Your past is never passed

The Gunman is a gritty, gruelling and violent 'dodgy security operative' thriller in a similar vein to many other films (like Blood Diamond) that use African instability and civil wars as the backdrop to mercenary crimes. Almost no character comes out of this film looking good.

The script is plausible if a little predictable. The acting is top notch: it is delightful to see Mark Rylance on the big screen. But heaven knows how many hours in the gym that Sean Penn does each week. This is a not a memorable film but one that can be enjoyed on a wet windy afternoon.

The narratives of so many thrillers like this one hinge on trust & loyalty - just who can you trust. Frankly I don't know how spies and mercenaries can ever form lasting relationships with anyone as they must always be wondering what next...

And maybe it's the same for leaders: does the leader always wonder whether they are trusted or not? Some leaders seem not to care: good leaders know that with trust comes so much more. Trust is the most precious thing a leader can have: it is hard won (and easily lost). And sometimes, it is your past catching up with you that might catch you out...

What have you done today to sustain the trust that people have in you?

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This is the eighty second of my 2014/2015 series of blogs about leadership ideas to be found in the movies of our time. You can read here as why I began doing this (with an update at the end of 2014). Please subscribe to this blog if you want to read more. Thanks. Click the label 'film' to see all the others.

Quoi?

Suite Française is an atmospheric film that gave me a sense of what it must have been like to be French and occupied in a way that no other film has done so before. This is a tribute to its actors, direction, sets, locations and costumes. I felt a deep mix of fear, despair, confusion, anger and longing at different times during the film. But I didn't really feel the love.

For me, there was no chemistry between the two main protagonists not because they didn't act it well, but I was left perplexed and confused by the story: perhaps the book, with more detail, is better? Indeed at the end, as the final credits rolled, there were a couple of statements that left me completely confused as to what the movie had, in fact, been all about.  Perhaps the movie was a success if it was designed to make the cinema goer feel as confused as the French must have been during the days of occupation: not knowing who or what to trust, or what the narrative meant.

For me the film raises difficult questions about ethics and maintaining integrity within a very up-side-down world. In other words when almost everything has changed, how do you know what is right or wrong any more?

Once upon a time, leaders operated within mono-cultures where the lines between right action and wrong action were easy to see. As our world has become more pluralist and mixed, those lines are far more blurred. We are surrounded by competing views of the world, imprinting themselves on our retinas & minds 24 hours a day. Now, more than ever, a leader needs that moral centre of gravity to help guide her/him through this ethical maelstrom.

What is your centre of gravity?

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This is the eighty first of my 2014/2015 series of blogs about leadership ideas to be found in the movies of our time. You can read here as why I began doing this (with an update at the end of 2014). Please subscribe to this blog if you want to read more. Thanks. Click the label 'film' to see all the others.

Still a leader?

Still Alice is not a fun night out but then you wouldn't expect this movie to be so: this is the agonising story of a woman diminished in her prime by the ravages of Alzheimers disease. Julianne Moore has rightfully received an Oscar for her portrayal of the title character: a linguistics professor who starts to lose her words.

But this is a hugely important film in the way that Rain Man taught the world about autism. This film will be long remembered and is probably already being used as way of learning about dementia. Of course each story of dementia is unique but for people like me, who rarely come across people with the disease, this film provides a valuable narrative hook on which to hang any experience of it that I might have. This is a closely directed movie with some stunning acting all round. Go see it for its humanity and poignancy.

According to the movie (and this is not really a SPOILER, but stop here if you want to know absolutely nothing about the story...) people with Alzheimers who are more intelligent often show more rapid declines in their functioning than less intelligent people. (The central character is a university lecturer of international repute so probably comes into the category of 'more intelligent'...) This, we are told, is due to such people being initially adept at finding methods to mask and work around their mounting cognitive difficulties. (We see the main character doing this.) But there comes a point where these methods no longer work and they tumble into decline.

And so this got me wondering whether some managers do this too: do they create 'workarounds' that mask their lack of leadership? Can you think of managers who do this perhaps by initiating mission statements and business process re-engineering etc etc - which could simply be tricks to make them appear to be good leaders?

What are the tricks that some people use to make it appear they function well as a leader when in fact they don't....?

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This is the eightieth of my 2014/2015 series of blogs about leadership ideas to be found in the movies of our time. You can read here as why I began doing this (with an update at the end of 2014). Please subscribe to this blog if you want to read more. Thanks. Click the label 'film' to see all the others.

Stay focused

Focus is a slick movie starring the very cool Will Smith. This is a classic addition to the other 'big con' movies such as Ocean's 11/12/13, The Sting and the Thomas Crown Affair (indeed the closing credits feature "Windmills of your mind" perhaps in due reference to that movie). So I began the film wondering how I, as viewer, was going to be conned... I was not disappointed.

The acting is delightfully naturalistic, especially Margot Robbie who glides through the film like an intriguing ingénue. Editing is also to be highly praised in the way that the film moves from one scene and shot to another. This is a well made & tightly directed film that will make you laugh and ponder. Go see it!!

We are told in numerous movies that the art of being a thieving confidence trickster is mostly about distraction: take a person's attention somewhere else and they will not see what is really happening. And our attention can be easily drawn to fast buck, a sure win, a sad story, a noise, a shove or a person of high attraction. Frankly, after watching a film like this, I am astounded that more of this kind of crime doesn't happen. But maybe it does and people sheepishly fail to report it...

So as a leader, should you ever use the art of distraction (look here, not over there...)? It must be so tempting to do so because a) the tools and influence are there to deploy so easily and b) it can be justified as being part of a bigger and more worthy goal. As always it's about integrity and being true to oneself (and the risk of being found out!) Only you can make these choices.

What conjuring tricks have you done as a leader?

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This is the seventy ninth of my 2014/2015 series of blogs about leadership ideas to be found in the movies of our time. You can read here as why I began doing this (with an update at the end of 2014). Please subscribe to this blog if you want to read more. Thanks. Click the label 'film' to see all the others.

Learning about the future

Chappie didn't quite work for me. Whilst the character of the robot was endearing, the timescale in which the whole story was meant to have happened seemed impractical. Yes I know, an AI robot could learn really quickly yada yada, but this stretched my credulity.

That said, the film does bowl along at a good pace with some edge of the seat tension. Oh yes, with reference to 'edge of the seat tension', I saw this film in 4DX: Cineworld MK's answer to the Feelies from Brave New World.

"Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." In 1984, Postman added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that our desire will ruin us."

So go and see the movie (even in 4DX) and be pleasured by an optmistic story set in a dystopian future... that will almost certainly have a sequel. Watch our for Chappiie!

The story attempts to place immoral behaviour in its context and while some behaviour (even quite extreme violence) is 'justified' by the limited life choices facing some of the characters, other acts are determined to be wrong given the wider options open and the underlying motives of avarice and a hunger for recognition from another character.

People will forgive and support the people they trust, like and believe in, for actions which in other circumstances would be scorned. And people will do this even when objective evidence is scant or non existent.

And (I know I have said this before), leadership pivots on trust. Without trust there is no leadership.

How do you continue to demonstrate to those who look to you for leadership, that they can trust you?

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This is the seventy eighth of my 2014/2015 series of blogs about leadership ideas to be found in the movies of our time. You can read here as why I began doing this (with an update at the end of 2014). Please subscribe to this blog if you want to read more. Thanks. Click the label 'film' to see all the others.