Continued From the Previous Post: Real life lessons from Reel world – The Best Movies on Management (Part II)…
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
Generally, movies show the protagonist getting rich in a short span of time through smart work but very few films showcase the suffering that someone goes through to become rich. This film portrays the real life struggle of Chris Gardner (played by Will Smith) to become a stock broker while managing fatherhood and homelessness. Anyone who is facing an adverse situation in their life could take a lot of inspiration from this movie and attain success, if they are determined to push forward relentlessly, no matter what obstacles get in their way. I remember reading the importance of failures (as like this movie) in a book called “Before you quit your job”. The book encourages entrepreneurs to make failures and also reinforces the point – “the greater the fall/failure is, the higher one will rise/succeed”.
One of my favorite scene (emotional and moving) is the climax scene in which the directors announce that Will Smith has passed his internship and been given a real paid job.
Captain Phillips (2013)
It is based on a true story about Captain Richard Phillips (played by tom Hanks) and the hijacking of US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama cargo ship by Somali pirates in 2009. It teaches the importance of team unity, effective planning, preparing for the worst times and the role of a leader during the rough times. Tom hanks beautifully (as always) brings out the qualities of a successful leader: Cool & calm, Calculative, Communicative, Diplomatic and Strategic, particularly in times of greater crisis. In one scene, when Hanks is faced with the predicament of his crew members being attacked by pirates, he sacrifices himself in order to save them. There are a lot of scenes involving Hanks and the Pirates which neatly portrays the importance of negotiation skills. Even if you aren’t in the mood to learn the lessons that the film has to offer, still watch it for Tom Hanks performance and the brilliant acting by some first-time actors (who play as pirates).
Chak De! India (2007)
It is based on the very old classical movie theme – the underdogs, defying all odds to become the ultimate winners. A once successful hockey player (played by Shah Rukh Khan) of the Indian team is blamed and shamed by the people for his only mistake in a World cup final. He returns to the game as a coach after a span of 7 years to redeem his past. He transforms the struggling and not so well-known Indian women’s hockey team into a world cup winning side. Even though the team consists of some of the best players in the country, their performance has been more than disappointing. Then enters the coach, who unites these players and makes them play as a team, forgetting their regional differences. The movie sketches out a leadership model involving talent spotting, delegation, team & trust building, preparing the team both physically and emotionally with the right dosage of humor, encouragement, and force. The climax scene wherein the coach gives a brief inspirational speech to the team ahead of the big final game is a classic.
A few other movies which tread on a similar line are Remember the Titans (2000) and Lagaan (2001).
Ratatouille (2007)
This might be a surprise addition to this list but it offers one of the powerful lessons in business – “It’s not about who you are, it’s about what you want to achieve and how you go about doing it”. The movie’s storyline is an interesting one – A rat has the passion to become a chef (not the likeliest of choice for rats which are the most unwelcome guests in a human kitchen) and sets on to achieve its dream after finding that it has been living in Paris – the food capital of the world. In spite of several hurdles, the rat does finally become a chef and how it does it, forms the rest of the story. Managers who constantly feel bad about having misfits on their team could take a leaf out of the movie to find & develop their hidden talents and coach them to achieve greatness. They could also use the movie as a tool to show to such team members about the untapped potential waiting to be unleashed within each of them.
To end, this quote of Tim Burton rightly summarizes the importance of movies in our life as like the valuable management lessons it had taught me – “Certain things leave you in your life and certain things stay with you. And that’s why we’re all interested in movies those ones that make you feel, you still think about. Because it gave you such an emotional response, it’s actually part of your emotional make-up, in a way.”
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
One of my favorite scene (emotional and moving) is the climax scene in which the directors announce that Will Smith has passed his internship and been given a real paid job.
Captain Phillips (2013)
It is based on a true story about Captain Richard Phillips (played by tom Hanks) and the hijacking of US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama cargo ship by Somali pirates in 2009. It teaches the importance of team unity, effective planning, preparing for the worst times and the role of a leader during the rough times. Tom hanks beautifully (as always) brings out the qualities of a successful leader: Cool & calm, Calculative, Communicative, Diplomatic and Strategic, particularly in times of greater crisis. In one scene, when Hanks is faced with the predicament of his crew members being attacked by pirates, he sacrifices himself in order to save them. There are a lot of scenes involving Hanks and the Pirates which neatly portrays the importance of negotiation skills. Even if you aren’t in the mood to learn the lessons that the film has to offer, still watch it for Tom Hanks performance and the brilliant acting by some first-time actors (who play as pirates).
Chak De! India (2007)
It is based on the very old classical movie theme – the underdogs, defying all odds to become the ultimate winners. A once successful hockey player (played by Shah Rukh Khan) of the Indian team is blamed and shamed by the people for his only mistake in a World cup final. He returns to the game as a coach after a span of 7 years to redeem his past. He transforms the struggling and not so well-known Indian women’s hockey team into a world cup winning side. Even though the team consists of some of the best players in the country, their performance has been more than disappointing. Then enters the coach, who unites these players and makes them play as a team, forgetting their regional differences. The movie sketches out a leadership model involving talent spotting, delegation, team & trust building, preparing the team both physically and emotionally with the right dosage of humor, encouragement, and force. The climax scene wherein the coach gives a brief inspirational speech to the team ahead of the big final game is a classic.
A few other movies which tread on a similar line are Remember the Titans (2000) and Lagaan (2001).
Ratatouille (2007)
This might be a surprise addition to this list but it offers one of the powerful lessons in business – “It’s not about who you are, it’s about what you want to achieve and how you go about doing it”. The movie’s storyline is an interesting one – A rat has the passion to become a chef (not the likeliest of choice for rats which are the most unwelcome guests in a human kitchen) and sets on to achieve its dream after finding that it has been living in Paris – the food capital of the world. In spite of several hurdles, the rat does finally become a chef and how it does it, forms the rest of the story. Managers who constantly feel bad about having misfits on their team could take a leaf out of the movie to find & develop their hidden talents and coach them to achieve greatness. They could also use the movie as a tool to show to such team members about the untapped potential waiting to be unleashed within each of them.
To end, this quote of Tim Burton rightly summarizes the importance of movies in our life as like the valuable management lessons it had taught me – “Certain things leave you in your life and certain things stay with you. And that’s why we’re all interested in movies those ones that make you feel, you still think about. Because it gave you such an emotional response, it’s actually part of your emotional make-up, in a way.”
THE END
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