10/14/2024
I went to see "Transformers One" on a date with my wife today, and as a fan of the franchise, I thoroughly enjoyed the story.
Watching Orion Pax’s journey from a curious miner to a respected leader reminded me of my favorite chapter in "Lead Like a Superhero". Though the book was written in 2017, it feels even more relevant with the release of this origin story for Optimus Prime (and Megatron). Here's an excerpt. I hope you find yourself a bit blessed by these words...
“Effective leaders know that you first have to touch people’s hearts before you ask them for a hand.”
–John Maxwell
Optimus Prime has the amazing ability to connect with the hearts of those he leads. They know he genuinely cares about them, and that’s why they’re so willing to get their hands dirty for him. They would follow him to hell and back if need be.
I grew up watching the exploits of the valiant and charismatic Autobot leader on TV. I wasn’t the only boy at the time to gain much inspiration from Prime’s unimpeachable morals and character. I suppose saying he seemed larger than life to me would seem somewhat superfluous since he is, after all, thirty feet tall.
[...]
CALL TO ACTION: BE WISE AND COMPASSIONATE
In Transformers: The Movie (1986), as a dying Optimus Prime is getting ready to pass on the Matrix of Leadership to Ultra Magnus, the following exchange takes place:
Optimus Prime: Ultra Magnus, it is to you, old friend, I shall pass the Matrix of Leadership as it was passed to me.
Ultra Magnus: But Prime, I’m . . . I’m just a soldier. I . . . I’m not worthy.
Optimus Prime: Nor was I.
In this short sequence, we see Prime’s humility shine through. He readily admits he wasn’t always as capable as they (his soldiers) had come to know him. Ironhide, one of his oldest warriors and long-time friends, confirms this in Dreamwave’s 2003 More Than Meets the Eye series. This multi-issue miniseries was a Transformers encyclopedia, which contained all the bios for all the Generation 1 characters. In the bio on Prime, we read what Ironhide says about him:
He’s got all the capabilities you’d want in a military commander: he’s fearless, intelligent, compassionate, and powerful. But what I respect most about him is that he wasn’t always this way. I’ve seen him change and grow from a timid, unsure archivist who just happened to be put in charge, to a wise, confident leader. I think that’s why every Autobot’ll gladly follow Prime’s lead without him even having to ask. He understands what it’s like to be in their shoes—confused, scared oilless, and just trying to do what’s right—so he’d never ask something of them that he wouldn’t willingly do himself.
The good news in all of this is that Optimus Prime wasn’t always wise, confident, and compassionate. He had to learn these skills. He cultivated those qualities through a process. And here is the good news: it’s a lengthy process that we also can decide on as leaders. In fact, you should add it to your list of “shoulds.” What better aim in your leadership journey than to be decisive in accumulating wisdom and to show more compassion? Of course, you don’t just become wise and compassionate. You have to want it, and you have to do what it takes to get there.
[...]
As for showing compassion, the golden rule is a very good place to start: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. There is a touching story about the Civil War (not the one told by Marvel Comics . . . the real one) that recounts the compassionate actions of southern General, Robert E. Lee. I’ll let this Union soldier who met Robert E. Lee in the worst of circumstances tell his own story of when he met Lee on the blood-drenched battlefield:
I was at the battle of Gettysburg myself, and an incident occurred there which largely changed my views of the Southern people. I had been a most bitter anti-South man, and fought and cursed the Confederates desperately. I could see nothing good in any of them. The last day of the fight I was badly wounded. A ball shattered my left leg. I lay on the ground not far from Cemetery Ridge, and as General Lee ordered his retreat he and his officers rode near me. As he came along I recognized him, and though faint from exposure and loss of blood, I raised up my hands, looked Lee in the face, and shouted as loud as I could, “Hurrah for the Union!” The general heard me, looked, stopped his horse, dismounted, and came toward me. I confess that I at first thought he meant to kill me. But as he came up, he looked down at me with such a sad expression upon his face that all fear left me, and I wondered what he was about. He extended his hand to me, and grasping mine firmly and looking right into my eyes, said, “My son, I hope you will soon be well.”
If I live a thousand years I shall never forget the expression on General Lee’s face. There he was, defeated, retiring from a field that had cost him and his cause almost their last hope, and yet he stopped to say words like those to a wounded soldier of the opposition who had taunted him as he passed by! As soon as the general had left me, I cried myself to sleep there upon the bloody ground (Memoirs of Robert E. Lee, Col. A. L. Long).
That’s compassion. That’s an Optimus Prime leader in action. If you practice this on a daily basis, you will be well on your way to emulating Optimus Prime. You will be well on your way to being a great human being and a great leader.
[...]
“I auditioned like everybody else. I was told it was a hero, and I was told it was a truck. I was living with my brother Larry at the time. He had returned from service as a marine in Vietnam, and I told him one day I was going out to audition for a truck.
And he says, ‘A truck?’
And I said, ‘Yeah, but he’s a hero truck.’
‘This is really good, Pete, yeah,’ he said . . . ‘Well, if you’re going to be a hero, be a real hero. Don’t be a Hollywood stereotypical thing with the yelling and screaming.’ He said, ‘Be strong enough to be gentle.’ And Larry was that way.
I had no idea what the script was going to be. But in effect, the lines just came out, and I just did my brother, Larry.”
–Peter Cullen, voice actor, on his audition to play Optimus Prime
