Dr. Dava J. Newman, Director Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems MacVicar Faculty Fellow

ESD.801: Leadership Development Homework Assignment #2: Essential Qualities and Personal Characteristics of Leadership

Four page MAXIMUM limit for the assignment. I. (3 page limit) Watch a movie/documentary about someone you deem a great leader. There are samples recommended below, but feel free to choose any film you can justify by completing the assignment. Please provide the full reference for the film you choose. You are encouraged to view the film with peers in ESD.801, but everyone must hand in their own assignment.

- Gandhi (1982), Directed by Richard Attenborough - Eleanor Roosevelt (2000) (TV) aka "History's Best on PBS: Eleanor Roosevelt" - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Historical Perspective (1994), Directed by Thomas Friedman - Citizen King (2004), Directed by Orlando Bagwell - Dali Lama (1992), “Compassion in Exile” - Kundun (1997), Directed by Martin Scorsese and/or “In search of Kundun with Martin Scorsese” (1998) Mandela (1996) aka "Mandela: Son of Africa, Father of a Nation" - Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks (2002), Directed by Robert Houston - Thirteen Days, (2000), Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Directed by Roger Donaldson. - "Profiles in Courage" (1964) [TV-Series 1964-1965], Directed by Michael Ritchie, Written by Philip S. Goodman (teleplay) (3 episodes) and John F. Kennedy (book) - Celebration: 100 Years of Great Women (1999) (TV) - Find a film on Winston Churchill, Harriet Tubman, Hitler, Napoleon, Che Guevara OR any leader of you choice.

Answer the following questions in a written, illustrated, graphic or narrated report. 1. What was the theme of this film? What were the filmmakers trying to tell us? Were they successful? Justify your answer. 2. What qualities of leadership were displayed in the film and by whom? 3. What did you like best about the movie? Why? What did you like least about the movie? Why? 4. Select an action performed by one of the characters in the film and explain why the character took that action. What motivated him or her? What characteristics of leadership were demonstrated?

II. Write a ‘Leading Question’. Following examples from in-class activity and Wf360 (www.wf360.com).

Goldie Hawn, Academy Award winning Actress, Producer, Director; CEO Cherry Alley Productions “How would you approach changing your career if your stated intention was to be happy?”

Sharon Allen, Chairman of the Board, Deloitte & Touche LLP “You are charged with diversifying your company’s workforce. While leadership acknowledges the issue, they and you find no proven link between diversity and performance. How do you get the job done?”

If you could gather some of the major innovators of the 20th century in one room, whom would you invite, and what major challenge would you ask them to help you solve?”

- Eagar, T.W., "Leadership, Management, and Education at MIT", MIT Faculty Newsletter, Vol. XVI No. 5, April/May 2004, - Zaleznik, A., "Managers and Leaders: Are they Different?" Harvard Business Review, Inside the Mind of the Leader, January 2004, pp. 74-81. - Bennis and Nanus, “Leading Others, Managing Yourself” (pp. 18-78).

Massachusetts Institute of Technology