Read, Watch & Listen 8/18/24

Leadership goes to the movies! Wayne uses a series, docudrama, and a documentary as jumping off points for leadership discussions. Check out the titles he recommends. 

Transcript

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Welcome back to education matters New York. This is your host, Wayne Ackles, and this is going to be a read, watch and listen episode. All apologies for the long delay between when the last hiatus happened. And then again, we had another one that happened almost simultaneously. And once again, there were some issues in our extended family that needed some attention, as well as outside work commitment. So again, all apologies for that, and we're going to get into read, watch and listen today that will focus on some movies that I think teach some very valuable leadership lessons. One of them is actually not really a movie, it's a series, and most of these you can find on pretty much any of your streaming services, either to purchase or some of them may be available right now. So without too much further delay, let's get into what we're talking about today. Our first one is a series that follows a group of airborne soldiers during World War Two. It's called Band of Brothers. It was HBO put together, and they had a lot of help from, I believe it was Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks invested a great deal into this project, and the outcome was fantastic. It's based on a book by Stephen Ambrose, and it is really it's well filmed. There are some, definitely some solid stars on there. The writing for it is fantastic, and it spotlights the start of someone who's probably better known for Homeland now or succession, but this is what really kicked off his career. And that actor's name is Damian Lewis. He plays a central character here. And I really don't want to give too much of these away. If you haven't seen them, I think they're best experienced cold without too much behind them. What I'm going to do is play a quick clip, and it's probably the one lesson from each of these. I'll try to pull a lesson that I got from each of these movies. Even more, even though there's more than one lesson, I wanted to pull a specific clip here and talk a little bit about it and the leadership lesson that it gave me. So hold on for that clip. The gambling clock is so what soldiers do that I don't deserve a reprimand for it. What if you'd won? What? What if you'd won? Never put yourself in a position where you can take from these men. So Damian Lewis is the character who says, What if you had won? And he's asking one of his subordinate, non comms about that. I think one of the things with this particular episode of the show is that it and really throughout it shows Damian Lewis's character and his growth as a leader. And this particular lesson stood out with me, and it still resonates with me, especially with folks that even though they may not technically be in a subordinate role, it's something that I think of often with the young men I work with, and the training that I do, and really trying to make sure that they get the best that they deserve, and also to make sure that we're not shortcutting on on the training, etc, that they need. And this this episode, spoke to me, and this particular segment spoke to me, and it really came to resonate, and it came to my mind at 1.1 of the times, I was in an administrative role in one of the districts, and it really doesn't matter which one, and the specifics of my role doesn't matter as much, but the bottom line, I was in a fantasy football league. And at one point, basically seven eighths of the football group were folks that technically were under my watch. As an administrator, I was doing evaluations and different things, and it was really kind of an odd spot. And for the this, the quote and this particular scene, came back to me about, well, what happens when I do if I if I should win, am I going to take these guys money, many of whom I make? Significantly more than and what's that look like. And needless to say, you know, I had a plan that I was going to spend it on taking them to dinner and all that. And as it turned out, I didn't end up winning the league. So it really didn't matter. And that was the last year that I participated in that league for that reason, that I didn't want to be in a spot to take from subordinates, and I think it's an important lesson, especially for those of us that make transitions, whether it's with an education or any place else where you're suddenly you're in charge of people that you were friends and colleagues with just a short time ago, you're now in a different position, and you have to keep that in mind. So I would really highly recommend that series, band of brother. It's bands of bro. Band of Brothers, again, it's an HBO mini series. It's on, I believe it's on Netflix right now even. So I would really recommend that you check that out. Our next segment comes from a movie called 13 days, which is about the Cuban Missile Crisis, and it stars Kevin Costner and Bruce Greenwood. Kevin Costner plays Kevin O'Donnell, a political advisor to President Kennedy, who was played by Bruce Greenwood, and it really is a fascinating look at the decision making and actually some of the best leadership the country has probably seen in keeping us out of world war three, back in The early 60s. And this exchange highlights something that I know I've mentioned on this podcast before, in terms of leadership, and I just want to play that segment for you here. In just a second, we're on the brink here. They're trying to second guess me into World War Three. Well, it's not going to happen. What did you think Congress was going to do? Well, I you know very one conditional support. They don't think we even deserve to be here. What the hell do you think? Well, I think we haven't been that impressive today. We have good reason to question our judgment. So the background behind that clip is that this is just before President Kennedy is going to speak to the American people about the crisis at hand and the steps that the administration is going to take to get the missiles out of Cuba. And one of the things, and there's, again, in this movie, there's a number of great leadership lessons, and one of them is right in that clip. And that is giving us You need someone if when you're in a leadership role, that tells you what you don't want to hear. And one of the things that from a foreign policy standpoint, at that point in the Kennedy administration is O'Donnell's character says in the movie, they had not been that impressive. And part of that was due to the Bay of Pigs and a number of their, you know, a variety of other small missteps in foreign policy. And I know I've mentioned this on this show before, about the idea that you need people around you that can tell you what you don't want to hear, and that are going to challenge your thinking on ideas. Because if you surround yourself with nothing, but yes, people you're they're going to