Leadership Movie Analysis (Essay Sample)

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LEADERSHIP MOVIE ANALYSIS
According to leadership development, individuals have the ability of developing their behaviors, skills and ability they need to lead other people. However, it is not easy to apply and comprehend the various theoretical concepts. Movies offers storytelling setting that enable learners to connect the theories into practice (Gardner, 96). The paper discusses how the 300 film character; King Leonidas explored his skills and leadership based on the leadership theories. The movie is an adaptation of the novel written by Frank Miller that talked about the Battle of Thermopylae between the Persians and the Greece. King Leonidas led a group of 300 Spartan Warriors in war against the army of King Xerxes in defense of Spartan land, freedom, and values. The paper will provide a background on King Leonidas skills approaches, mechanism, and other leadership literatures like the contingency theory and the trait theory.
From 300 film, King Leonidas led a total of 300 Spartans against the invasion of the Persia’s. The Spartans decided to make their final stand at the Thermopylae where the pass neutralized the number of Persians. King Leonidas portrayed a massive morale despite the overwhelming odd that was felt at that time (Gardner, 89). When the warrior were told that their arrows would later blot out, King Leonidas scoffed that they will fight under the shade despite what. During the first two days of fighting, Spartans managed to kill more than 20,000 enemy troops and few number of their own. During the third day, the shepherd betrayed them. The shepherd showed the enemies a secret trail that snacked them behind. The Spartans were cut down up to the last man. But the heroic exploit that was shown in King Leonidas inspired the rest of the group to defeat the Persians at the Battles of Plataea and Salamis. This was regarded as a turning point in the western civilization history.
According to the leadership frameworks, what separated King Leonidas from the rest of the leaders is the image that he perceived to the rest of the crew. A leader needs to be loyal, trustworthy, and honest to the values and belief of the team. Leaders are often taken to take risks or make sacrifices to demonstrate their loyalty. This is shown by demonstrating competence, superior skills, and confidence that will guide the rest of the team in a proper direction. In relationship to the team, a leader need to strike a balance between the structure and the support which King Leonidas did (Gardner, 75). This is because during the unpleasant and tedious times, Kind Leonidas motivated the team by providing the necessary emotional and psychological support. In situation when their tasks at the battle was complicated, King Leonidas provided a structured task and cleared the sense of direction. According to leadership models, decision making is decentralized or even centralized. For highly predictable events like the one seen at the battle, King Leonidas was seen making top-down decision since they were more effective and straight to the occasion. King Leonidas empowered the rest of the soldiers to make the right decisions on the battle field.
King Leonidas faced situations that any leader could easily give up. King Leonidas strikes into a foreign land to rescue his people. Just from the setting of the movies, the Spartan had conquered majority of the known worlds. The opponents sent messages to the Spartans that if they do not succumb, they will be ripped off their land and then thrown to enslavement. King Leonidas knew that he was outnumbered by the opponents. He also knew that he could not fight unless he was endorsed by the oracles. There are various situations in a leader’s path that make them know the right answer and situations that make them do the correct thing. King Leonidas was found in situations where the planners and policy were quite confused as to why he did not give up (Gardner, 637). The planners and the policy makers were willing to surrender to meet the demands of the Persians. From the leadership case of King Leonidas, it was all evident that leaders need to have integrity no matter the underlying circumstances that come along with the conditions. This is the top quality that any leader needs to have if they need success. The importance of integrity is that, people will be able to understand the leader without any slight doubts. Additionally, a leader needs to front his people’s concern before his passion.
Consequently, a leader has to sacrifice, from the 300 film, it is clear that King Leonidas did not have any visions that his troop were going to win the battle against the Persians. He knew that some of his men will be killed, in the end of the fight they will have to sacrifice their lives for the betterment of the current situation. Another important leadership framework is empowerment. When a leader does the right thing, it empowers that live around him. Many at times the leaders face that fault in the short run. This is because in the end, King Leonidas and his troop paid their price for the belief they had in their hearts. The troop’s strength before the underlying odds were inspiring, when the remaining planners and the policy makers got on board the entire Spartans were deployed. From the history it is told that the Navy defeated the Persians at the Salamis battle. This did not come as a surprise. Notably, the main reason why this happened was the betrayal from the shepherd. Therefore, as a leader, one is likely to face similar things, some people will betray the operation for their own benefit (Gardner, 637).
King Leonidas provided guidance and direction accord...