A House of Dynamite
Our planet is a house of dynamite
A House of Dynamite
Every leader believes they’re ready.
Almost none are.
They’ve assessed the risk.
They’ve built the plan.
They’ve briefed the team.
Then the moment arrives and the plan meets reality.
And we all know the phrase “no plan survives first contact with reality”
Yet we still believe ours will.
That’s when leadership must step up a level, when preparation meets challenge under pressure.
After writing about the podcast The Wargame, I watched the new film A House of Dynamite by Netflix.
It’s another confronting leadership case study, that will challenge every part of you to watch.
It’s uncomfortably real.
As a leader, as a human, it will unnerve you and it should.
Different medium.
Different scenario
Same question:
What happens when the unthinkable arrives and the margin for error disappears?
The Challenges
The film begins with a single, unattributed missile heading for the United States.
No clarity of origin.
No time to verify.
Only pressure.
The movie is not just about geopolitics, defence and technology.
It’s about people and leadership.
What is it like to make decisions under extreme ambiguity, and how human emotion and relationships collide with systemic complexity.
It is a brilliant structured and incredibly well told story of how leaders might respond.
Amongst many other questions it asks us:
· Can you perform under pressure when information is incomplete, time is short and the consequences are massive?
· Can you face what you think you must do, when every instinct says wait?
· Can you prioritise the greater good over personal attachments and interests?
· How do you show compassion and guide those directly impacted?
· Are you really awake to the magnitude of responsibility you hold?
· What choice would you make?
· If you had your time again, what would you have done differently?
Why Now?
This may be fiction, but it is so uncomfortably real.
The question for me, is why another story, another scenario and why now?
The answer is obvious when we look at the reality of the risks of what is happening in our world today, yet most of us choose not to acknowledge it.
And this is my point, as leaders we must not look away.
We must face the most difficult risks and challenges, so that we may mitigate or prevent them.
For if the unthinkable moment arrives what we will do and what will we wish we had done?
How it unfolds?
Across the story we watch capable, well trained, brilliant and well-intentioned people paralysed by uncertainty, conflicts of interest, and overwhelming pressure.
Further delay is caused by understandably wanting to know, why they are doing what they are doing, and if there is any other option.
It isn’t a failure of intelligence. It is a failure to grasp the true nature and magnitude of the complexity of the challenge before it arrives.
As the weight of responsibility collides with the limits of time, leaders are forced to wake up to the true magnitude of the responsibility they bear.
The moment they hoped would never arrive is here.
The luxury of choice has disappeared and become stark.
The reality of how unprepared they are for this moment of truth becomes apparent.
That’s where we need great leaders under pressure to show up and lead.
No perfect data, only courage, clarity, and cognisance of the consequence.
Will they take the decision in best interests of themselves, the few or all of us?
What must leaders develop?
From an individual perspective (I) cultivate the courage to face uncomfortable truths.
Our psychology and emotion can minimise major risks until they are undeniable.
Developing awareness, clarity and emotional regulation help us see more clearly and act coherently before and during the crisis.
Developing our sense of who we really are.
Developing our level of maturity, consciousness and connectedness enables us to take more perspectives enabling us to deal with the complexity we face.
From a collective perspective (WE): Build deep and high quality relationships.
Create cultures that value foresight, accountability and constructive challenge.
Encourage teams to voice concerns and share diverse perspectives so that blind spots are reduced, through creating a more whole less partial view.
From an objective perspective (IT): invest in the practical capabilities that build resilience not just efficiency.
Prepare, practice and do. Learn, improve and repeat.
Scenario planning, stress-test your systems and infrastructure properly.
These are the “blue and orange” value system disciplines that give us data, evidence and insight and give us options and experience.
From a wider systems perspective (ITS): participate in cross boundary collaborations that identify and tackle shared risks.
This may be cross sector, industry, culture or international border. No organisation or nation is really an island.
None of the systemic we face challenges can be met alone.
Preparation and flourishing at scale require cooperation, and sometimes shared sacrifice.
Lessons beyond the screen
Leadership failures rarely come from bad intent.
They come from hesitation, fragmentation, and disbelief and an inability to handle complexity.
The lesson’s aren’t political; they’re profoundly human.
A House of Dynamite reminds us that crises aren’t merely operational they’re emotional, relational, and systemic.
To lead through them, we must integrate all dimensions of leadership, all dimensions of humanity:
Mental & emotional (I), relational (WE), behavioural (IT) systemic and environmental (ITS).
On top of that, there is the number of perspectives we can hold, the sophistication of our view, our level of vertical development.
What level view is enough? Individual, organisational, national or global? This is the work to be done.
We need a sustainable world not just a sustainable business. We need both to flourish.
Our challenge is to imagine more courageously, prepare more collaboratively, and act more coherently before the moment of no return arrives.
A call to world and organisational leaders
We live in a house of dynamite.
No leader, no nation, no organisation can face these systemic risks alone.
Nuclear escalation, climate shocks, economic issues, pandemics and cyber conflict, in fact all systemic challenges,
They all share one truth: they ignore borders.
Now is the moment for world leaders to choose courage and compassion.
We need leaders to develop so they can make better decisions every day.
Even under the most extreme pressure.
We need them to rebuild alliances grounded in respect, transparency, and shared humanity.
And for those of us leading businesses and institutions:
Reach out, re-establish dialogue.
Develop and role model your ability to lead constructively under pressure with humanity and compassion.
Connect and engage with those whom influence and shape policy, our economy, and security.
Advocate for constructive relationships at all levels, not just profit and
help us to avoid mutually assured destruction.
Use your networks for peace, not just profit.
The mark of leadership today is not dominance,
It’s the ability to unite across difference before catastrophe forces us into a corner.
Will you have the courage to look squarely at what you’d rather avoid?
I urge you to watch A House of Dynamite on Netflix:
and listen to the podcast The Wargame (wherever you get your podcasts)
then I urge to reflect and ask yourself?
What struck you most about how these leaders performed under pressure?
What will you do differently and how will you develop? and
How might you use your network for peace not just profit?
With gratitude to Director Kathryn Bigelow, the writers, cast and crew and Netflix, for holding up such powerful mirrors to leadership and a challenge to humanity.