BusinessForward

I think the answer to this question is an emphatic “YES“.

While most of the audience was filled with children, I think the lessons learned from this movie could be applied very well in Corporate America. Here is my listing of the top 3 lessons learned from Lego Land that can be applied to Corporate Land:

Lesson #1. Always Have a Well-Thought Out Set of Instructions

This is pretty simple, but often overlooked. The Lego movie characterizes this very well whenever all of the major superheroes are under attack from evil forces – every superhero knows exactly what they want to build, in their own way, and build it very quickly without any instructions or input from the other superheroes – every superhero knows their good at building, but fail to think of any other ways to build it other than their own. Their jaws dropped at the mention of documenting a blueprint, and their little Lego heads were basically pounding on the table while attending a strategy meeting (sound familiar?).

This ultimately leads to failure, in Lego Land and Corporate Land.

Most often, people who have gained a lot of recognition or have been in one role for a long time – just like the superheroes – and know that they are good at what they do fail to document what they have done and/or accept any changes to how they do their job. No matter how innate a job becomes, one must always be willing to sit down at the drawing board and consider industry best practices and others’ opinions to design the blueprint that will enable them to create something truly masterful and superhero worthy.

Lesson #2. FOLLOW THOSE INSTRUCTIONS!

The hero in the story is great at doing one thing very well: following instructions. He is characterized as having nothing special, no “superhuman” ability, and nothing that makes him really “stand out from the crowd”. As in all good movies however, our Average Joe turns out to be Lego Land’s savior from “President Business”, the film’s evil CEO/tyrant, all because he was able to create a blueprint (see lesson #1) and then follow those instructions. Again, the superheroes in this story were AWFUL at following instructions, but like in all good movies they eventually realize that they have to change their attitude to be more like Joe if they were going to save the world from President Business on a tight schedule.

It happens all the time… you spend hours, days and even months documenting instructions to only have them archived somewhere, leading to massive amounts of out-of-date documentation that’s getting used by literally no one. This isn’t just an awful feeling for the people who put in the work to provide the instructions, but is a disservice to the organization to let it go to waste. It goes without saying, one must follow the instructions until they become innately known. The reason our Hero was able to even create the blueprint in Step #1 is because he knew the instructions for every machine and procedure that was in President Business’s organization like the back of his hand.

So very simply put – until you know… follow, and make sure to keep the documents up-to-date if those instructions ever change!

Lesson #3. Use What You Have Learned and Become a Visionary Superhero!

So you’ve laid out your blueprint and followed it through to fruition. You know these instructions like the back of your hand and your confident in your abilities to see those instructions through. Congratulations, you are ready to move on to the next level of visionary superhero!

What is a visionary superhero exactly? Well, in Lego Land that means that Average Joe now has the ability to “see” what he’s going to build and build it very quickly, just like all the other superheroes. However, it’s important to not get caught up in the same routine of just building what you know (i.e. an Astronaut who ONLY builds spaceships – though useful – you only need a spaceship in very limited instances in one’s life, if at all… unless you’re Buzz Lightyear or Richard Branson). In Corporate land, this means that you have a solid foundation to build and improve upon. You can even provide the blueprint, and the finished goods, of what you envision all due to your solid foundation and knowledge of what to build… and do it much faster than the Average Joe.

The important lesson here is: If you’re going to build something you’ve never built before, then you first have to “see” what pieces need to fit together. In Corporate Land, we would call these blocks “dependencies” and if one wheel is missing then the cart just won’t go. Make sure all dependencies are included in your blueprint and build away!

P.S. Even though you’re an awesome superhero now, don’t forget to follow the blueprint!