www.movieleadership.com CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ...... 3

APOLLO 13 ...... 4

COACH CARTER ...... 5

THIRTEEN DAYS ...... 6

INVICTUS ...... 7

THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION ...... 8

LINCOLN ...... 9

12 ANGRY MEN ...... 10

MONEYBALL ...... 11

GANDHI ...... 12

75 MOVIE SCENES WHICH HIGHLIGHT GREAT LEADERSHIP ...... 13

www.movieleadership.com www.movieleadership.com Movies can be a great source of inspiration for Of course, it wasn't easy. There have been INTRODUCTION leaders. It's amazing what you can learn about some hard choices. It was a wrench to leave all aspects of leadership: from individual skills out such leadership classics as Made in and techniques, to the importance of values Dagenham, Selma, Dead Poets Society, and behaviours. Hoosiers, Braveheart and many more. For many Twelve O'Clock High is the classic I’ve spent several years looking at a wide leadership movie - the perfect example of variety of movies from a leadership situational leadership. In many ways I agree - perspective, and I’m frequently asked for my a hard one to leave out. best leadership movie. So here’s my top 10. Indeed, since the first edition of this short Any list of top leadership movies is subjective, eBook in 2013, I've made a change to my and mine is no different. So how have I come top 10. Out goes Chicken Run, in comes up with my choices? Lincoln. The latter simply demands inclusion: I've tried to select a range of movies that every time I watch it, I notice something new highlight different aspects of leadership. worth learning. 2 There are movies featuring true life leadership So this is my choice as of today - but no icons (Invictus, Gandhi, Lincoln, Thirteen Days) doubt it will change by tomorrow. and unlikely leaders with no formal authority (The Shawshank Redemption, 12 Angry Men). I had fun making my selections and I hope you enjoy reading about them. There are movies with leaders placed under extraordinary pressure (Apollo 13), and So what do you think? Good choices or bad? movies depicting leadership of students and Let me know by email at sports teams (Remember the Titans, Coach [email protected] or tweet me Carter). @dave_wraith.

And in many of the selections, you can see outstanding leaders operating at many different levels.

www.movieleadership.com www.movieleadership.com APOLLO 13

Possibly the greatest leadership movie of Kranz is the living embodiment of the Kouzes them all, the true story of Apollo 13 also and Posner leadership practice of ‘Enable boasts one of the movies’ most compelling Others to Act’ – focusing them on the task in leaders: the steely, waistcoated flight director, hand, keeping them calm and making his Gene Kranz, memorably portrayed by Ed expectations crystal clear. Apollo 13 is the Harris. co-ordination of a massive team effort to achieve an improbable result, and everyone Here’s a leader who won’t submit to defeat has their role to play – whether it’s the even when it’s staring him in the face – and grounded pilot brought into the simulator to who won’t let his team accept defeat either. find a successful re-entry approach, or the That steely attitude instills belief in everyone NASA staff given a box of everything in the around him. shuttle and instructed to make a ‘square peg fit a round hole’. Kranz expertly marshals his resources with his 3 instruction to ‘work the problem’, enabling Although we know the ending, Apollo 13 still When the Apollo 13 lunar mission everyone to play their role in resolving the manages to be a gripping movie. It’s also becomes paralysed following an crisis. For every seemingly impossible perhaps the ultimate in leadership and crisis explosion on board, the crew and situation, his response is simple – we need to management movies, where a brilliantly-led ground teams race against time to find a way to make it work. team really do succeed in making the discover the extent of the damage and seemingly impossible happen. how to save it. That confidence is infectious. ‘We’ve never lost an American in space and we sure as hell It’s down to Gene Kranz’s mission control ain’t gonna lose one on my watch,’ he tells his team to overcome unprecedented odds assembled flight team. ‘Failure is not an and get the stricken craft back to Earth – option!’ with less onboard power than it takes to run a vacuum cleaner…

GREAT FOR: Crisis management, setting expectations, determination, enabling others to act, teamwork, creativity

