Ellen Ripley broke the mould of the sci-fi genre. Although her character was originally written as a man, it was Ridley Scott who decided at the 11th hour to cast Ripley as a woman. And so, one of the greatest sci-fi characters was born.
Adept at computers, electronics, mechanics, biology and physics, she is nobody’s chick, babe or doll. Her unflappable demeanour gives her the edge, and she is tactical and strong-willed. She’s a master with assault weaponry and her inner strength keeps her going, hour after hour, until the aliens are out of the picture.
Talk about girl power.
But it’s not all roses
Ripley starts off in the Alien movie franchise as a Warrant Officer on the spacecraft USCSS Nostromo, where an alien hatches, attaches itself to an explorer’s face and then explodes out of his chest. This stuff is not for the faint-hearted and the horrors live on in the heroine’s mind when she is put into a 57-year-long sleep.
Plagued by terrible nightmares, she wakes up traumatised, angry and riddled with PTSD.
What follows is her demise: she’s intolerant, struggles to focus in tough situations, loses her trust in people, and is ultimately stripped of Warrant Officer status and her job.
Bringing her self back
Ripley feels that she could have done more to save her crew from being killed, and the guilt begins to consume her, moving her away from her ikigai. So, instead of instilling a feeling of safety in others, she begins to feel threatened by them, risking everything to save the life of one small girl.
If I were the heroine’s coach, I’d explore the development of better communication with others, to break down her barriers. Here’s how we’d set her on a path of surpassing her guilt and trauma, and rediscovering her ikigai: I would ask her key coaching questions such as...
- On a scale from 1 to 10, (1 being poor and 10 being excellent) how would you rate yourself as a communicator?
- What have you tried before that has worked?
- What have you tried before that hasn’t worked?
- What habits do you have that support your goals?
- What habits do you have that sabotage your goals?
- What are you not experiencing right now that you want to experience?
- What are you experiencing right now that you no longer want to experience?
All this, en route to encouraging her to be more compassionate with herself and to embrace her emotions. Even bad emotions can be useful!
As Susan David, Ph.D. says, “the conventional view of emotions as good or bad, positive or negative, is rigid. And rigidity in the face of complexity is toxic. We need greater levels of emotional agility for true resilience and thriving.”
Through self-analysis, we’d help Ellen to set goals she can realistically achieve, not goals that are disempowering. Sure, it’s fantastic to save the world, but sometimes contributing in your own small way and collaborating with other trusted people can be just as powerful.
Your call
Which character from popular fiction do you think could benefit from coaching?
About the author
I’m Dorothée Oung, Neuroleader and coach to leading practitioners, motivational speakers, trainers, facilitators, coaches, and fellow leaders. My goal is to guide soon-to-be Neuroleaders through deliberate practices to achieve their professional goals.
