Perhaps it is safe to say that – it all depends. If the story-telling of the drama (for that matter, of movies and others works of fiction/entertainment) is true to the fact – and is well researched and understood by the writer, producer, director and actor – then there may be pieces of portrayals (leadership or otherwise) – one can learn from. Otherwise, things can be misleading.
As an example, one may think of Gandhi – the movie (R Attenborough 1982). In there, in addition to the colonial British leadership practices – one learns of a political leadership skill that no one ever heard of before in contemporary politics. It was the Indian independence movement of nonviolence. Despite the fact that the British leadership ruled out Gandhi as a nuisance half-naked fakir – Gandhi was stubborn to spearhead his method. Only when Gandhi condemned and protested against violent rebellion attack on a British police outpost – the British took him seriously (that when Gandhi advocated nonviolence, he really meant it by his enormous sacrifice). Note that Gandhi was not after cheap popularity – and there lies one very important quality of leadership – political, business or otherwise. That a leader destined to make a difference of significant impact to spearhead things to good causes – must rise above jealousy – and above the temptation of earning cheap and quick popularity.
Of course, a business leadership is different in contexts and purpose, but the fundamental spirit is same. In my Leadership and Management piece, I have tried to see leadership roles from different perspectives – and came up with a leadership acronym: HICAP (H – hope; I – Integrity; C – compassion; A – awareness; and P – people). And have discussed the rationale behind selecting each element of this acronym. As we have also talked about on other occasions – curiosity is important – but it should rather have the form of awareness. Awareness or to be awake to see and perceive things that change and evolve in time – to be responsive and proactive to researches and initiatives that occur in his or her sphere of works – in order to develop and pursue an appropriate strategy. This implies that a leader should not be constrained by the rigidity of checklists – but should enjoy freedom and flexibility – to be creative – to move things to uncharted directions, when and if appropriate.
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Dilip
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Dr. Dilip Barua, Ph.D, P.Eng, M. ASCE
Vancouver, BC, Canada
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