Platoon

Topic – Formal and Informal leadership.
Movie Title - Platoon

Movie Summary - This is a scene from a 1986 movie 'Platoon'. The movie is about a young recruit during the vietnam war who faces a moral crises when he is confronted with the horrors of wars. The movie shows the various phases that Chris Talyor the young recruit played by Charlie Sheen passes through when the effects of combat take a toll on him. Lt. Walfe played by Mark Moses is the formal leader of the platoon who has weak leadership qualities and hence his role is taken over by Sgt. Barnes played by Tom Berenger who displays strong leadership qualities but is undergoing a psychological meltdown. The team completely disregard Lt. Walfe although he is their formal leader and take instruction from Sgt. Barnes when the are getting deployed in the field.

Concepts - In organizations, we have both formal and informal leader. A formal leader is given formal authority by the company by title or the position held by the individual. This can be a teacher in a classroom or the father or mother in a household. Whereas Informal leaders have no formal authority but adopt the role and is supported by the others in the group or team because of their experience or respect they have earned. Informal leaders can be best leader in a team given that he was chosen sometimes by the group naturally to lead them. The above clip shows how a informal leader makes the decision and the team looks up to him to play that role while the real leader is side lined.

Master and Commander : The far side of the world

Topic – Leadership
Movie Title - Master and Commander

Movie Summary - This is a scene from a 2003 movie 'Master and Commander : The far side of the world'. During the Napoleonic war a British captain Jack Aubrey played by Russell Crowe pushes his ship and crew to their limits to perform extraordinarily task of pursuing a French vessel around South America. Here in this scene, Jack makes a tough decision of letting one of his sailors drown in the water during the storm to save the ship.

Concepts - In organizations, sometimes company CEO's are faced with challenging situations and have to make tough decisions to be successful. Leadership starts with making tough decisions although we may not like it. The above scene shows a good example of leadership quality.

Most people confuse between management and leadership. They are not the same. Management is a function in any business but leadership is a relationship between the leader and the people he is leading. A leader will need the ability to influence and motivate people to achieve the required goals.