Movies for Leaders
Desiring to become a leader is an admirable quality, one that not everyone has. If you want to be a leader, you need more than aspiration: You need inspiration.
There are all sorts of places to turn for inspiring examples of leadership. History is full of them, and you likely know some leaders—even on a small scale—who could be worth studying, emulating, and getting to know better.
Movies are another source of leadership inspiration. At the heart of every great movie is a fantastic story, and most stories contain at least one leader figure.
So who are some leaders in movies that are worth emulating? And what about leaders that clearly
aren’t models we should follow?
Below, we’ve rounded up 10 examples of strong leaders in movies — including one example of how
not to lead.
1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
After briefly being expelled from Hogwarts for using magic outside school grounds, Harry falls in with the secret Order of the Phoenix. After being reinstated at Hogwarts, he meets the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Dolores Umbridge, who is a Ministry of Magic stooge. The Ministry of Magic removes Dumbledore from his position as Headmaster and replaces him with Professor Umbridge, who denies Voldemort’s return and disallows students from learning defensive spells.
Because of this, Harry creates and leads a secret group of students called Dumbledore’s Army. Harry, Ron and Hermione demonstrate remarkable leadership abilities as they rally students together and train them to defend themselves against a coming attack.
2. The Intern (2015)
This Anne Hathaway-Robert De Niro comedy-drama flips the conventional script on internships and leadership. De Niro plays Ben Whittaker, a retired executive looking for something less boring than retirement. Anne Hathaway plays Jules Ostin, CEO and founder of a fashion ecommerce brand. Ostin hires Whittaker as a “senior intern,” an entry-level position—despite De Niro’s age and business experience.
As a study in leadership, the film is interesting: Ostin must learn to lead Whittaker, though doing so seems difficult. She also balances learning from the senior intern’s experience without ceding her position or authority.
3. The Dark Knight Rises
The third movie in the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy shows Batman having to rally the city of Gotham and lead them into war to take back their city and defeat villain Bane’s army.
Batman is almost always a lone wolf, a strong vigilante figure operating alone. But in this story, he shows growth in leadership as he rallies the police and the population of Gotham to fight back. The story is a great example of how leaders cannot remain isolated if they wish to lead others.
4. The Pursuit of Happyness
This movie stars Will Smith as real-life salesman Chris Gardner, an out of luck, out of cash, and desperate father who needs to provide for his son. It’s a valuable movie for any leader because it teaches one of the most important skills any leader can learn: perseverance.
In this film, Gardner goes to astounding and sometimes excruciating lengths to land an unpaid internship and eventual position as a stockbroker. He shows another great leadership principle: having the will to never give up on the goal you’re aiming to accomplish.
In a nice flourish, Gardner and his son end the film walking down the street in triumph. As they do so, they pass the real-life Chris Gardner, who at the time of filming had found continued success, eventually launching his own brokerage firm.
5. To Kill a Mockingbird
This classic novel turned 1962 movie focuses on two siblings, Scout and Jem, who live with their father, Atticus Finch, and their black housekeeper, Calpurnia, in pre-civil rights era 1930s Alabama.
Atticus Finch is a lawyer who gets appointed to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping Mayella Ewell, who is white. Despite the prejudices of the era, Finch skillfully defends obviously innocent Robinson before an all-white jury, pointing the blame at Mayella’s father instead (the all-white jury convicts Robinson anyway).
Doing the right thing, despite the potential for negative outcomes, is a core trait of every good leader. In Finch’s case, he faced ridicule, scorn, and threats of violence from prejudiced white townsfolk in retaliation. In the face of this pushback, Atticus Finch did the right thing anyway.
6. Captain America: Civil War
In this epic Marvel entry, the Avengers and company essentially split into two sides, those agreeing to the government’s demands and the Sokovia accords, and those opposed to the oversight and limitations.
Tony Stark as Iron Man leads the former group, while Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, leads the resistance.
The film was remarkably nuanced for a comic book movie, with both hero-leaders demonstrating and explaining the rationale for their positions.
Of course, in the real world, your leadership should never culminate in an epic 6-v-6 physical brawl on an airport tarmac—this is a comic book movie after all. But the applicable learnings are all here: standing for what you believe, sticking to your principles, building and then supporting a team, and more.
7. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The fourth entry in the series includes a side plot where Hermione Granger creates SPEW, the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. In the Potterverse, House Elves like Dobby are enslaved creatures who have been conditioned not to speak for their own freedom.
Still, Hermione finds House Elves’ plight disturbing and unconscionable and decides to fight for their rights on their behalf. In this she takes leadership, standing for what she believes to be right, and looking out for those who don’t have a voice or power.
8. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (Parts 1 & 2)
In this movie, Katniss finally steps into the leadership role she was meant to hold and leads the revolution to take down the corrupt government that had established the post-apocalyptic, “teenagers kill each other for sport” world of The Hunger Games.
Katniss demonstrates intelligence, bravery, strategy, physical prowess, and more — all traits that befit and benefit great leaders.
9. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings trilogy is full of leaders at every turn. But in the final film, Gandalf steps into his ultimate leadership role. Reborn in the previous movie (and book) as Gandalf the White, the wizard is far more powerful than he appeared to be before. In this new form, he leads the side of good and righteous into battle against the evil Sauron and his followers.
10. The Social Network
This movie about Facebook and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, leans more toward an example of how
not to be a good leader. The movie initially highlights the success that Mark Zuckerberg and his world-altering business reached, and there are certainly elements worth imitating within Zuckerberg’s early successes. However, the film focuses more on numerous examples of poor leadership and poor decision-making that have long plagued the company and platform.
Savvy viewers can learn many lessons of what
not to do as they’re chronicled here in this semi-biographical movie.
Which One of These Movies with Leaders Would Be Most Beneficial for Me to Watch and Why?
Now that we’ve covered 10 great examples of good (and not so good) leadership in film, it’s time for an assignment.
Read back through the titles above, plus the key takeaways for each film. Then decide which of these 10 would be most beneficial for you — and spell out the reasons why.
Next, find that film and watch it — not just for entertainment, but to see how each leader responds to various encounters, struggles, and problems.
Real-World Leadership Requires Real-World Training
These examples of on-screen leadership can teach aspiring leaders plenty about the broad outlines of leadership. But in the real world, leadership requires more than just personality or Hollywood-level good looks. It requires real-world training — training like what you’ll find at Wilmington College Cincinnati.
If you are interested in learning more about the
master’s degree in organizational leadership offered at Wilmington College Cincinnati, request information today!
