Recruiting an outstanding team is a challenge for any leader. So imagine that challenge comes with intense time pressure, national media coverage and expectant fans and owners into the bargain. That’s the challenge facing Cleveland Browns general manager Sonny Weaver (Kevin Costner) in Draft Day. Even if you’re not an American… Read More »Character over talent, and other lessons from Draft Day
We all have people in our organisations who don’t receive the recognition they may deserve. The ones who work away in the background, not getting the limelight – yet just as important in determining whether a project or organisation succeeds or fails. The movie Hidden Figures is a great example. It spotlights… Read More »Uncovering the leadership lessons in Hidden Figures
Movies are awash with tales of the underdog. But Friday Night Lights deals with a very different theme: the pressure of expectation. Set in the tiny Texas town of Odessa, that pressure is heaped upon the Permian Panthers High School football team. Here, football is a religion, and the boys are celebrities:… Read More »Setting expectations in Friday Night Lights
“What is it that you actually do?” Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (Woz) asks in the movie Steve Jobs, after listing the impressive contributions of other Apple team members. “Musicians play their instruments,” Jobs tells him simply. “I play the orchestra.” Jobs’s widow and current Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook… Read More »Playing the orchestra: lessons from Steve Jobs
Hoosiers (also known in the UK as Best Shot) was an unexpected box office hit in 1985, telling the unlikely story of a tiny high school basketball team who win the State Championship in hoop-mad Indiana in the early 1950s. Disgraced former coach Norman Dale is given a final chance to… Read More »10 key leadership lessons from Hoosiers
In Apollo 13, Flight Director Gene Kranz overhears two NASA directors discussing the low survival chances for the crippled spacecraft. “I know what the problems are Henry,” one of them says. “This could be the worst disaster NASA has ever experienced.” “With all due respect Sir,” Kranz intervenes, “I believe… Read More »Apollo 13 and the power of the counterfact
Managing performance is often a leader’s least favourite part of their role. Having difficult conversations requires what the military call ‘moral courage’. Some choose to put up with negative behaviour instead. But people want to know how they’re performing, and honest, constructive feedback is critical to creating an engaged and healthy… Read More »Six movie tips for managing performance
There are many ‘good’ companies, but few that are ‘great’. In leadership terms, what makes the difference? Jim Collins’ business bestseller Good to Great outlines two key characteristics of what he calls ‘level five leaders’: those with the capacity to lead not just good companies, but great ones. Collins and his… Read More »From good to great: level five leaders