Films have a huge impact on the human mind. Films can communicate, embody and articulate the effectiveness of behaviours of leadership.
Hollywood has a variety of award-winning films that portray the heroism and sacrifices of different military leaders in battlefield.
Saving Private Ryan
Film. Saving Private Ryan is an epic war film directed by renowned filmmaker Steven Spielberg and produced by Robert Rodat. This movie was released in 1998 based on the Invasion of the Normandy in the Second World War. This movie achieved very good critics from the worldwide and praised a lot to Spielberg and Tom Hanks as Captain Miller in the movie.
Plot. The plot of the movie was based on the Second World War. Three of the four sons of the Ryan family were killed in Warfield. Therefore, the fourth son (James Ryan affiliated with 101st Airborne Division in Normandy) was ordered to back home immediately. Captain Miller of the second Ranger Battalion leads a breakout on Omaha Beach to find Ryan and bring him back home. Captain Miller choose six people the assist him for this mission and started to find Ryan in the different battlefields. Before reaching Ryan, Captain Miller lost two men on the road and finally found him near Ramelle. Ryan was defending a tactically important bridge near Ramelle from the German Soldiers. Ryan learned that all of his brothers were killed in battle and felt sorrow for them. However, he refused to leave his post. Therefore, Captain Miller had to make a quick, tough decision to defend the bridge together, and afterward bring him back. By this time, they took preparation with their small arms and ammunition to defend the Germans. Within a few hours, the heavily armed German Troops came to the bridge and resisted by US Army. During the fighting, most of the men of that company were killed including captain miller. However, he continued to shoot his last bullet before the air strike support.
Leadership Qualities of Captain Miller
Captain Miller displayed transactional and transformational leadership traits. He displayed qualities that are portrayed by strong and positive leaders.
He never compelled his fellow team members to do anything. He motivated them.
He proved to be an innovative leader, willing to learn from the mistakes.
He was willing to take the responsibilities on his own shoulders.
He adopted a follower-based approach to leadership. He always discussed with his followers and his followers’ feedback was always welcome. While he was open to feedback from the fellow teammates, but was loyal to the chain of command.
He was tough decision maker, willing to make the quick and critical decision.
He displayed empathy towards his personnel.
Recommendation
Saving Private Ryan is a great piece of Steve Spielberg portraying an epic leadership style. It is composed of transactional, transformational and follower based approach of leadership.
Military leaders should watch this movie for its leadership lessons.
Titbits
Moreover, this movie has a huge commercial success; in the USA, it has earned 216.8 million USD and worldwide 481.8 million USD (wikipedia.org). This movie was nominated in eleven categories for a seventy-first academy award and won the awards in five categories including Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound Effects Editing (oscars.org). Besides Oscars, this movie also won multiples awards worldwide. This movie was an ethno-biography of Private Ryan, a Second World War veteran.
Value Additions are most welcome
For regular updates, please register here
References
Homes, C. (2014b, October 28). Saving Private Ryan Review: Top ten Leadership Lesson from this Movie. Retrieved October 15, 2018 from https://www.part-time- commander.com/saving-private-ryan-review-10-leadership-lessons-from-the-movie/
Rogers, T. (2015, October 28). Seven lessons from Saving Private Ryan that will make you a better leader. Medium. Retrieved October 20, 2018, from https://medium.com/@tobiasrogers/seven-lessons-from-saving-private-ryan-that-will- make-you-a-better-leader-3e208a78a657
Kirkpatrick, T. (2017, May 18). 8 awesome enlisted leaders depicted in war movies. https://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/8-awesome- enlisted-leaders-depicted-in-war-movies.
Guthrie, K. L., & Jenkins, D. M. (2018). The role of leadership educators: Transforming learning. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Rajendran, D., & Andrew, M. (2014). Using film to elucidate leadership effectiveness models: Reflection on authentic learning experiences. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 11(1), 8.