Scott McGraw
Professor Powell
FYSM 120 – Leadership, War, and Hollywood
December 5th, 2019
Writing Prompt #12
I’ve learned something from pretty much every movie we watched, every chapter we read in the textbook, and from every day in class. Obviously, certain things are going to feel more important than others. Depending on the person, different parts of leadership can feel more important than from another person’s perspective. To me, there was one thing that stood out to me from the movies, from the textbook, and from the days in class. I learned that a good leader should always stick to what he or she believes in, is nothing without their followers, and should play to their strengths.
Two movies that stood out to me included Glory and Saving Private Ryan. What I found from both of them is that a good leader, mostly a confident leader, always stick to what they believed in. In the movie Glory, Colonel Shaw always stuck to his guns and rarely asked for the advice of other people. What seemed to be a weak leader and someone who was reliant on other people at first turned into someone super confident in himself. Shaw listened to his followers but ultimately knew the tough decisions would be all up to him. When it came to fighting for new shoes for his followers, being hard to them during training, and volunteering his team to be in the front line during the final battle, it was all on Shaw. When someone debates a decision too long or asks too many people what he or she should do they are either typically wrong or a bad leader. This is similar to the scene in Saving Private Ryan when captain Miller let the prisoner go. Although it turned out to be the wrong decision captain Miller made that decision against most of his followers. There’s a reason that leaders have control and it’s because they have the courage and strength to make big decisions, motivate and ensure trust in their followers.
From the textbook, I learned that a good leader is nothing without their followers. That seems pretty obvious, like how can a leader be considered a leader if they aren’t leading anyone? Well yes logically they cannot be considered a leader without their followers, but that’s not what I’m saying. A leader will do anything to motivate their followers in order to succeed in a common goal. They know that the common goal is a team effort, so a good leader knows that they must do anything to make sure their followers are in good shape and have trust to follow orders. Many different theories emphasized how leaders had many different ways of motivating and using their followers. Servant leadership emphasized how leaders could relate and help their followers, and how ultimately the leader serves for the followers. Adaptive leadership is how a leader finds a way for them and their followers to change based on different situations in order to reach their goal. The followers must be comfortable with the leader and must trust that what they are doing is for the best of all of them. There are plenty of other examples that illustrate how important followers are. That is the most important idea I got from the textbook.
Lastly, what I learned from class, is that a good leader plays to their strengths. For homework, we completed a survey that tried to describe our leadership styles. We also drew three symbols that represented who we were as leaders. A good leader knows what type of leader they are. Some are more brutal, like Patton. He gave orders and expected them to be completed. He had less empathy and regard for his followers. Some leaders are quieter. I found that I often listen to my followers for advice and use my best judgment for a decision. I try to do this confidently and trust that my followers will believe in my decisions. A good leader, or a person in general, is at their worst when they are trying to be someone they’re not. In class, that was emphasized, as we usually discussed what type of leaders, we thought we were and tried to find out our greatest strengths and weaknesses.
There are an infinite number of factors that go into what makes a leader good or bad. Throughout the course, we attempted to find out what factors mainly determine this through movie examples, the textbook, and class discussions. I mainly learned through these different examples and discussions that a good leader should always stick to what he or she believes in, is nothing without their followers, and should play to their strengths. A good leader to me is not shown through not only their success, but their confidence, trust in followers, how motivating they are, and countless other factors.