Wisdom: Best Workplace Movie

And the Nominees Are... Over the years in teaching organizational behaviour and leadership in different university programs, I used movies as teaching tools and the basis for complex group assignments. In fact, some of the best work ever produced by my students featured movie reviews that illustrated organizational life and leadership. Generally, the groups were free to select any movie, watch it together, and create a review highlighting its organizational insights. I still have a file containing the best reviews produced over the years. As teaching tools, movies add spice and colour to the learning process, while helping people develop their skills in applying ideas and concepts. Since education is presumably about such goals, movies make teaching sense—especially in our video age. And a steady diet of PowerPoint lectures makes for dreary and predictable lectures. These days, people expect to be entertained while they learn. There are other ways that movies have value in exploring workplace issues. When I’m involved in facilitating retreats and team-building sessions for people, I often ask participants to suggest a movie that members of their team or organization might watch together. It’s a great conversation starter and, more often than not, the answers provide a window on the deeper issues and culture within the organization. I have found that in troubled organizations with controlling top-down leadership, for instance, folks at the bottom of the feeding chain will often choose movie like Antz, Office Space, Clockwatchers, Working Girl, or Brassed Off. What would be your selection in response to that question? Which movie would you choose as your nomination for a workplace movie for you and your colleagues, including your boss? Imagine a monthly workplace movie night with popcorn and pizza. In the interim, here are some of my suggestions for movies about leadership. Consider this a first installment: in a future column I’ll explore movies that help us understand teamwork, conflict, and the darker side of organizational life. When it comes to leadership, there are hundreds of potential movie titles that connect us with that topic. Over the years, I’ve been struck by how often males gravitate toward the action-war-heroic theme (sort of male Gothics) when given a choice to select their leadership movie. Thus, movies like Braveheart, Glory, Gladiator, The Godfather and Saving Private Ryan are often chosen. Don’t get me wrong: These are powerful movies that provide us with exemplars of heroic leaders under the darkest and dangerous situations people must face. But they do tend to confirm traditional stereotypes of the heroic male leader, a concept that has declining value in most workplaces these days. And outright aggression (as opposed to the camouflaged variety) tends to be discouraged as a problem-solving technique for leaders these days. The Terminator may provide us with lots of action, but the leadership style will get you into trouble quickly with the staff morale committee. Here are my personal picks for movies that help us grasp and grapple with the complexities of leadership: The Shawshank Redemption, Babe, Norma Rae, Dead Poets Society. Of the four, Shawshank is my all-time favourite, for it reflects courageous and persistent leadership in a difficult setting, illustrating the deeper gift that true leaders bring: hope amid darkness and the potential for growth toward the light. It’s also a great story and has the added bonus of offering us contrasting leadership styles in the Warden and Andy’s friend Red. It’s unfortunate that some of the folks I meet these days suggest that their leader seems to resemble the Warden. But then again, they look at their workplace as a prison. I like Babe too. It is the quirky and humourous Australian movie featuring a piglet named Babe who is rescued from becoming bacon by a farmer. Against some serious and sustained objections, Babe is subsequently transformed into a prize-winning sheepdog. Along the way, there are plenty of raised eyebrows and comments from the sidelines—a sure sign of resistance. That tells us something too, because leadership is always about change and in my experience most people prefer things the way they are. My students—especially the MBA engineering types —always found it hard to look for the “leadership lessons” in Babe. In fact they complained loudly at times, and not always just from the sidelines. They wondered why they had to watch a “stupid kids’ movie about a pig” in a leadership course when there were so many great action movies about real people—or real men! (They often advocated for the animated Chicken Run because there was much more “action”.) But I persisted, just like farmer Hoggett in the movie. Actually, Babe is much more than just a “stupid kids’movie” about a pig, although it is a great family movie. It’s about leadership that sees a deeper potential in followers, and challenges conventional wisdom amid the current pecking order. And it connects directly to issues of workplace civility, diversity and collaboration based on mutual respect. I’ve found that people find a range of workplace connections in the movie, and actually enjoy comparing their colleagues to the characters. Norma Rae won Sally Field an Oscar for her powerful portrayal of a textile worker who helps to organize a union, encountering predictable hostility and resistance. It shows that leaders are not just the people at the top; in fact, leadership emerges at lower levels when deeper needs are not being met by formal leaders. Those—like Norma Rae—who emerge as leaders often have to earn their credibility against resistance as they struggle with the perennial “hardening of the categories” problem in the workplace. Dead Poets Society is always a popular choice for a movie that connects us to the challenges and pitfalls of change-oriented leadership. It’s a compelling drama about a charismatic teacher who displays all the attributes of what current thinkers call “transformational leadership”. John Keating, the teacher played by Robin Williams, challenges his students to experience passion and involvement with life, to think and live “outside the box”. In this case, the box is a very controlled, traditional, and conventional all-male prep school called Welton Academy. Keating succeeds in transforming his young student charges and inspiring them to pursue their fullest potential. But he fails to establish a credible relationship with his superiors, the people who control the annual performance review and contract renewal. (That’s an important point for self-styled charismatic leaders to consider.) In the end, he fails as a leader, yet it’s a noble failure because Keating’s challenge to his students resonates with timeless values and our deepest needs. Those are my four choices for movies on leadership. Reflecting on them, I sense some common themes that may account for their continuing popularity and relevance. They all involve leaders who struggle with conventional wisdom and active resistance to their leadership efforts, yet they persist because they want their followers to grow, to reach their full potential. Each of the lead characters (no pun intended) encounters fear along the journey and continues onward. And their leadership credibility takes time to evolve, something current spin doctors don’t seem to understand. In the end, leadership is about courage, fear, hope, and our deepest values. It’s a journey with pitfalls and challenges to be sure, but it’s a worthwhile one. At least that’s the truth that these four movies convey. Make a point to rent one from your local video store. My hope is that you will see your workplace leader’s virtues and values reflected in your choice. And if you have any movie suggestions, send them along to the editor.

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