Baseball movies usually do nothing for me...

Being a Brit, I have always failed to grasp the quasi religious obsession that America has with baseball and therefore baseball based movies. But Million Dollar Arm is different. Not many films make me punch the air with elation, but this one did! This is a peach of film that will leave you glowing like the Taj Mahal at sunset. Go see it. You will be uplifted.

The acting is superb: understated but completely authentic. The story, as all true stories are, is a classic mix of ups & downs, "will he/she/they, won't they/she/he" moments and a sumptuous & satisfying conclusion. The photography is evocative & ironic. It all comes together so well. Indeed, I was driven to buy an Indian take-away on the way home: that is how sensory the film is.

There is only one character who doesn't go on a journey in this film, but I will leave you guess who I think this is. Some long distances are traveled geographically but these are short compared to the spiritual treks the remaining characters have. But this isn't a film about enlightenment. This is a film about self belief and confidence.

I was asked to design a series of modules for a leadership programme the other day which I happily listed to include strategy development & application, coaching, process redesign, change management... yada yada. But actually what I would like to do, is just show them this movie... Because in the end, how fast and accurately you throw the (leadership) ball is far less about technique and far more about self belief.

What do you believe you can become?

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This is the forty eighth of my 2014 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.