cover up your blind spots, and when you really need that advice, it's not going to be there. So it's a great lesson. And there are other lessons in this, in terms of communication and understanding, you know, putting yourself in the skin of others that you normally wouldn't so again, that that clip comes from 13 days, I would highly recommend that, both from a history standpoint, and it's also a great movie on showing leadership. Our next clip comes from a documentary that came out a number of years ago. And actually, most of these series, either the series or the movies, are somewhat older, but I think they still all three of them will stand up and provide, like I said, some great lessons and and the ones that are movies and series entertainment in the documentary, you know, entertainment in its own way, in terms of the entertainment and learning that you get from a documentary. But this next documentary, it comes from the fog of war, and it's an interview with the former Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, and McNamara's the controversy that surrounds him largely is due to the number of years that he was involved with the Vietnam War, and McNamara was there during President Kennedy's term. Here during the both the Cuban Missile Crisis and our early interventions under Kennedy into the Vietnam War and then throughout the Johnson administration. So really, he is, and some some people view him as the architect of the strategies and policies within Vietnam. But he discusses that, you know, his role, versus, say, Lyndon Johnson's role during the Vietnam War. And it's, again, it's, there are a lot of lessons to be learned here. And there are 11 lessons that he gets into that I want to talk briefly about. But first, let me play you a clip from one of those lessons I want to say, and this is very important. At the end, we lucked out. It was luck that prevented nuclear war. We came that close to nuclear war at the end, rational individuals. Kennedy was rational. Khrushchev was rational. Castro was rational. Rational individuals came that close to total destruction of their societies, and that danger exists today. So that clip comes from lesson number two, which is rationality alone will not save us. And this documentary is broken down into 11 lessons that McNamara talks about that relate to I would say they're largely leadership lessons, but there are also some that are specific to war, and let me just read them off quickly to you so that you have a sense of the nature of These lessons. The first one is, empathize with your enemy. The second, as I just said, was, rationalize. Excuse me, rationality alone will not save us. There's something beyond oneself is the third lesson, maximize efficiency is the fourth, proportionality should be a guideline in war. Which is the fifth? Get the data is the sixth belief and seeing are both often wrong, which is the seventh and eighth is, in order to do good, you may have to do evil, which is 910, is never, say never. And 11 is you can't change human nature. And one of the things that struck me when I first saw this, and it still strikes me when I watched this documentary, is that he captures some great leadership elements that I think sometimes are easy to overlook there. You know, there are some that are obvious ones that I think many people would accept in a leadership role, you know, maximize efficiency, get the data. Those are things that those are, those are maxims that people in any leadership position would say, Well, of course, I think another. The first lesson, though, this, empathize with your enemy is not one that necessarily would maybe jump forefront to someone's mind. And the whole notion of empathy, I think, is important when you're in a leadership role, both you know, in this case, where he's talking about empathizing with Khrushchev and Castro during the Cuban Missile Crisis, potentially the leaders of North Vietnam when he's talking about the Vietnam War. But I think that role of empathy is also important as you look at the struggles that subordinates may have, and it's very easy to say, well, they should be in a position to do X, Y or Z, or how could they put themselves in that position? And I think it's important to remember that it's, I think it's important to put yourself in their skin. And that doesn't mean that accountability ends, not at all, but I think it's very easy to jump and point a finger versus all right, how do we move forward from this particular situation? And again, I don't want to take away too much from these because I would hope that you would get a chance to explore the series and both movie recommendations on their own, without me getting too much into them, but again, in terms of a documentary, it's probably one that has shaped a lot of my thinking over the years, especially When it's come to leadership and the lessons that lessons that they teach. And I think it's also important. And if you have qualms about taking leadership lessons from a guy that was responsible for so much death and destruction, I think it's important to put. His his role in the context of his time. I think it's very easy to look back at a time period, and I'm guilty of this as well, even in recent history, and say, you know, this is probably not something that we should have maybe done as a foreign policy. But one of the things that I used to tell people, or say to people, when they asked about, you know, the role of a principal in the building, and I said, Well, once you sit in that chair, things change, and you have to look at other things. And that's not to say that there are certain things that maybe he should not be let off the hook for. Just as any leader, I think you know it's it's fair to be critical of how they have led and the decisions they have made, but I think it's also important to make sure that we look at those in the context of their time and not just immediately write it off as well. You know that decision making does not fit in the current climate, because I think that's wrongheaded. And frankly, you know, not very realistic, because those of us that are making decisions in this time period, you know, people will be looking at us and wondering about some of the decisions that we've made as a country. So with that, I will wrap up this episode of education matters, also with a quick announcement that there will be a quick turnaround on our next episode and that I have an interview with someone that it was kind of an out of the blue surprise that came to me, and I think with that, I'm going to keep it a bit of a surprise and leave a little bit of a cliffhanger so that give people an opportunity to come back. I want to thank you for your time listening to this episode and again, I really hope you get a chance to check out Band of Brothers 13 days and the fog of war and the leadership lessons that they provide. This has been education matters New York. I'm your host. Wayne Ackles, and this is a fat Wolverine productions, take care and have a great rest of the week.