Ever Seen Your Leadership Style in a Movie?
Its interesting to notice that both the movie "The Queen" and the old flick "The Wizard of Oz" showed various methods of leadership. Want to see what each one demonstrated?
Queen Elizabeth knew of no other manner in which to lead than to emulate her familys behavior and rulings for generations. When her sons former wife died, she was faced with a new conundrum. Would she be true to her queenly position if she did what had always been done by her predecessors, or should she fall sway to the pressures of her consituents?
Tony Blair observed the queens archaic leadership style, steeped with tradition yet seemingly not in touch with todays issues. He and his wife joked about the various rituals that made little sense to them. While he respected the queens position, Blair showed little initial respect for her choices. What did his leadership style say about him?
In "The Wizard of Oz," we learned of two distinct yet opposing leadership styles. Oz ruled with force. His was the giant voice that scared his constituents into behaving in the manner of his choice. He could not be seen, only feared. Odd as it seems, we still have leaders behaving in this manner today. They might think that this gruff, fearful leadership style works, but if you look at the loyalty of their staff, its a thin as Ozs veil.
With Dorothy, her leadership still was somewhat different. She had a goal to get back to Kansas. She was honest in her self-appraisal for the necessary skills, or understanding, or tools for achievement, so she surrounded herself with them in the guise of others. She never took her eye off the goal while leading all the time from a place of compassion, wisdom, and from being genuine within herself.
What happened in the end for these four leaders and what is there for us to learn?
The Queen: Learned to live in todays world, listening to what her constituents demanded from her, putting herself in their shoes, and making strong choices accordingly.
The Prime Minister: Closely observed the queens tough choices, lessoned his criticism, and in doing so, saw the individual (not position) with which he was dealing. The result was a stronger bond between them, more open communication and support of each other.
The Oz: As with most leaders who hide behind a façade and are afraid to show their true colors, he was found out and lost his power.
Dorothy: Satisfied her goals and formed wonderfully strong friendships as she progressed. Each of the individuals she interfaced with felt validated, listened to, and gained a better understanding of who each one way and how they contributed to the others. In short, they were better off having had an association with her than they were on their own.
May we all learn from the leaders around and before us. I hope that every day each one of us learns a thing or two about being filled with life, compassion and dynamism about our role as leaders. Enjoy your discoveries.
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