Teaching leadership lessons through the camera lens

Movies appeal to people globally and can be used as a very valuable intellectual exercise in understanding diverse workplace settings, stimulating curiosity toward other cultures, and learning the nuances of leading and managing in a global information context. This study demonstrates how a learning experience involving movies can be utilized in complementing existing pedagogical approaches for imparting leadership lessons. The findings from 101 LIS students’ reflections reveal that a majority of students’ (87%) perspectives about leadership either “changed” or “reinforced” their existing beliefs after studying leadership concepts portrayed in movies. Overall, the findings revealed students’ critical thinking and take-away lessons about leadership, regardless of their response about leadership perspectives (changed, reinforced, or unchanged). This study indicates that by utilizing media in leadership education through carefully crafted pedagogy, LIS instructors can provide students with more realistic examples of positive and negative leadership in a global context.