While it may be true that the team is the most important thing, we all know that every winning team must have a good leader.
Leaders inspire, motivate, involve, teach . . . and generally act as the driving force behind a company’s short and long-term ambitions.
As an inspirational leader you should be able to turn a deflated boardroom into a bouncy castle of animated executives, bubbling with bright ideas and innovative strategies.
Not sounding familiar? Has your workforce lost its appetite for meeting targets? Has your Finance Director, Marketing Manager or Account Director grown fonder of Facebook than forward planning?
Well, as Managing Director or Chief Executive, the onus is on you alone to grab the helm and steer you and your crew back on course.
But where, you ask, do leaders find their own inspiration?
Where are the charismatic mentors who can impart their knowledge and experience to help you and your entire team lift yourselves to new heights?
Where else but on the silver screen?
Before you bulk buy the popcorn and block book the boardroom for afternoon screenings, consider first our pick of famous movie scenes that can help inspire the leader in all of us.
Legally Blonde: The Graduation Speech
Don’t be afraid of the rom com: they’re often life’s great teachers. In this silly but sassy film Reese Witherspoon plays Elle Woods, a girl who proves being blonde doesn’t mean being dumb.
Graduating with a Harvard Law Degree, she takes to the podium to give a speech that’s packed with knowledge, free thought, conviction and, of course, passion.
Notice how she commands centre stage with all the confidence of a leader – of a CEO, in fact.
It’s obvious she has the courage of her convictions and plenty of ideas – this is an Executive Director in the making who isn’t afraid to share knowledge for the benefit of the entire team.
Any Given Sunday – Inch By Inch
Al Pacino takes a good look at himself as well as his Miami NFL Team at half time of a big football match.
To the assembled players and the world, he questions his choices, his decisions and where he is now. He urges the team to grab hold of their own lives and “make every inch count”.
This is a speech about self-awareness and improvement – it’s also apparently about making lemonade, even when there’s a limited number of lemons – and getting the very best out of yourself and your team.
In any business realm, Pacino would be a great Manager – bringing personal candour combined with an exemplary personal style to face and meet big choices.
This scene shows it takes honesty and confidence in equal measure for any Head of Operations to acknowledge problems in a company’s tactics – and then make key decisions and have the courage to stick to them.
This is the kind of scene that is literally a game changer for any organisation, no matter its size or what league it finds itself in.
The Goonies – It’s Our Time
A teenage Sean Astin inspires the mischievous Goonies on their treasure hunt with this speech about never giving up, working together and overcoming the odds. He makes his gang of ragtag tearaways realise the onus is on them to save the community they all live in.
We’ve no doubt Astin’s character grew up to be a Senior Skills Advisor or Support Officer, organising and designating tasks.
The big lesson? It’s not the knowledge you have, it’s the knowledge you share that can lead to finding treasure.
Rocky Balboa – It Ain’t How Hard You Hit
It’s difficult to imagine Sly Stallone as Rocky Balboa in anything other than blood-speckled, sweat-sodden, glove-donned fight mode.
But in this scene from Rocky’s last hurrah, Sly lays down the harsh reality of life to his son, played by Heroes star Milo Ventimiglia, telling him “it ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward”.
What does this tell us? It’s a rather simple, if brutal, metaphor for persevering even when the company is taking big hits.
So when times are hard and the workforce is ready to throw in the towel and looking to you, their Chief Executive for direction, remember this scene from Rocky: then strap on your gloves and show them how it’s done.
Check out all the latest Executive & Management jobs