Career lessons learned from the movie Bohemian Rhapsody

Estimate reading: 4 minutes

Named based on the smashing hit song, Bohemian Rhapsody movie came to theaters celebrating the iconic rock band Queen with their revolutionary music and extraordinary lead singer Freddie Mercury. The movie spotted the light on the band's rise and success and the drama involved in their story. The first time I heard Queen was in mid-nineties when I had my first ever Walkman "cassette player" at that day and had one of my mom's collection of rock music. The song was "I want to break free". A song my mom loved and used to sing it or play it from time to time.

But today I want to talk about the movie from a career perspective and life lessons.

Here are my takes on the movie:

𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽:

Freddie knew where he is going and what needs to make things done. He didn't wait for fate to choose his path but he took the initiative for any opportunity he came across even if he and his band had to take risks... in which they did and then signed their first album making them an official band and skyrocket. Does that remind you of any successful entrepreneur?

𝗦𝗼 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂:

You might have wondered why Freddie was able to talk with absolute full confidence and being cocky with others and everyone listening to him? Even if he was rude and egoistic? Freddie was extremely confident of his abilities that no one would dare to turn down anything he says, and even if they did they were the losers. Freddie was aware of his rare skills and that he couldn't be replaced. In fact, he was running the whole band. Can you remember a company or department that went down after losing a great player? Like an employee or manager?

𝗡𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀:

Freddie knew he was talented and he was sure enough that when the band refused to have him in their band (at that time they were called Smile) he didn't go away but sang a song in front of them to prove what he was made of. He knew where would be the right place that will utilize his skills and where he could shine. Can you relate that to your career?

𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗱𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀:

Now honestly this has nothing to do with the band or Freddie, it's about the screenplay. The producers played it quite well to control the emotions of the spectators. The majority of the scenes were positive, joyful and nostalgic. After all, the movie focused on the continuous success of the band and not to forget the majority of the audience are Queen fans and a movie of the stories behind their favorite songs. Everyone left the movie feeling happy. Win people with your positivity.

𝗕𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳, 𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰:

Freddie unleashed his inner original self. He lived every moment on the stage and never thought of just doing whatever he had to to do just to please the audience. He didn't give a damn about others judging him. That made him win his audience's respect, love and feeling closer to them you have an upcoming interview just be yourself and people will surely love you... But without weird moves or outfits ;)

𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁:

This is the secret of successful presenters. Help your audience feel involved by being energetic, purposeful and staged as if it's a direct conversation between you and the audience. This will make them more connected and part of the show. The band's performance is a great example. Remember the story behind the song "we will rock you". If you are an instructor or corporate presenter you should know this.

(Have you started chanting the song or heard the beat in your head already?)

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗱:

Queen chose to create their own unconventional methods and music and not be just another band within the pop culture defying stereotypes. They kept thinking out of the box with their own strategies in their head. This made them unique and ahead of other bands or musicians at their time. Why don't you think of unique strategies to stand out of your competitors?

I am not a Queen fanatic or giving extra credits to the movie. It just that I watched the movie during the same period I was reading the book "So good they can't ignore you" by Cal Newport. And since I am into career coaching, I got all that related to Freddie Mercury and Queen's career development.

If you found any other lessons to be learned in the movie write them down in the comments section and let's hear your opinions.

𝐇𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐦 𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝

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