Given another reflection exercise to work within a group and view a movie may sound boring but this movie was anything but that. The group decided to research some information prior to the scheduled “movie night”. In doing so, it made the task of relating and discussing the events of Baroness Thatcher’s rise to fame much more understanding. The movie went back and forth through flash backs of her career and personal life and without that much needed “prep” I would have gotten lost many times. Instead the movie inspired me. Her rise to leadership, her committment to others, and her ”captain” techniques were evident as we related the movie depiction of leadership to that of leadership styles in the Leadership Presence book written by Halpren and Libar.
I am enjoying working with different members of the cohort as we strive to unravel the skills needed to become effective leaders within our schools. Viewing this film and seeing the pitfalls and expectations that differ from men to women was interesting, as well as, the “change in times” depicted within the film. I also found it interesting the sacrifice of personal time and family that was a major theme throughout the film.
I think it is important to remember that effective leaders need personal and family time. Work can become all to consuming…. as I am finding out more and more in my time management project. I think I need to try to remember to take a few moments for myself…. how about you?
What specific leadership qualities/actions/decisions did you learn from her that you can incorporate in your own life. I’d be interested to know. How are you going to balance personal/professional? Do you have some decisionmaking rules?