Ghostly Bond

Let me make this very clear: I am a Bond fan. I have been all of my life and I can run through several 'clips' from Bond movies on my internal projection chamber. But Spectre disappointed me. It felt like a rehash of an old style two dimensional Bond movie. I loved the depth and minor key of Casino Royale and Skyfall: this was a Bond with scars and humanity.

But this film is one location after another in a series of staged chases and tortures, with a linear plot that was as contrived as it was subtle. The CGI and editing is, of course, seamless. But Bond was just a bit too slick for me and when I find myself analysing whether that stunt was a step too far, during the movie, it has gone too far for me. It has been, of course, one of the biggest grossing films of all time, so what I do know?! I just think we deserve a better Bond.

Spectre, like most Bond movies, is played out in a major (not minor) key: there is little room for reflection, sadness and poignancy. Ennui and self doubt are not in Bond's lexicon. Which is interesting as it has been shown that people in a sad and reflective mood have more realistic decision making capability. Emotions are a critical part our decision making ability.

So whilst Bond makes a good field agent where his reactions have to be millisecond tight, he would probably not make a good strategist or visionary leader. Such people need more capability at accessing and working with their emotions. In many ways, it is parade of Bond baddies that arguably are more strategic than Bond himself.

How well do you harness your emotions in pursuit of good decision making?

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This is Blog 122 in 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.