The Walking Dead’s Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) is far from a perfect leader. His group doesn’t enjoy the cushy lifestyle that others they’ve encountered in the apocalyptic Southeastern United States have, but they also seem to be out-surviving most people. And that’s what Rick is all about — survival at any cost necessary. While he’s sometimes, ever so briefly, drawn back to thoughts of normality, for the most part, Rick doesn’t care about the feelings, opinions or hardships of others, he simply cares about survival. All of this means that the guy can be little bullheaded and harsh when it comes to leadership, but the results speak for themselves.
We’re seemingly about to find out what happens when Rick butts up against an even more bullheaded and harsh leader in the form of Nagen in Sunday’s season premiere. But despite the potential fall of Rick into a less powerful position, please do take these quotes into consideration should you find yourself being called to take on a zombie or non-zombie leadership role. Just keep in mind, Rick’s leadership style is about as unwelcoming as it gets.
“You don’t know what it’s like out there. You may think you do but you don’t.”
To be fair, this line sounds an awful lot like something one of those out of control teens would throw back at a booing audience on the Maury show. Rick shows his colors for running things his way rather early in the series, pulling this line out in the finale of the show’s first season. Dr. Edwin Jenner (Noah Emmerich) knows that Atlanta has seen better days, but he’s been hunkered down in the belly of the CDC and isn’t exactly on the same level of awareness as Rick and the members of his group. When you have somebody doubting your knowledge of a situation — apocalyptic or not – harness the Rick-ness of this line and use it to set them straight.
“Go on, there’s the door. You can do better, let’s see how far you get.”
A large chunk of The Walking Dead’s second season wasn’t exactly action packed. In the season’s finale, however, the show delivered one of its most explosive finales with a horde of zombies descending on Hershel’s farm in a situation that quickly devolved into total chaos. After escaping the farm, Rick delivered one of his motivational speeches to the remaining survivors and came back with a cold rebuttal when his leadership was put into question. The “step up or shut up” technique is a rather blunt approach, but it worked like a charm for Rick as nobody in his camp was foolish enough to stray into the night alone. Might want to break it out next time people side-eye you over your confidence that you and your team can hit a ridiculous deadline.
“Things don’t get better because you want them to. Starting now, we have to live in the real world. If you don’t fight, you die.”
Yes, Rick did utter this line just moments after trying to kill one of Alexandria’s residents with his bare hands, but that doesn’t detract from the truth in his words. The folks in Alexandria had made a nice home for themselves, but they lived largely in denial of the hell that lurked beyond their walls. Rick knows that safety is only temporary and the nicer your pad, the greater the chances of it all going to hell. If you don’t fight for your farm/ prison/ picket fences/ somebody or something is going to take it from you. Now the whole “if you don’t fight, you die” part might not be applicable to most of us, but the message is still the same, you have to work hard for what you want.
“I killed my best friend for you people.”
Yes, Rick kinda wanted Shane (Jon Bernthal) dead because of the Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) love triangle, but plunging that knife into Shane no doubt was a gut-wrenching — no pun intended — experience for Rick. He later had no problem playing the “dead best friend card” and few except maybe the late Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) would ever challenge him on it. This sort of move is a bit of a Hail Mary pass when it comes to making one’s point as there’s really nowhere to go once it’s laid on the table. Keep that in mind during a debate should you have an ace in your pocket as powerful as a dead Shane.
“You’re gonna change. I’m not sorry for what I said last night. I’m sorry for not saying it sooner. You have to be ready right now. Luck runs out.”
Rick tried to tell the residents of Alexandria that change was needed before, but alas, his words fell on deaf ears. (Mostly because of the beat down he delivered seconds earlier) After a walker found its way into the middle-class haven in season five’s finale, Rick had a pretty powerful visual aid to show that their luck had run out and nobody could argue with him. The thunder of his speech was briefly stolen when an enraged Pete Anderson barged in with a samurai sword, but then again, the bloody mistake that followed only backed up Rick’s words. Sometimes you just gotta lay it out there and tell’em how it’s gonna be, #SorryNotSorry.
“I know this sounds insane. But this is an insane world. We have to come for them, before they come for us. It’s that simple.”
Season one and two Rick would never have even thought of a line like this, let alone uttered it out loud to motivate people. The Rick we saw in the beginning of season six was a man who had morphed from zombie survivor to zombie hunter. He no longer looked at the living dead as something to run from, but a weed that must be eliminated in order to carve out his little spot of happiness — whatever that is in Rick’s mind — in his insane world. It’s a ballsy line and one that not everybody is probably going to be on board with, but if anybody had put their foot down, Rick would have probably just dropped the line from our second entry on them.
“Let’s get one thing straight. This isn’t a democracy anymore.”
Season two’s “Beside the Dying Fire” was full of “my way or the highway” Rick lines and none captured Rick’s new leadership outlook better than this one. Like he said, he didn’t ask to become the leader, but people were getting killed under the guidance of Shane and Hershel and Rick was finished trying to consider every opinion. Launching your own version of a Ricktatorship is a risky move and not advised, but should you find yourself trapped in a tight spot, pull this gem out and lay down the rules of how things are going to be. Just make sure you want to be the one calling the shots.
