Inherent Leadership and Followership Styles in the Lion King - Movie Review Example

of the of the Concerned January 26, The Lion King- Inherent Leadership and Followership Styles There is no denying the fact that a student of management can learn leadership skills from almost anywhere, and especially movies tend to be rich sources of influence and instruction. The stories and phrases occurring in the movies tend to be a part of the popular culture and the good characters in a movie happen to convey a lot about true leadership, communication and team work. In that context, movies to a great extent influence an aware person’s personal and professional life. Thereby, The Lion King is a movie that can enrich a student’s life in multiple ways and could teach one much about management and leadership (Schmidt 185). In The Lion King the leadership skills are taught and expressed through a vibrant and rich medium. The characters in The Lion King not only hold a strong power to interact and engage, but rather each of the individual characters are they Mufasa, Simba, Scar, Timon, Pumbaa, Rafiki, and the hyenas Shenzi, Ed and Banzai are affiliated to a typical leadership or followership style. Hence, The Lion King is an interesting story imbued with leadership and vision. The lion king Mufasa who is presented in the movie as the king of the Pride Lands indeed comes out as a moving transformational and visionary leader. Mufasa is not only shown to be a value driven king, but is also shown to be having the capacity to bring about positive changes in all the characters he comes across in his domain, including his infant cub Simba (Bass 21). However, the poise and calm that is shown to be inherent in the character of Mufasa is no where shown to be indicative of apathy and laziness. Mufasa comes out in the story as an energetic and passionate king who continues to exert and influence on his subjects and his son Simba, long after he dies (Gilley 62). Mufasa is shown to be actively engaged in all the activities of the Pride Lands and makes it a point to help other characters in the story achieve their best. These traits make Mufasa come out as being a strong and reliable leader in the story. Mufasa unravels in his character a range of abilities and competencies that are necessary to serve as a transformational leader (Ciulla 189). One essential aspect of a positive and pragmatic leader is that one is always aware of the limitations inherent in one’s self and the overall system in which one operates. In that sense Mufasa is shown to be not only conversant of the jurisdiction of his domain that is the Pride Lands, but is also presented as a potent character that does not shy away from acknowledging the incumbent limitations and constraints. Mufasa is shown as a king endowed with a salient vision. In that context Mufasa does not hesitate to chalk out plans about family succession and to take care of the things necessary to leave Simba with an unhindered reign. Mufasa is presented as being willing to help his subjects evolve through learning and change (Storey 90). Here, his son Simba is presented as being his prime student and successor. Mufasa is not only well versed with “The Circle of Life”, but also makes it a point to assure that his progeny and successor Simba makes it a point to be conversant with the expectations and values of the kingdom which he will one day be supposed to lead. Mufasa is no where presented as being willing to extend succession to Simba as being a matter of status quo, but rather actively encourages Simba to prove his worth through learning and initiative. One other typical thing about Mufasa is that he extends individualized time and consideration to each of his subject including his wife Sarabi and his would be successor Simba (Storey 90). Mufasa is shown to have a clear vision regarding the Pride Lands and the Circle of Life, and he is mostly able to articulate this vision to his subjects and his son Simba. In that context, Mufasa comes out as being an authentic role model for any lion intending to hold a sway over the Pride Lands. Now wonder, Scar, the brother of Mufasa is presented in the movie as being his antithesis. Even, illustratively, Scar comes out as being a selfish leader signified by his dark mane, set against a transformational leader like Mufasa having a golden mane. As is always typical of a selfish leader, Scar is shown to be willing to usurp the power, without giving in to the expectations and responsibilities that come with leadership. Scar is extremely jealous of Mufasa because he always manages to outperform him and no where shows the inclination to grow up through learning and self worth. Being an unworthy and selfish leader, Scar is extremely inclined to manipulation and negative politics and succeeds in killing his brother Mufasa and exiling his genuine inheritor and successor Simba. Scar’s entire approach towards the issue of leadership is such that it tends to harm the Pride Lands and the solemn Circle of Life (Bardach 309). Nowhere Scar is presented as being subservient to values and vision and throughout the movie he comes out as being unscrupulously manipulative and power hungry (Bardach 309). All the actions of Scar are such that they tend to harm the denizens of the Pride Lands. In that context Scar comes out as being a totally incompetent and unworthy leader who is simply bereft of the people skills required to perform his duties as a worthy leader. He is totally unable to understand and respect the nature and intent of the Circle of Life and the varied tasks and issues associated with such a vision. Scar is mostly scared of empowering others out of the fear that they may end up outdoing him. Scar is an ego-centric leader who spends most of his time and energy in consolidating his selfish agenda, even if it involves destroying the peace and harmony of the Pride Lands. Scar is a typically positional leader who manages to take over the Pride Lands through manipulation and guile (Bardach 309). In that sense Scar being a positional leader, comes out as being a total contrast to a transformational leader like Mufasa. Scar thinks that Kingship is his birthright because he had usurped it through evil machinations and is totally uncaring of the aspirations and expectations of his subjects. Being a positional leader Scar comes out as being rigid and stubborn and at no time shows the inclination to accrue some realistic feedback, which can help him improve and learn (Eddy & VanDer 8). Consequently, the plight of the Pride Lands turns out to be utterly worse than the way