Lincoln - an American Epic Historical Drama Directed by Steven Spielberg - Movie Review Example

LINCOLN LEADERSHIP Name Institution Course Date Lincoln Leadership Executive Summary As The saying goes, "The making of laws like the making of sausages, is not a pretty sight." But the movie Lincoln is no unattractive sausage-maker, and Lincoln is an action packed movie for the audience to watch. The movie shows more than just the American history lessons. As the viewers are watching Lincoln working towards achieving his goals to ending the war and ensure the abolishment of slavery, he fully relies on excellent leadership styles, skills and strategies that give a classic example of strong leadership qualities that are guided by vision and values. Introduction Lincoln is an American epic historical drama movie directed by Steven Spielberg in 2012. It is a movie that covers the last moments of Abraham Lincoln’s life focusing on his efforts as the president to ensure the amendment of the United States constitution. Lincoln’s presidency is shown to be a well directed movie for the business leaders who are seeking to build up a successful and enduring organization. The two and a half hour film narrows in on the last few months of the 16th president's life (Crevani 2007; (Bass 2008, p.238). A civil war that has lasted for more than four years has to end, but coming off a second-term victory, the broadly-admired Lincoln has a little political resource to spend before his lame-duck Congress takes a leave in the spring. Against the conceal of his colleagues and to the suspicions and uncertainties of even the abolitionists, Lincoln tosses himself into passing a constitutional amendment eternally outlawing slavery from the United states a which is a venture that could either extend or end an already protracted war (Crevani 2010). Framework of understanding leadership To understand his leadership qualities, Lincoln did waste his time trying to convert others to his ideas but it does mean that he should not expend most of his energy thinking of detractors as enemies. Lincoln had taken the time to meet with many people and discuss the vision for his cause respecting the different opinions of those who disagreed (Denis, 2012, p. 245). The detractors on the other hand did not deter him off his vision but rather they fueled his growing desire to continue to make a major change that would create an essential future generation. Leadership characteristics and traits This story, as told in the movie is a great illustration of the qualities and characteristics of a true leader. Such qualities include the proactive and reactive leadership qualities, flexibility and open minded. The movie displays high emotional intelligence traits. Lincoln raises to fame as a stirring speaker, he is generally a man of few world and well crafted. The movie is seen to present to the audience a series of young solders that recite the ten sentence long Gettysburg Address. Lincoln’s body language on the other hand is quite impressive. he is a tall and imposing man both when he is touching the young army present or even leaning close to talk the telegraph clerks as key points are being relayed to him. He has the characteristics of a good listener; he is seen to hear out of constituents, legislators, members of his cabinet and the solders in general. H has the ability to tell stories and a strong sense of humor that helps him break the ice and drive his point home. He has the ability to use his skills in dissolving the deadlock amidst the other members of the cabinet. Leader Behaviors and Style He is a master of many different styles of persuasion right from anecdote to the use of powerful metaphors to the rare blunt directive: in the movie he is heard saying “I am the President of the United States... clothed in immense power…and you will procure me these votes.” He has a good command about his skills, strengths and other vulnerabilities through trial-and-error in life. The audience is able to strengthen their understanding by paying attention to how other people see and respond to the general population. He shows the importance of seeking honest feedback from both the family members, friends and colleagues at work. In the movie, the importance of self-management is clearly seen. The audience is shown the ability to have the emotions in reasonable control to enable every kind of leader to work effectively with the other people. In the movie’s Lincoln is a man of patience, tolerance and perseverance. In one outstanding early scene, Lincoln devices out his plans and strategies to press for the immediate passage of the amendment to Secretary of State William Seward. William is immediately and furiously pronounces the timing impossible. Lincoln just smiles and says pleasantly, “I like our chances now”. . . and he goes ahead to carefully explain the opportunities and prospects of that given time frame that included lame-duck Democrats who might be persuaded with the pledging of jobs. At another key leadership trait that Lincoln shows is when he retreats to think and weigh his two heavy challenges. The challenges are timing the vote on slavery and the negotiations that are going on to ensure the end of the war. He says “At times like this I’m best alone.” Therefore, he is showing the leaders that however restrained they may be under pressure, they need to understand how to manage their emotions in a much better way. There is need to know the things that actually sends the leaders off the track, the different kinds of strategies that are required to lower the weights presented by the difficult decisions the leaders have to make. The leaders need to know if there is need to retreat and think as Lincoln did in the movie. He is also presenting the option of taking over through to find the right decisions. Emotionally many of the most intelligent leaders need to recognize that it takes personal commitment as well as perseverance in the face of impediments and setbacks for a leader to achieve the desired goals. Lincoln is seen to be conscious of the need to stay the course. At one point in the movie Lincoln says “The compass points you the true north, but it does not warn you of obstacles and swamps along the way.” Many of the leaders have to relate to this kind development, both the life of the leader and the work will always matter. As much as most obstacles will be experienced in the course, there is need for the leaders to learn from linking how to shape their strategies as different setbacks and evident obstacles are coming along the way. Group Member’s Characteristics Any kind of leader must be able to work under diverse groups of people. The movie is based on a book called Team of Rivals that was written by Doris Goodwin. The central point that Doris was trying to pass across as that instead of the many leaders trying to politicize everything, just like in the movie, Lincoln included a diverse group of people from different origins both his friends and other foes. Such a kind of diverse group enabled him to lead a better debate in parliament and make constructive decisions. Such decisions have hard a lifelong impact on the future generations that has helped build a good American country. The movie shows the need to build up a strong relationship with people of diverse origin. The group members that a leader chooses help in recognition of the diverse values and motivations that are presented