White Paper Timeless Tools for Leadership Development

In Chapter 9 of Noel Tichy’s The Leadership Engine, the author describes leaders as protagonists in a drama. Dramatic characters from film and literature therefore serve as apt role models for future leaders interested in managing change and driving their organization towards success. The film Henry V, relatively faithful to the Shakespeare’s play, reveals the qualities of an effective leader through the titular hero. Based on the real life leader and King of England, Henry V depicts a leader who embodies many of the qualities that Tichy deems important for developing a leadership engine: a learning organization that inculcates values and ethics into its mission, vision, and culture. Henry V illustrates the importance of teaching, risk-taking, and relentless energy as core leadership traits. Furthermore, the film depicts a leader adept at learning from the past and communicating a clear and comprehensive vision for change.

Problem Statement

Many organizations suffer leadership crises during critical times of change. Effective change management methods are needed to successfully steer an organization towards its ultimate goals. In many cases, organizations fail at successful change when they neglect the power of social identity as either a means of radically transforming organizational culture to match future goals or as a major impediment to change (Slater, Evans & Turner, 2015). If leaders expect successful change management, they need to have a plan by which followers can envision themselves in a new role or identity. Changes to organizational culture are inevitable, as are the daily tasks and processes that had once defined the organization, its different departments, and individuals.

Moreover, effective change management can help organizations to develop new climates of trust, accountability, and social responsibility (Sutherland, 2017). When leaders focus on values and principles, they can help followers to see the big picture issues and encourage passionate commitment and engagement. When organizations are stymied by bureaucratic or otherwise restrictive cultures and structures, leaders are systematically prevented from developing transformational styles that can empower employees and inspire followers to contribute to the fulfillment of collective objectives (Van derVoet, 2014). Leaders interested in genuinely contributing to organizational growth and effective change management can maximize performance via the application of evidence-based principles. Many of those principles are demonstrated aptly in the film Henry V.

Background

While King Henry V is...

Although he means war, and all the death and destruction it entails, Henry V manages to motivate his countrymen through effective communication and an almost transformational leadership style. The film version of Henry V directed and starring Kenneth Branagh focuses a considerable amount of attention on several outstanding elements of the king’s leadership: one being his penchant for teaching through both example and words, and another being his willingness to take risks.
King Henry also communicates a vision for a stronger, more powerful England to those who might otherwise scoff at the idea of war with France. His infectious high energy also helps to motivate those around him to take action, particularly his immediate team of confidants and advisors. In the end, King Henry succeeds in his goal, which is a goal that benefits his followers as much as himself through a promise of peace and reconciliation. Drawing on an extensive history in the relationship between England and France, King Henry makes his decisions not with reckless haste but with decisive action. The new era of French-Anglo political alliance proves significant for the fates of both countries, proving Henry to be an adept transformational leader and driver of organizational change.

Solutions and Recommendations

Based on the film Henry V, leaders intending to guide their organizations through a tremendous crisis need to draw on several interrelated leadership strategies. Those strategies include the importance of teaching and learning, capitalizing on personal experiences, keeping the vision relevant to followers, maintaining high levels of energy, and remaining decisive and willing to take risks. At key moments in the film, Henry V executes each of these leadership strategies, while also exhibiting transformational leadership traits.

The Importance of Teaching

Teaching is one of the primary roles of leadership, with successful leaders making teaching a “personal priority,” and imparting a “teachable point of view,” (Tichy, 2007). The film Henry V also shows that strong leaders are willing to learn as well as to teach. Henry V, for example, learns early on in the film about his role and responsibility vis-a-vis France. Although the Archbishop of Canterbury has his own political goals in securing France for England, Henry does not allow the church to unduly influence his decisions while still taking into account the expediency of invading France. Henry’s goal is to…