COACH CARTER

Coach Carter may not have been a great Crucially, when his team fail to meet their commercial hit but it’s stuffed to the rafters part of the deal, Carter stays true to his with great leadership behaviour that can be ideals. Although his team are now winning, transposed to almost any sphere of Carter stops them playing until every leadership. And like Remember the Titans, its student’s grades meet the minimum high school sport setting has the power to standard. And not just the ones who are inspire young people in particular. failing: Carter instils a team ethic by stopping them all playing, academic achiever or not. What marks Carter’s leadership is his real desire to make a difference, and his His decision meets resistance from every confidence that he can. Most of the team - angle: his team, parents, teachers and the and even their parents - have low School Board. But his willingness to risk his expectations for their lives. In fact, Carter is job to make a better future for his students slated by some parents for encouraging them ultimately wins them over, and they take 4 to aspire to go to college. But Carter truly responsibility for helping each other improve believes his students can aim higher, and their academic scores. Former student Ken Carter returns to his inspires them to do the same. Coach Carter is a highly entertaining and troubled old school, Richmond High, as Right from the start, he sets clear expectations inspiring story of having a vision of change head coach of their unsuccessful from his students, handing each a contract and seeing it through in spite of determined basketball team. But Carter doesn't just stating that in return for playing, students resistance. want to make them successful: he wants must attend their classes and achieve basic to change their lives and help them get academic standards. If they don’t sign, they to college. don’t play. Carter's team deliver success on the basketball court, but when a number of his team fail to achieve the required academic standards, Carter imposes a 'lock-out' to prevent them playing until their grades improve. GREAT FOR: Vision, setting clear expectations, team ethic, overcoming resistance, influencing www.movieleadership.com THIRTEEN DAYS

It's hard to imagine that, just 50 years ago, He then pushes them to explore all the the world was a mere hair’s breadth away from options, even when his military advisers are self destruction. It's a story compellingly told telling him that none exist. As Thomas in Thirteen Days, a classic tale of crisis Edison once said, 'When you think you've management and leading under pressure, and exhausted all possibilities, remember this: one awash with leadership lessons. you haven't.' In one scene, Bobby Kennedy bangs the table of the Security Council With Russian missiles in Cuba presenting an meeting, refusing to accept that an air strike immediate threat to national security, on Cuba is the only possible action – and Kennedy is under pressure from his military eventually elicits a grudging concession that advisers to take decisive and potentially a naval blockade may also be a possibility. inflammatory action. ‘The big red dog is digging in your lawn!’ they point out. But he Thirteen Days is a great model of leadership refuses to be bullied into making decisions, under the most intense pressure. While most 5 even though he knows his reluctance may be of us will – thankfully – never have to face our perceived as weakness. own Cuban missile crisis, the lessons are just It's the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis as relevant for the many daily crises in our Instead, he creates his own ‘guiding team’ – in October 1962. American spy planes own lives. brother Bobby and special adviser Kenny have spotted the build-up of medium O’Donnell – who share his ideals and range Russian nuclear missiles in Cuba. philosophy and who he can rely on It’s up to the young and inexperienced completely. President John F Kennedy, along with his brother Bobby and trusted Special Adviser Kenny O’Donnell, to chart a safe conclusion to the crisis and resist the gung-ho advice of his military advisers that will surely plunge the world into armageddon. GREAT FOR: Crisis management, mental strength, decision making, creating a guiding team www.movieleadership.com INVICTUS

One of Kouzes and Posner’s five practices of But Invictus is not all about Mandela – there exemplary leadership is Model the Way – and are leadership struggles taking place on a I can think of no greater exponent than number of different levels. There’s Francois Nelson Mandela. In Invictus, the examples Pienaar, captain of the underperforming come thick and fast. Springboks, who buys into Mandela’s vision but quickly realises leadership can be Mandela, of course, is one of history’s most uncomfortable as he encounters opposition iconic leaders. What sets him apart is his from his own team. And there’s Mandela’s ability to forgive. To endure extraordinary chief bodyguard, Jason Tshabalala, who’s personal suffering, and then to shake hands compelled to work with – and trust – the with his tormentors and move on for the Special Branch operatives who were once greater good. enemies.

He is unfailing in his commitment to Led by Mandela’s example, they all model 6 reconciliation as a way of uniting his vastly the way – demonstrating the behaviours that divided country, and knows that the standard will be critical to the rebuilding of their he sets for his people is crucial. Mandela is Following his release from prison and nation. the perfect example of a leader ‘walking the election as the new President of South talk’ – whether by changing the ethnic make- Africa, Nelson Mandela spots the up of his personal bodyguards, or by potential of the Rugby World Cup as a intervening to ensure that the white minority way of uniting his divided country. is not ‘punished’ for the past by changes to Enlisting the support of Springbok rugby what they treasure most: Springbok rugby. team captain Francois Pienaar, they succeed in turning round not only the team’s fortunes, but those of the entire country.

