When just leadership is present

You can always tell you are sitting in a cinema full (mainly) of women: they laugh louder than when more men are present. And so it was with The Other Woman, which my wife & I went to see on Friday night. It is an enjoyable romcomromp with some predictable and some unpredictable comedic moments with all the actors turning in good & funny performances. It is not going to win any cinematic prizes but it is going to give a large number of women and quite a few men (including me) a good few chortles, belly laughs and guffaws: especially when the anti-hero gets his just desserts.

It is well directed & edited: the film slides seamlessly from one scene/set to another (including a house by the sea that my wife and I fell in love with). The story just about hangs together if you ignore the fact that the emotional reactions to the various scenarios are sublimely inappropriate & unlikely. But don't let that put you off: it's a comedy, it's a fantasy and it's good fun!

This is a film about teamwork: about three women turning their differences and conflicting interests into a purposeful and efficiently executed plan. There is even a sort of Gantt chart thrown in for good measure to indicate how each of the women are scheduled to take action. They respect and agree how to deploy each other's skills & talents in pursuit of clear and agreed aim.

And there is no leader since they are all acting in the role of leader: the leadership comes from their shared goal. Sometimes a leader needs to know when not to be a leader and just share in the joint project.

When did you last give up being a leader?

_____________

This is the twenty eighth of my new series of blogs about leadership ideas to be found in the movies of our time. You can read here as why I am doing this. Please subscribe to this blog if you want to read more. Thanks. Click the label 'film' to see all the others.