Even great leaders have very human failings. In Darkest Hour, Gary Oldman’s Winston Churchill is irascible, insensitive and stubborn. But cometh the hour, cometh the man. In the early months of World War Two, the British Army faced annihilation as it was driven back to the beaches of Dunkirk in France. England stood… Read More »How Churchill led Britain through its Darkest Hour
One of the best exponents of Kouzes and Posner’s leadership behaviour of ‘model the way’ is surely Nelson Mandela. Both Invictus and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom illustrate this as Mandela overcomes his personal feelings of bitterness and anger to model the behaviours needed to create a new South Africa: forgiveness… Read More »How Bridge of Spies can help you ‘model the way’
Ben Stiller’s sublime The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is awash with inspiring themes – not least the need to take a risk and have courage to break out of the ruts we all find ourselves in from time to time. Walter is the quintessential dreamer, a man who fulfils his… Read More »Walter Mitty and the power of purpose
The first time I saw a presentation on the five practices of Kouzes and Posner’s The Leadership Challenge, the presenter chose a well-known leader from business or politics to illustrate each practice. It was a presentation that ‘stuck’, and I became increasingly fascinated with the five practices as a result. … Read More »Five movie leaders to take on the Leadership Challenge
At the start of It’s a Wonderful Life, the angels observe George Bailey as he considers jumping off the Bedford Falls bridge. ‘Is he sick?’ asks Clarence, his trainee guardian angel. ‘Worse,’ replies Joseph, his boss. ‘He’s discouraged.’ We all need to feel appreciated, whether at home or at work.… Read More »Seven extraordinary examples of recognition
Since movieleadership.com launched in late 2011, the search term that brings more people here than any other is ‘leadership lessons from Coach Carter’. And no wonder: it’s not only a highly entertaining movie, but packed full of great leadership behaviour too. Take its climactic scene (spoiler alert!) where Carter, having… Read More »Great movie speeches: Coach Carter and recognition
Ivan Reitman’s 1993 comedy Dave may not be most people’s first choice of a great leadership movie. But for me it demonstrates perfectly a key facet of leadership: that it is a choice rather than a position. In the movie, the White House recruits uncanny presidential lookalike Dave Kovic (Kevin Kline)… Read More »How to win over your team: everyman leadership in Dave
Whenever I tell people that The Shawshank Redemption is one of my top leadership movies, I often receive blank looks. Where’s the recognised leader, the rousing speeches to followers? But for me, it’s the perfect demonstration of a different kind of leadership: a demonstration that leadership is a state of… Read More »Top 5 leadership movies: The Shawshank Redemption