Tag: movie

Posted on

Leadership Lessons from Hollywood War Movies: Black Hawk Down

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.

 

Black Hawk Down

Film. Black Hawk Down released in 2001 based on a true fact from Somalia. This film was produced and directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Ken Nolan. This movie was based on the 1999 non-fiction book Black Hawk Down by journalist Mark Bowden.

Film Setting. In 1993, the US military operated a raid in Mogadishu to capture faction leader Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The ensuing firefight was known as the Battle of Mogadishu. In January 1991, Somalian President Mohammed Siad Barre was overthrown by a coalition of opposing clans, precipitating the Somali Civil War. In this civil war, around three hundred thousand (300,000) people were killed. Therefore, this civil war turned to genocide and the united nation had to intervene for the peacekeeping.

Film Plot. In 1992, U.S. forces had arrived in Somalia on a humanitarian mission to provide the food access to starving people in a city where different militia groups controlled basic resources. Initially, Task Force Ranger and U.S. Joint Special Operations force was a collaborated with other elite forces units from Army Special Operations Command, Air Force Special Operations Command, and Navy Special Warfare Command. Fifth Ranger Regiment and Delta Force was sharing the major members of this operation. Members from the seventh Task Force Ranger was dispatched to seize two of Aidid’s high-echelon lieutenants during a meeting in the city. The goal of the operation was achieved, though conditions spiraled into the deadly Battle of Mogadishu. The initial operation on October 3, 1993, intended to last an hour, became an overnight standoff and rescue operation extending into the daylight hours of October 4th. In this operation, 19 US soldiers sacrificed their lives and more than 1000 Somalian militia and civilian were killed.

Leadership Qualities

Black Hawk Down movie, is one of the best examples of leadership during crisis. It also brings out elements of situational leadership and ethical leadership. In the movie Major General William Garrison is portrayed as an authoritative but caring leader. Overall it is a story of many heroes. The major leadership lessons from this movie as follows:

  • Lead by example and be willing to carry the burden of leadership.
  • Be reliable and dependable, a leader that can be counted on.
  • It is critical for leaders to understand Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs

Recommendation

This film is recommended to be watched by the young military leaders.

Titbits

Black Hawk Down won two Academy Awards for Best Film Editing and Best Sound Mixing at the 74th Academy Awards (wikipedia.org, oscars.org). This movie has a strong foundation of political dilemma and social justice issue.

 

Value Additions are most welcome

 

For regular updates, please register here

Subscribe

References

Harvard Business School. (2003, April 21). “Black Hawk Down”: Leading in Crisis. Retrieved on September 10, 2018 from https://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/black-hawk-down-leading-in- crisis.

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.

Posted on

Leadership Lessons from Hollywood War Movies: The Bridge of the River Kwai

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.

 

The Bridge of the River Kwai

Film. The Bridge on the River Kwai was released in 1957, directed by David Lean and based on the novel Le Pont de la Rivière Kwaï (1952) by Pierre Boulle. The cast of this movie included William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Alec Guinness, and Sessue Hayakawa.

 

Plot. In early 1943, the Japanese Army prisoned British POWs in a camp of Burma. The commandant, Colonel Saito ordered to construct a railway bridge on the river Kwai to connect the Bangkok and Rangoon. The senior British officer, Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson, found this order as a complete violation of Geneva Convention and disagree to build the bridge. Saito threatened to have them shot, but Nicholson refuses to back down to work and Saito left the prisoners standing all day in the intense heat and locked Nicolson in an iron box. Temporarily, the prisoners worked as little as possible on bridgework and tried to delay the work. There was an obligation for Saito to finish the work by a deadline and if he missed the deadline, he would be obliged to commit ritual suicide. Nicholson was shocked by the poor job performance of his men. He ordered Captain Reeves and Major Hughes to design and build a proper bridge to maintain his men’s morale. The team found that the design of the Japanese Engineers was faulty and the construction site was selected poorly. They decided to build a new bridge downstream. Shears, an American Navy man, was compelled to volunteer to destroy the bridge by a British Major Warden. Shears and Joyce plant explosives on the bridge towers below the water line at night. However, by next morning the water level had dropped, uncovering the connecting wires of the explosives to the detonator.

 

Leadership Qualities

There are two dominant leadership roles displayed in this movie: Colonel Saito and Lieutenant Nicholson. Both Colonel Nicholson and Colonel Saito’s style of leadership could be described as task-motivated.

Colonel Saito as an authoritarian, directive, path-goal oriented leader. His only goal target was to complete the bridge in time with fear or rewards. This also falls under the category of transactional leadership.

Nicolson seems an indirect, path-goal oriented leader, with high ethics and moralities.

 

Recommendation

 

This film is recommended to be watched by the young military leaders.

Titbits

This film has won seven Academy Awards in multiple categories (oscar.org). According to American Film Institute (2007), in 1997, the film was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress. It has been included on the American Film Institute’s list of best American films ever made. In 1999, the British Film Institute voted The Bridge on the River Kwai the 11th greatest British film of the 20th Century.

Value Additions are most welcome

 

For regular updates, please register here

Subscribe

References

Guibla, J. (2016). Leadership’s Lessons from “The Bridge of the River Kwai.” St. Cloud State University Master of Public Administration Program. Retrieved on December 22, 2018 from https://scsumpaprogram.wordpress.com/2016/12/26/leaderships-lessons-from-the- bridge-of-the-river-kwai/

 

Kapur, V., & Gahlot, S. (2012, October 08). Leadership Analysis: The Bridge on The River Kwai. Mbaskool.com. Retrieved on December 22, 2018 from https://www.mbaskool.com/business–articles/human-resource/5169-leadership-analysis- the-bridge-on-the-river-kwai.html

Presidential Global Scholars. (2012). Leadership lens: Bridge on the River Kwai. Retrieved on December 23, 2018 from https://blogs.lt.vt.edu/pgs2012/2012/03/leadership-lens-bridge- on-the-river-kwai/

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.

Posted on

Leadership Lessons from Hollywood War Movies: Saving Private Ryan

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

Subscribe

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.