Most people probably love to watch movies. They can entertain. Make us laugh or cry (or both). Many of them have a lesson to teach. It’s in those we want to look at. Often times with leadership, being able to
show our students examples of leadership (sometimes good, sometimes bad) can
be a powerful way of helping them understand leadership.
Movies are a great way to do so. In several leadership courses I've been involved in over the years, movies (or selections from movies) have been part of the program.
In your own group or organization, showing movies can be very
useful, not just for the entertainment value, but from the lessons they
show. This will hopefully be the first of several
Notes to illustrate movies (and maybe tv shows) that can illustrate lessons of
leadership. Doing so should not be
strange. In doing some of the research
for this Note, I found a few books that are about that, such as Movies to
Manage By and Reel Lessons in Leadership. (I have not reviewed these books,
but would hope they could be valuable resources).
In looking at any movie for the purposes of teaching
leadership, we have to ask ourselves a few questions:
- “What is the movie’s message/theme?”
- “Who is it appropriate for?” (Is it too young or too
old for my audience?)
- “What are you trying to teach?”
- “How does it tie in with the overall program of your organization or group?”
It’s best to understand these before showing the movie for
the whole group. And don’t just show it
cold. Prepare some setup. Ask some open ended questions so the members are thinking of these as they watch the movie. Then afterwards have a discussion about what
the lessons of the movie were. But
always keep in mind to keep this all fun, and not turn it into a boring school
lesson.
This time we will look at 5 movies: Mr. Holland’s Opus, Apollo 13, 12 Angry
Men, Remember the Titans, and The
Emperor’s Club.
Do you know the impact you make in the lives of others? Sometimes we don’t know until much
later. The movie, Mr. Holland’s Opus, illustrates
this in the 30-year career of a high school music teacher, Mr. Holland (played
by Richard Dreyfus). Mr. Holland is a
composer, who decides to take up a teaching position to have more time to be
with his family and compose. But over
time, you see his struggles (and triumphs) in instilling a love of music to his
students. In the end, it’s all for not,
as he is let go after 30 years. Or was
it?
There can be some comparison with the experiences of Mr.
Holland and some youth leaders, as well as the students (and what they go thru) with
members of your group. He faces some
tough choices at times, both good and bad.
Apollo 13 is about the disastrous mission to the moon that
almost ended in tragedy. When an oxygen
tank in the Lunar Module explodes, the issue isn't that they may not make the
moon, but that they might not make it back at all.
While the NASA team in Houston and at the Cape work on a solution to
bring them home, including an astronaut that got bumped from the flight,
Commander Jim Lovell (played by Tom Hanks) must keep his team together so they
all come home safely. It’s the effort of both groups that ensures
that the effort to get home is a success.
12 Angry Men is about a group of jurors deciding what
should be a simple murder trial. The
whole thing is set in the jury room (it was originally a teleplay, later made
into a movie, remade again, and made a Broadway play). My personal favorite version is the 1957
movie starring Henry Fonda as the hold out juror. This juror has his doubts, which he expresses
as “I’d don’t know. What do you
think?” By his questioning the evidence,
he (and the other jurors) realize that the case isn't so open and closed, and
slowly the other jurors come over to his side.
More problematic are the ones who made their decision NOT on the
evidence, but on some other deep seated issues.
These are brought out during the movie and dealt with.
The big point of this movie is bringing a group around to a
decision, building consensus without browbeating or coercion, but
persuasion. And sometimes people make
their decisions NOT for rational reasons, but emotional ones, which must be
addressed.
Remember the Titans is a classic movie of the high school
sports team genre. Based on a true
story, it tells of a high school football team at a newly integrated
school. The new black coach of the team is
Herman Boone (played by Denzel Washington), who replaces the white coach Bill
Yoast (played by Will Patton) who stays on as an assistant coach. Boone needs to build the players, black and
white, into a team, which will not be easy.
In addition to the issues within the team are the issues outside the
team that also try to tear them apart. Yoast, who is up for the state coach’s Hall of
Fame, is basically told he can get in if the Titans lose a game. But Yoast rebels against that, as it would
hurt the team, at a cost of getting in. But thru Boone’s hard work, the team
comes together and is an example for others.
This movie is an excellent example of building a team, and you can see
examples of team development going on.
The Emperor’s Club is a movie similar in some ways with
Mr. Holland’s Opus, as both look at the impact of a teacher on their
students, but different in other ways.
Here the impact is more focused and the impact is on being an ethical
and honorable person.
Kevin Kline plays William Hundert, a professor of classical
studies at a private prep school. He
attempts to mentor a particular student, and find that the student not only lacks the
drive for education, but ethical behavior, which he gotten from his
father. Despite his best efforts,
Hundert is unable to turn this student around, as is shown years later at a
reunion of students from the school. But
where Hundert may have failed with this student, he didn’t fail with others.
As noted, I hope this will be the first of several Notes on this
subject. Several more movies will be
covered in future selections. If you have suggestions for other movies, please post comments on them.
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