in the leadership styles. Lincoln does extremely well at the component of emotional intelligence, in the movie he is trying to bargain for support in a cabinet that is famously brilliant even though not always like-minded. He is also seen persuading diverse legislators to support and hold up his cause. The group members provide him with a no one-size-fits-all approach to the issues facing the nation. He decides to use praise as he urges with the abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens to temper his arguments. There is a scene that shows him talking about the honor of a dead brother to a legislator. He urges with someone else gently and trying as much as possible to be a good listener and an above all a thoughtful observer who can help the leaders build capacities for empathy in their tenure. Internal and External Environment According to Carson et al (2007), the best leadership is a shared responsibility that is facilitated by an overall team environment that consists of three dimensions: social support, shared purpose, and voice. The shared purpose is shown in Lincoln movie as the prevailing team members both have a similar understanding of the country’s main objective to deliver it from war and slavery. Social Support on the other hand entails the production of emotional and psychological potency to the members of the team. In this case Lincoln leads through overt acts of encouragement and expressions that recognizes his fellow workmen contributions and their accomplishments. The voice is seen in the movie as the degree in which Lincoln and his team members have an input to ensure they are publically hard in their quest to deliver the country. These three dimensions are shown in the movie to be highly interrelated as well as mutually reinforcing. The internal environment therefore focuses mainly on achieving a common goal. The team has a common goal of shared purpose with an increased motivation for team members to both speak up and invest in providing leadership. Lincoln ensured his goals and that of his team members are well recognized and they are supported at all costs. Such skills has made him win the trust of his team mates who are more willing to share responsibilities and cooperate well. The role of external environment is also well described in the movie. Lincoln plays an external role in supporting the shared responsibilities. There is direct interaction with a team intended to help team members make coordinated, harmonized and task-appropriate use of their collective resources in completing the given task. Leadership Effectiveness Lincoln was passionate about the emancipation of slaves and proclamation of the end of the war. It was his strong believe that it was time for a major and most important change that would shape and affect humanity for centuries. He demonstrated effective leadership by never wavering in his commitment to the choices and decisions he made. He also maintained his focus and high levels of energy towards the cause. It was because of his unwavering passion, effectiveness, energy and commitment that saw people follow his lead (Bolden, 2011, p. 256). It is seen that Lincoln has the qualities of periodically assessing his own personal strengths and shortcomings. Such an assessment enabled him to have a full understanding of what he likes to do most of the time. The areas he is good at and the areas he is not good at were at his full understanding. There is need for the leaders to have diverse skills to enable them be the best leaders. Lincoln reminds the viewers of the necessity to build strong relationship and motivating the working population as an effective leadership tool. It was the duty of Lincoln to move the population to the desired direction. Effective leadership sees the leader take charge of the situations at hand. Such skills include the one on one conversation with the other members of his cabinet to the rhetoric and actions he do to persuade many other friends and foes. Such kind of leadership made the people he was leading feel like they were watching him think and therefore winning their trust. Many knew that every word he was speaking was the actual truth. Lincoln was the best at capturing the attention of his listeners. He could be in a very terrible meeting and then tell up a very funny story that would see many of the present members laugh at what he was saying. At one point in the movie, Lincoln made up with a powerful metaphor concerning the ending slavery to keep the cabinet members motivated. As the vote on the amendment was drawing near, he compares the cabinet to whale-hunters. The hunter would finally have the harpoon on a whale they have been chasing a very long time. In the movie, Lincoln had a very unusual thing in his political life. He had a set of emotional and exciting strengths that are presently referred to as emotional intelligence. When he encountered all sorts of rivalries and even when he was hurt and engaged with other politicians he was in some way able to beat the center of that storm. Any time Lincoln could feel he had hurt anyone during such engagements he would be able to write a letter stating “If I hurt you in any way, I did not mean to do so (Bergman 2012). He could go ahead and ask for forgiveness for the hastily things he had done. In the movie he wrote what he calls a hot letter when he was upset. He could not send the letter until his temper was down he could write on the letter “Never sent. Never signed.” Lincoln has for that matter showed many leaders that it is always good to understand that human relationships are at the core of any political success. Lincoln knew that the specific area of weakness in any leader does not make them weak; on the contrary, it allows them to delegate to others who have those abilities, in order to achieve the common goal. As opposed to just clinging to the false belief that they can do it all, most of the great leaders hire people who harmonize and complement, rather than just supplementing their skills. By doing that it will enable the leaders work on the specific areas of weaknesses will improve their leadership abilities. Recognizing the abilities will for that matter make the people more human. Conclusion As seen in the movie, Lincoln was a very funny man and he would continually use humor and different scenario stories to entertain and connect with his team of politicians. His public speaking style was to use stories and other humor instances that would allow him to be seen as accessible and relatable to the public. References Bass, B. M., & Bass, R., 2008. The Bass Handbook of Leadership: Theory, Research, and Managerial Applications. London: Free Press. Bergman, J. Z., Rentsch, J. R., Small, E. E., Davenport, S.W., & Bergman, S. M., 2012. The shared leadership process in decision-making teams, The Journal of Social Psychology, 152, 1, pp. 17-42. Bolden, R., 2011. Distributed leadership in organizations: A review of theory and research. International Journal of Management Reviews, vol. 13, no. 3, pp.251-269. Carson, J. B, Tesluk, P. E., & Marrone, J. A., 2007. Shared leadership in teams: An investigation of antecedent conditions and performance. Academy of Management Journal, vol. 50, no. 5, pp. 1217-1234. Crevani, L., Lindgren, M. & Packendorff, J., 2007. Shared leadership: A post-heroic perspective on leadership as a collective construction. 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