GREAT FOR: Vision, modelling the way, overcoming resistance, trust, diversity, influencing www.movieleadership.com THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION

If you define leadership as the ability to have In one of its most famous scenes, Andy locks a positive impact on those around you, then up a guard in order to give his fellow inmates The Shawshank Redemption scores highly. just a few moments of uplifting opera played over the prison tannoy. It’s Andy’s belief in Its hero, Andy Dufresne, is an everyman the power of small acts to encourage hope plunged into extraordinary circumstances. which makes him a most unselfish leader – But, fuelled by an unbridled sense of hope, he one who will put his own comfort at risk in chooses to act in an extraordinary way. As a order to inspire others. result, he has a transforming effect on his fellow inmates - none more so than best With best friend Red, Andy inspires a shared friend ‘Red’. vision - of a peaceful life where they can both truly escape the bonds of the physical and Andy, of course, has no formal leadership mental prison that surround them. Red feels role, but his belief in the power of hope drives he is ‘institutionalised’: incapable of adapting 7 him to carry out numerous unselfish acts of to life outside the walls of the institution he kindness to lift the mood of his fellow has known for so long. But through Andy’s inmates. Wrongly-convicted banker Andy encouragement and belief, Red is ultimately Dufresne refuses to let the desperate Early on, he risks retribution from the sadistic able to make the final leap and break free to circumstances of his imprisonment in Captain Hadley in order to secure beers for a new life. Shawshank Prison affect his spirit, his his fellow workers on the factory roof they’re The Shawshank Redemption has consistently dreams, and his belief in the power of resurfacing. He then works tirelessly to re- topped the Internet Movie Database’s Top hope. stock and renovate the prison library, and 250 list of movies voted by users. It’s a tutors a fellow inmate to help him get his high In the process, he changes the lives of powerful story of leadership with a simple school diploma. his fellow inmates, none more so than premise: anything is possible if you never worn-down lifer Ellis ‘Red’ Redding. give up hope.

GREAT FOR: Vision, encouraging the heart, positive thinking, courage www.movieleadership.com REMEMBER THE TITANS

Unsurprisingly, Remember the Titans seems to He creates a vivid sense of urgency with a strike a chord with many teenagers and young memorable early morning run to the adults studying leadership. It’s a multi-layered Gettysburg Memorial. ‘If we don’t come feast of learning points which pop off the together on this hallowed ground right now,’ screen with dependable frequency. he declares, ‘we too will be destroyed.’

The leadership challenges in Remember the He builds on the ‘bright spots’, shining a Titans all feel very contemporary - whether it’s spotlight on the unprejudiced Louie Lastik to Boone’s struggle to unite his team and get his show the culture he wants. He ensures fellow coach Bill Yoast on board, or Yoast’s players sit on the bus and share a room with own struggle to come to terms with the team mates of a different colour and, when disappointment of not being appointed his players still don’t mix, he introduces three coach. Or team captain Gary Bertir’s painful training sessions a day until they do. lesson from fellow player Julius that ‘attitude 8 reflects leadership’, and that any change is As Boone’s methods begin to work, others going to have to start with him. take responsibility for making the change work too, even at personal cost. Coach Yoast Virginia, 1971. African-American football Of all the movies in this book, Remember the ditches his loyal but prejudiced assistant, coach Herman Boone is appointed by TC Titans is the best for demonstrating how to while Gary cuts his best friend Ray from the Williams High School for their first lead through change. Boone may not have team. season as a racially integrated been reading John Kotter’s famous eight establishment. steps for leading change, but you can still find Above all, Remember the Titans shows that change is never smooth. Obstacles arise at With tensions high, the team helps unify them all here. every turn; loyalties and prejudices are the community as both coaches and boys At training camp, Boone outlines a clear challenged. To make change work, you need gradually learn to trust and depend on vision for the team: they will be perfect in to work through every obstacle and keep up each other. everything they do. the momentum.

