Rachida and I are re-watching The Godfather.
And for me it’s been waaaayyy too long since I last saw it. It might actually be the best movie ever.
One of the most striking things that I noticed this time, which completely escaped my attention when I last saw it back in my university days, was the remarkable personal development insights of the Don, played exquisitely by the legendary Marlon Brando.
In one scene, his “consiglieri” (legal advisor), Tom Hagan, goes to see a big Hollywood executive to ask him to give Don Corleone’s godson a role in a movie. Waltz, the movie producer flat out denies the request.
Then comes the wisdom, from the mouth of Tom Hagan, reflecting a leadership and mindset principle of the Don himself:
“Thank you for the dinner and a very pleasant evening. Maybe your car could take me to the airport. Mr. Corleone is a man who insists on hearing bad news immediately.”
The next scene is perhaps one of the most memorable of all time in cinematic history… and if you’ve seen the movie, you already know what happens next.
But the key take-away and deep psychological insight for everyone is this:
Mr. Corleone, the mafia boss, and leader of a big Sicilian family and entire New York underground, keeps his affairs in order by insisting on hearing bad news immediately.
He isn’t afraid of the truth.
He knows the truth can’t hurt him.
If anything, not being able to be honest with himself, and with the people around him, is what might ultimately hurt him (literally… in his world, not having all the information could lead to getting shot or worse).
And this, my dear beloved spiritual seeker, is a lesson we can all take from Don Corleone.
A lot of personal development focuses on “positive thinking” and training our minds to only think of the successful outcomes we want. However, it is FAR more powerful to know what you want, then take a very stark, bleak, non-sugar-coated view of reality so that you can start moving in the right direction.
Sugar coating the situation, because you’re afraid of how you’ll feel if you face reality, is not the way to improve your reality. It backfires almost every time. Great leaders know this. As does one of the greatest of them all: Don Vito Corleone.
This insistence on truth and being very straightforward is apparent all the way through the movie, from the opening wedding scene, to the flat out rejection of the business deal he was offered, involving narcotics.
Don Corleone spoke his mind with zero fear or concern of what others might think, which is part of what makes him such an endearing character.
There was no walking on egg-shells. Indeed, those around him learnt very quickly to treat him with the utmost of respect and be straight with him.
The key to being able to handle the truth is realising that the facts can’t hurt you, in reality. In fact, nothing in the outside world can hurt you, upset you, or anger you, in reality. The reality is, you don’t feel the outside world. You feel your inside world. Your state of mind – your thought – in any given moment is the direct, immediate cause of feeling, not the things that are happening in the world around you. This insightful realisation, when it actually sinks in, gives you incredible resilience and makes you a completely natural, effortless leader.
If you feel like you’re not quite on the level where you insist on hearing all the bad news immediately – whether it’s bad news about your family, your work, your community, or yourself – because you’re not absolutely certain you can handle it, then it’s time you go through “The Paradigm Shift”.
“Let me make you an offer you can’t refuse…”
