The Leadership Challenge Critique - Movie Review Example

Leadership Movie Review al Affiliation Due Introduction 300 is a 2007 fantasy film in which King Leonidas leads 300 Spartans to a war against Persian god-King Xerxes and his invading troop of more than 300,000 soldiers. In the battle of Thermopylae, the Spartans are determined to block the pass through which the Persian king and his big army would invade Greece. Eventually, the Leonidas and his group were wiped out by the huge Persian army which was better armed. There film has several aspects of leadership. Leonidas must have been aware that there was no way his 300 men were going to subdue a Persian army of 300000 men. The fact that he and his men were wiped out eventually may be considered immaterial if one chose to look at it in terms of the leadership he displayed. In the film, Leonidas and his troop do not seem intimidated by the apparent strength of the opposing group. They look inspired and driven by a sense of self-belief? They are fighting for a purpose and will not stop at anything to defend their kingdom from external aggression. They are undeterred and willing to pay any price to defend their territory from foreign oppression by the Persians. Discussion It takes extraordinary leadership to venture into certain things. Leonidas must be an extraordinary leader to make his 300 men believe that they could be victors in a battle against 300 men. Kouzes and Posner (2012) outline certain five practices of exemplary leadership in any organization. An exemplary leader models the way. They have the quality of personal credibility. They inspire others to believe in their abilities. They stand up for what they believe in. Leonidas stands against oppression of the Spartans by the Persians. He certainly understands that the inner belief is superior to physical strength at the battlefront. He makes 300 men believe in him, and they line up against 300000 men. According Kouzes and Posner (2012), a leader models the way by building and affirming certain shared values that are embraced by all. Leonidas and his men share the belief that Greece should never be invaded by foreigners who would end up oppressing the Spartans. They fight for a common cause. The second practice of an exemplary leader comes out naturally at this point. It involves inspiring a shared vision. Challenging the process is the third practice of an exemplary leader. One must have the drive to set out for the unknown. Facing an opposing army of 300000 better armed men with a paltry 300 men is an outright challenge. A leader must always be ready and willing to take challenges, experiment, risk, and not fear failure if the cause for which they do all that is a worthy one. Leonidas and his men certainly know the challenge they have to confront. They have a purpose. They are strong in belief and would pay any price for the freedom of their people. The will to be part of a challenge must be inspired into others who share a similar vision as the one leading them. Leonidas leads from the front. He is the leading figure for the Spartans in the battle. Such practices instill the desire to push on and believe that you can succeed in a challenge. Where leadership lacks, strategy will definitely lack because of the unlikelihood that people would face a challenge as a united group. The fourth leadership practice is enabling others to act. This involves instilling a sense of teamwork and togetherness. Leonidas’ team is inspired by the belief that it takes togetherness to win a battle against all odds. Their comparatively smaller number at the battlefront does not deter them. King Leonidas’ leadership has created a trusting climate in which every Spartan taking part in the battle trusts the king and believes in what he seeks to achieve for Greece at the battle. Such a trusting climate is an enabler. At the battle, trust created an environment in which the 300 warriors were determined and undeterred all through. One would believe there were serious lessons learnt, one being that people should never relent on a fight for what is right. In the film, the climate is not only present among the 300 Spartans at the battle, but is across Sparta. At one point, queen Gorgo is seen to rally support for the Spartans at the battlefront, and they show positivity. Leonidas’ is a leadership that readily inspires almost every Spartan. The fifth essential practice of exemplary leadership is encouraging the heart. Convincing 300 men that they could subdue 300000 better armed men in the opposition takes a lot of encouragement. The leader must convince them that they are able to do it; that there is no limit to what they can do and achieve. It may seem arduous and a venture in vain. People may be exhausted while at it. They can get disenchanted and frustrated to a point that they feel it is impossible because of the apparent physical advantage of the opposition. Such things would kill the spirits of the Spartan warriors under ordinary circumstances. They would easily feel like giving up. The Spartan warriors needed the leadership of Leonidas to have their spirits uplifted and to feel encouraged to draw forward. It is for this reason that they fought to their last blood drop and despite being wiped out by the mightier opposition, the Greeks obviously learnt certain lessons about the need to stand for what is right, and that it is worthy to make sacrifices at the present if that is what has to be done to secure the future. One thing comes out strongly from the film; the fact that a sound leadership is almost all that it takes to believe in abilities. Where is leader is trusted, people will always be united around certain common ideas and derive strength from them (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). Physical strength may win a battle, but is worthier to lose a battle due to lack of adequate personnel and better weapons but be convinced that you fought fiercely for a just cause. The need to protect Sparta from external aggression from the Persian people is the main reason behind the battle. Leonidas unites his men around this common conviction they have to fight for what is right. King Leonidas is the exemplary leader as defined by Kouzes and Posner (2012). He is an inspirer who does not give dictation on how things need to happen and who must do it, but one who lead from the front. His presence at the battlefront is in itself inspirational and makes all his men believe there is indeed something that is worth fighting for. Conclusion Under ordinary circumstances, one would take king Leonidas as a person who decided to take jokes to a higher level. Yes, what would one think of a king who lines up 300 men against 300000 men? It takes something special about the leadership style of the king to make his troop believe that an inner ability and deepest convictions are more important in a battle than the physical endowments such as a big army and superiority of the weapons used. He organized his people around a shared belief (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). Sometimes a leader makes people trust that it is not the outcome of a duel that matters, but a conviction that you tried your best and that you had every reason to fight. It takes leadership to look at it that way. A leadership that inspires leaves people with moral lessons even where a loss in a battle is as a result of inadequacy in areas other than the belief that one can put their life on line for what is just. References Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2012). The Leadership challenge, (5th Ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Read More