it was during the reign of Mufasa. Sometimes, it is utterly important for a leader to accrue the feedback from the followers who are not appreciative of one’s vision and plans. This not only allows a leader to learn and grow as a person, but also helps one gain insight into the hidden intentions of one’s followers. Mufasa should not have ignored the belligerence of Scar, but should have actively communicated with him to fathom his intentions and to understand his role in the larger organizational politics. However, it does need to be mentioned that good leaders are defined by good followers and there are varied characters in The Lion King that are affiliated to varied modes of followership. For instance, Simba begins his career as a conformist follower, who is shown to be dependent on the vision and orders of his father, Mufasa (Browne& Cohn 228). In that role Simba does not find it difficult to accept the orders given and assignments extended by his leader, Mufasa. Gradually, as Simba comes to respect the leadership acumen of Mufasa, he evolves into an exemplary follower, who is willing to take intelligent risks, as he dares to venture into the elephant graveyard, and tends to work intelligently and creatively. In contrast, Scar, the estranged brother of Mufasa comes out as being an alienated follower who prefers to work independently and is passive about the issues of concern to Mufasa, as shown by his unwillingness to attend the birth ceremony of Simba (Rosenbach & Taylor 98). Mufasa being an alienated follower is a total maverick, who prefers to thing only about himself and did not hesitate from engaging in manipulations to sabotage the plans and vision of Mufasa (Rosenbach & Taylor 98). Mufasa is presented as being totally incapable of serving as a team player and is cynical in his views and perspective. He lacks the typical assertiveness of Mufasa and mostly gives way to conflict to undermine the incumbent leadership. Mufasa is shown to be incapable of collaborating and cooperating with others as a follower. He is a character capable of dwelling in negatives as evinced by his alignment with the hyenas Shenzi, Ed and Banzai. Simba’s friends Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog come out as being pragmatic followers, who are shown to be not only having a fair and realistic perspective on events, but also do not desist from extending practical advice to Simba as and when he needs it (Rosenbach & Taylor iix). As pragmatic followers, Timon and Pumbaa play an important role in the eventual rise of Simba as the lion king. In contrast, Nala, Simba’s best friend and would be queen shines out as a conformist follower who easily accepts the challenges posed by Simba and is always willing to be by his side. As a conformist follower, Nala also seeks to minimize conflicts in the affairs. In a reflective perspective, one thing that comes out as being peculiar is that the two important characters in the story that are Mufasa and Simba come out as being totally oblivious of the organizational politics inherent in the environment in which they lived. No leadership can afford to be unaware of the organizational politics as leadership tends to operate amongst groups, which could automatically be expected to give way to much organizational politics (Fairholm 21). Considering the environment (Pride Lands) in which Mufasa was expected to lead, the organizational framework was quiet susceptible to the influence of political interference, going by the alienated followers like Scar, Shenzi, Ed and Banzai, things could have been quiet different in the story if Mufasa had shown some insight into the motives and intentions of these alienated followers. These alienated followers were really capable of engaging in self serving and manipulative machinations to serve their self interest, even if it meant subverting the vision and plans of the incumbent ethical leader. In that context, Mufasa not only failed in understanding the aspirations of Scar, but also failed to exercise authority and influence over his estranged brother and his nasty followers (Fairholm 200). Certainly, being an ethical leader, Mufasa could not have interfered with the intentions of every follower, but constraints imposed by practicality and commonsense, made it necessary on his part to exercise selective initiative and judiciousness in countering the political plans of the alienated followers like Scar. Though leadership is mostly about ethics and positivity, still in a practical world, it is most important for a leader to have some insight into the hidden motives of most of his followers (Fairholm 22). It was Mufasa’s inability to take heed of the organizational politics inherent in the Pride Lands framework that cost him his life. Eventually, Simba also turns out as being naive in this side of organizational management, believing every utterance of Scar, until Scar himself unravels his deeds. Hence, simply speaking, any effective leader, irrespective of one’s leadership style, could never afford to turn a blind eye to the organizational politics in the institution one leads. The Lion King is a movie replete with an abundance of characters affiliated to varied styles of leadership and followership and hence offers much instruction and insight. Yet, it is also a story that depicts the harms of being unresponsive to the overall organizational politics in a setup. Works Cited Bardach, Eugene. Getting Agencies to Work Together. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1998. Print. Bass, Bernard M. Transformational Leadership. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998. Print. Browne, CG & Cohn, Thomas S. The Study of Leadership. Danville, IL: Interstate Printers and Publishers, 1989. Print. Ciulla, Joanna B. Ethics, the Heart of Leadership. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004. Print. Eddy, Pamela L & VanDer, Kim E. “Emerging Definitions of Leadership in Higher Education: New Vision of Leadership or Same Old “Hero” Leader?”. Community College Review, 34.1 (2006): 5-10. Print. Fairholm, Gilbert W. Organizational Power Politics. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1993. Print. Gilley, Ann. The Manager as Change Leader. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2005. Print. Rosenbach, William E & Taylor, Robert L. Contemporary Issues in Leadership. Boulder, CO : Westview Press. 1998. Print. Schimdt, Kerstin. Space in America. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2005. Print. Storey, John. Leadership in Organizations. London: Routledge, 2004. Print. Read More