Managerial leadership (movie Forest Gump) - Assignment Example

?Managerial leadership (movie Forest Gump) Forest Gump is a character that displays great leadership skills, unorthodox but still inspirational and effective. He doesn’t pose, he tells his stories with utmost truth and honesty. The reason he becomes so successful is partially due to his inability to communicate in the normal way, which is to mask and hide emotions. A leader as honest as Gump is destined to become a huge success. He always led by example; from the front. To be realistic, there is no leadership ‘issue’, his character is a shining example of how one man can do great things even when he is mentally not fully functional. This becomes his greatest asset as people simply indulge in his stories; they consider his every word a golden gift, pure and honest, inspirational, they hang on to his every word, a true example of an authentic leader. In theory, an authentic leader is the one who understands his purpose, passion and these powerful drive force results from an ongoing self-reflection (Marquis & Huston, 2009), in other words, being true to one’s self (Pless & Maak, 2011). Gump exuberates authentic leadership skills. He is relentless in his struggle to achieve his goals, be it getting better at ping pong, opening a shrimp catching Ship Company or saving his fellow soldiers in Vietnam War. He is a natural leader who hasn’t read any books on leadership. He simply assesses a situation, makes a decision and is simply unstoppable when he’s at it. Such skills are mandatory in an authentic leader, be it corporate, politics or even a baseball team. Without a follower, there is no leader. Authentic leadership skills develop relational process with the followers (Nichols, 2008). Dan Taylor, the Second Lieutenant, is probably the best example how an authentic leader, Gump, develops a relation with the ‘follower’, who in fact was Gump’s leader. Gump’s leadership traits are not of a one-dimensional leader, despite being authentic, he is a transformational leader; a hybrid category, including a proportionate combination of traits, situational and behavioural awareness (Gittens, 2009). There is a distinction between an authentic and pseudo leader, Gump belonged to the former category. For instance Hitler was a charismatic leader but how was he able to convince ordinary soldiers to commit heinous crimes? That’s where the difference lies; Hitler was a pseudo transformational leader, who was successful in committing crimes against humanity through his army (Schminke, 2010), while Gump’s character exhibits authentic transformational leadership skills. The greatest dilemma he faces in the movie is when he makes the decision to save his commander at the battle ground in Vietnam. His commander gets severely injured and is almost bleeding to death on ground. Gump works like a powerful robot saving his fellow soldiers by carrying the injured on his back and shifting them to safe ground. When it comes to saving Lieutenant Taylor, the captain refuses as he considers it honourable to die in the battlefield than to go home and face the shame for losing so many men. He orders Gump to leave him there and join his battalion, Gump refuses. Transformational leadership is associated with bringing change in organization and groups (Bass & Riggio, 2012). What Gump does at the battleground is the change, he defies order, changes the pattern of hierarchy to do what he deems right; this is transformational leadership. The other thing is the fact that when they reach home, his commander loses his legs and is dependent on a wheel chair. He hates Hump for saving his life, but Gump doesn’t leave him, the heart of good leadership is sacrificing (Maxwell, 2007). The sacrificial aspect of leadership is now considered ancient; it is a common thing to read in newspapers or on TV that the CEOs scapegoat their own employees whenever problems arise (Grint, 2010). Plus leaders usually demand sacrifice from employees but never take their share of hardship and sacrifice (Ruprecht, 2010). What Forrest Gump practices is total opposite of such leadership practices. The issue is dealt with Gump’s sacrificial nature. He believes that his commander needs him more than ever, so he sticks with him. He carries him around even when he is cursing him. This sacrificial attitude towards his goals is most inspiring and probably a truly remarkable way of leading. Despite all the curses and hate he gets from his commander, he sets him right. He helps him get a life, and in the end they open a shrimp business on a boat and turn out quite successful. In my opinion, the issue was handled skilfully and with heart, instead of looking at ground realities and the nuts and bolts of the situation, a decision was made and it was followed by a determined man. It is easier to make the people follow you when you are chasing your own dream with conviction and hard work. The humanness of Gump shows that a leader sometimes gets confused but it doesn’t make him less of a leader, in fact it improves him. He suddenly sets out on a marathon run just to clear his head. Running helps him clear his mind fog and make a decision. When folks start seeing him run relentlessly, nonstop hard work without anyone commanding him other than his own fire, they start following him. It is human psychology; that’s how cults are formed, leaders are born. Authentic leaders provide positive modelling to the followers (Stadler, 2008). Gump exhibits altruism in his leadership skills, another perspective of looking at an authentic leader (Leonard, Lewis, Freedman & Passmore, 2013). The reason it was right was because it wasn’t a bad decision, it was the right thing to do. The right was because of Gump’s decision based on his own judgment, his own ethics, he thought it would be unfair, unjust to leave the captain at the battle ground wounded; his intentions were to save his captain’s life, which he does successfully. His conviction in his own judgment made it right, and the movie does show it that the decision is proven right. Forrest Gump wasn’t best at everything but what he possessed given his mental condition, he was best at it. He never really indulged into participatory leadership, which assumes that participation of many minds makes a better decision (Bush, 2012). In that moment, there would hardly be any other option, leaving lieutenant there would have killed him, he would have succumbed to the wounds bleeding to death. What good would it had achieved? And besides if it were to happen, it would have out serious question marks on Gump’s ability as a leader. Inspiration can come from anywhere, be it a book or a movie. Forest Gump is a fictional character, yet it inspires the leader in all of us, the truest and purest leader that is driven purely by passion and determination. The greatest lesson I took from the movie is how to stand your ground no matter what the circumstances. This is not easy to do, especially when one is leading from the front. All the time, Gump is concerned about his subjects, his girlfriend, his football team, his fellow soldiers and his mother. I will try to incorporate John Maxwell’s philosophy about leadership and how sacrifice and leadership go hand in hand. Bibliography Bass, B. M. & Riggio, R. E., 2012. Transformational leadership. Psychology Press. Bush, P. M., 2012. Transforming your stem career through leadership and innovation: Inspiration and strategies for women. Academic Press. Gittens, B. E., 2009. Perceptions of the applicability of transformational leadership behaviour to the leader role of academic department chairs: a study of selected universities in Virginia. ProQuest. Grint, K., 2010. Leadership: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press. Leonard, H. S., Lewis, R., Freedman, A. M. & Passmore, J., 2013. The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of the psychology of leadership, change and organizational development. John Wiley & Sons. Marquis, B. L. & Huston, C. J., 2009. Leadership roles and management functions in nursing: Theory and application. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Maxwell, J., 2007. The 21 irrefutable laws of leadership workbook: Revised & updated. Thomas Nelson Inc. Nichols, T. W., 2008. Authentic transformational leadership and implicit leadership theories. ProQuest. Pless, N. M & Maak, T., 2011. Responsible leadership. Springer. Ruprecht, J. W., 2010. Windward leadership: Taking your organization into the prevailing winds and political seas. Hillcrest Publishing Group. Schminke, M., 2010. Managerial ethics: Managing the psychology of morality. Taylor & Francis. Stadler, 2008. Leadership development by divine design: an exploration of Christian leadership emergence theory in the corporate context. ProQuest. Read More