GREAT FOR: Change leadership, diversity, modelling the way, vision, trust, humility www.movieleadership.com LINCOLN

Lincoln is a film that rewards repeat viewings: This listening extends not just to his own each time I see some new leadership quality circle, but to frontline troops. He’s an early in Daniel Day Lewis’s wonderful performance exponent of ‘walking the job’, visiting as the sixteenth American President. He’s a soldiers both on the frontline and in hospital. leader quite unlike any other in film, and And he’s willing to listen to voices of dissent Lincoln gives us plenty of evidence why. and challenge with an amenable ear.

Firstly, there’s his extraordinary Lincoln’s presidency was famous for its ‘team communication skills. Storytelling is all the of rivals’, where he recruited some of his rage these days, but Lincoln shows he’d most vociferous opponents to his own mastered the art some 150 years ago. “Oh cabinet. You get a sense of that here: many no, not another story” protests Secretary of of Lincoln’s colleagues are outwardly critical War Edwin Stanton at one point, but Lincoln’s of his decisions, in a way you’d think unlikely stories generally hold his listeners spellbound. in most modern environments. But it’s 9 And most importantly, they influence, defuse through challenge and debate that good tension, make people laugh. decisions are made.

Lincoln’s also an exceptional listener. How Finally, Lincoln is a wonderful example of As the American Civil War approaches its often do leaders - or any of us, for that matter values-based leadership. Faced with a crucial conclusion, President Abraham Lincoln - truly listen without interrupting or wondering decision on whether to pursue the seizes his one last chance to pass the what we’re going to say next? Lincoln models opportunity to end the war immediately, or 13th amendment to abolish slavery. the old leadership adage that you have one to push ahead with the chance to pass the mouth but two ears - and also management 13th amendment, Lincoln uses his values to Fighting opposition from within his own guru Stephen Covey’s ‘habit’ of seeking first guide him. It sums up his approach to cabinet, his party and the House of to understand, then be understood. leadership: thoughtful, considered, and Representatives, Lincoln summons all his hugely effective. leadership powers to bring about an historic change to human rights.

GREAT FOR: Influencing, values-based leadership, communication, listening, decision making, walking the job www.movieleadership.com 12 ANGRY MEN

Influencing skills are near the top of most He asks challenging questions. He identifies leaders’ skill requirements. In 12 Angry Men flaws in the prosecution’s case and in the you’ll find a masterclass. It’s also a classic commitment of the defence team, but lets illustration of the Kouzes and Posner his fellow jurors come to their own leadership behaviour Challenge the Process. conclusions about their meaning. He builds alliances, starting with his one initial One of the hardest aspects of leadership is supporter, the elderly juror. having the courage to take a stand, especially if your team or peers are all against you. It can He uses drama and imagery: on one be a lonely place to be. But just because occasion, dramatically throwing a duplicate you’re the lone voice, it doesn’t mean you’re knife on the table to prove the ubiquity of wrong. the apparently ‘unique’ murder weapon.

In 12 Angry Men, juror 8, played by Henry He uses others’ expertise to lend authenticity 10 Fonda, makes himself instantly unpopular by to the argument: the elderly juror who can refusing to sanction a unanimous ‘guilty’ understand the motivations of a key witness; verdict without re-examining the case in more the man who lived near the elevated subway; detail. It’s a great leadership lesson in itself. the juror who’d witnessed knife fights. Juror 8 is unsure of the man’s guilt or On a hot summer’s day, 12 jurors retire innocence. But with so much at stake, he He’s also able to expose his colleagues’ to consider their verdict on a seemingly simply wants to challenge his colleagues on hidden motivations, revealing them both to open and shut murder case. Only one, whether they’ve really considered the issue in themselves and to each other. juror 8, has doubts. sufficient detail. Fortunately, he’s able to enlist 12 Angry Men is a compelling example of the Though uncertain of the defendant’s a number of powerful influencing techniques power of influence, and of taking a stand for guilt or innocence, his insistence on re- to support him. what you believe in. examining the case gradually leads the remaining 11 jurors to change their minds.

