Steven Soderbergh’s 2000 film tells of an unemployed single mother who comes across medical records in a file and, on her own initiative, turns them into a lawsuit against an energy company. She does not wait for an assignment; she simply gets started.
Two dots stand on a field of fine mist-blue lines; one of them sets a golden circle, and the lines align with it and close in on the space of the silent dot. Then a small dot in the corner sets a golden circle of its own, and the lines turn toward it.
Principle #43
Initiative: If you act first, you set the agenda and the rules of the game, while those who only react play on someone else’s turf.
3 min read5 sectionsSituationLink to the principle
Contents
The film is based on the case of the town of Hinkley, California, whose groundwater was contaminated with chromium-6. Julia Roberts won the Oscar for Best Actress for the title role, and Albert Finney plays the lawyer Ed Masry. The real Erin Brockovich judged the film to be largely accurate, though individual scenes are heightened. This article follows the plot of the film. For the principle of Initiative, it is a clear example: a woman without a title and without an assignment changes a situation because she acts instead of waiting for someone else to do it.
A golden thread pulls a sheet out of an open file, and more and more dots gather behind it – as in “Erin Brockovich.”
01
Starting at rock bottom
Situation
In Los Angeles in 1993, Erin Brockovich is unemployed and alone with three children. After a car accident, she loses her lawsuit for damages, partly because of her abrasive manner in court. Her lawyer, Ed Masry, stops returning her calls. She turns up at his law firm, declares that she needs work and gets a job.
Link to the principle
Even the first step is initiative. Erin does not wait for an answer that is not coming. She goes there and creates a fait accompli. If you only react, you remain in the situation others have determined for you.
02
A file that doesn’t add up
Situation
Erin is supposed to put a real estate file in order. The energy company Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) wants to buy the house of Pete and Donna Jensen in Hinkley. The file contains medical records. Donna tells her that PG&E pays the family’s doctors. Erin finds that strange.
Link to the principle
Nobody asked Erin to investigate. Her assignment was to sort papers. Initiative often begins with a question that lies outside your own assignment, and with the willingness to pursue it.
03
Investigating on her own
Situation
Erin digs deeper and finds out that Hinkley’s groundwater is contaminated with hexavalent chromium, a carcinogenic substance. PG&E had assured the residents that it was using a harmless form. Because she is out of the office for days, she is fired. When Ed sees what she has found, he rehires her.
Link to the principle
Initiative carries a risk: you act before others see the point. At first, Erin loses her job. Only the result convinces. If you seize the initiative, you sometimes have to deliver the proof before people believe you.
04
Door to door
Situation
Erin visits many families in Hinkley, wins their trust and documents tumors and other illnesses that PG&E had treated as coincidence. The Jensens’ case becomes a major lawsuit. Ed proposes binding arbitration to avoid years of appeals. For that, a large majority of the plaintiffs must agree. Erin drives to Hinkley again and collects the signatures of all 634 plaintiffs.
Link to the principle
Erin does not wait for those affected to come to the law firm. She goes to them. In doing so, she determines how the case is built and who is involved in it. Whoever reaches people first wins their trust.
05
The decisive document
Situation
A former PG&E employee approaches Erin. He was once supposed to destroy company records but did not do so. Among them is a 1966 memo showing that headquarters knew about the contamination and instructed the local office to keep quiet. In the end, PG&E has to pay $333 million to the plaintiffs.
Link to the principle
If you act visibly, you attract information. The witness comes to Erin because she is known in town as someone who gets things done. Initiative creates opportunities that would never have arisen from waiting.
Key takeaways
Key lessons
01
Don’t wait for an answer that is not coming; go there yourself.
02
Pursue a question even if it is not part of your assignment.
03
Don’t expect people to believe you until you show results.
04
Go to people instead of waiting for them to come.
05
If you act visibly, you receive leads that remain hidden from others.
Summary
“Erin Brockovich” shows a woman who has nothing but her persistence. She forces her way into a job, follows a lead outside her assignment, risks her job, wins the trust of hundreds of families and gets a corporation to pay $333 million. The film makes visible what initiative means: not waiting for permission but setting the situation in motion yourself.
