skeptics, Billy's data-driven decisions lead the team to extraordinary success.
What Moneyball teaches us:
- Finding new ways of approaching a problem can have great results
- Don't let others cloud your judgment if you believe in your idea
- Challenge conventional wisdom - remove the sentence “but we've always done it this way” from your vocabulary
- Never give up
Over to You
While movies - including those mentioned in this article - are primarily created for entertainment, they can also serve to inspire us. Films like these teach us valuable lessons on how resilience can
drive us to success.
From persistence in the face of failure to innovative problem-solving, our film heroes show us that whether you're launching a startup, scaling your business or trying to save the world, resilience is the most important tool in your toolbox.