GREAT FOR: Influencing, decision making, courage, ethics, bias www.movieleadership.com MONEYBALL

Many organisations with a strong sense of This novel approach attracts opposition from tradition and history find it difficult to innovate Beane’s own coaches and scouts, along with and adapt to changing times. It takes strong most of the baseball establishment. When leadership to challenge the status quo. the team starts badly, he realises he hasn’t committed himself 100% to his own In Moneyball, Billy Beane shakes up one such approach, and his hands-off approach to establishment: professional baseball. It’s an leading hasn’t helped others buy into it entertaining and effective lesson in the power either. of challenging the process, thinking outside the box, and the importance of measurement. He changes that by neutralising his manager’s blocking tactics, selling a With three star players leaving for better disruptive player and dealing with some of contracts, there’s no money to recruit similarly the team’s minor niggles – like having to pay talented replacements. He has the vision to for soda from the vending machine. 11 see that his team need a different approach. Most importantly, he gets closer to his He spots an approach in the methods of players – explaining the approach, getting reticent economist Peter Brand that he thinks buy in and building team spirit. He also might work, and he’s quick to run with it. clears the air with his most experienced Unable to compete with his wealthy Brand’s statistical analysis values players player and encourages him to act more as a rivals, Oakland Athletics General almost entirely on one key metric - the leader. Manager Billy Beane shakes up the number of times they get to first base. It’s a professional baseball establishment by great example of a strengths-based approach. The results are stunning, as the team adopting statistical analysis as the basis The focus is all on what their recruits can do, embarks on an unprecedented winning for player recruitment and selection. and not what they can’t. Beane and his streak, winning 20 games in a row – an coaching team work around their weaknesses American League record. Exposing himself and his team to rather than let them become an issue. ridicule, Beane puts everything at risk... and achieves something unprecedented in baseball history. GREAT FOR: Challenging the process, innovation, measurement, strengths-based leadership, change management www.movieleadership.com GANDHI

Of all great leaders through history, there can Gandhi’s secret is that he truly understands be few to match the legendary Mohandas K his people, and lives as one of them. He Gandhi, the Indian spiritual leader and subject starts as a relatively wealthy lawyer, but of Richard Attenborough’s astonishing 1982 eschews all the trappings of wealth and film. power to live the simple life of his followers. In stark contrast to his fellow lawyers in the This is a man who, within a few short decades, Indian Congress Party, he travels the country leads his country to freedom from British rule. to find ‘the real India’, dressing simply and A man who achieves it largely without spinning his own cloth. violence or loss of life. And a man whose method of achieving it would have almost all Whether it’s the minority Muslims or the of us scratching our heads with disbelief. ‘untouchables’ of Indian society, he treats everyone as equals. It’s Gandhi’s commitment to non-violent 12 resistance - and his ability to rally followers in People follow him because they realise that great numbers around that doctrine - that sets here is someone who understands their him apart from almost anyone else in history. needs, has their best interests at heart, and From relatively humble beginnings as a will fight for their welfare. lawyer in South Africa in the late 1800s, In appearance, Gandhi seems the very Mohandas K Gandhi’s commitment to antithesis of a leader. In the beginning, he It’s the kind of following that turns out in challenging injustice, and his doctrine of hardly has India’s British rulers quaking in their whole villages to support his 240 mile salt non-violent resistance, see him gain boots. But they soon change their tune when march. A following that ceases widespread extraordinary influence with his native his humility, selflessness and open acts of non- rioting in response to his fast for peace. And people. compliance start attracting followers in their that willingly queues up, one by one, to be thousands. viciously clubbed in a gesture of non-violent Within 50 years, he leads his country to defiance. independence and transforms the notion of leadership.

GREAT FOR: Vision, modelling the way, courage, determination, sacrifice, unselfishness www.movieleadership.com LIKE THIS BOOK? 75 MOVIE SCENES WHICH HIGHLIGHT Find the specific scenes to transform your leadership GREAT LEADERSHIP training, presentations and events in… Movies are great for role modelling leadership behaviour, generating discussion and creating interest.

But it’s often impractical to use full-length movies in a learning context. Short, self- 13 contained scenes which demonstrate leadership behaviour are far more practical.

75 movie scenes which highlight great leadership is a 99-page eBook identifying 75 short scenes from well-known movies which model great leadership behaviour. Each scene illustrates one of Kouzes and • Quickly find specific scenes to Posner’s five leadership practices from illustrate your point The Leadership Challenge. • Invest only in the movies you need

• Add a more engaging dimension to leadership training, presentations or Available exclusively at events www.movieleadership.com www.movieleadership.com