Critical analysis of leadership and ethics concepts

¶ … Emperor's Club: A Study in Leadership and Ethics

When viewing Michael Hoffman's the Emperor's Club, students of leadership and ethics are stunned with the implications of this film about high school students and their history teacher. During the last few scenes of the movie, character Sedgewick Bell, who is about to be revealed as unethical and immoral, remarks about the importance of things that happen "when you're fifteen," suggesting that most do not see adolescent events as significant, but implying that he was deeply scarred by his cheating during his boarding school's Julius Cesar competition when he was a teenager. While Sedgewick's second attempt to win the competition through cheating -- this time during adulthood and by utilizing a graduate student and an ear piece -- suggests that his immoral and unethical mistake was not as important to him as he had alluded, his words still hold truth. Neither stage of life nor importance of context masks the profound impact of ethics on both one's lifetime and one's character. In the Emperor's Club, foils of teacher and students -- Mr. Hundert and Sedgewick Bell -- allow the viewer to understand this concept through opposites. Although both Hundert and Sedgewick Bell embody a variety of leadership characteristics, Hundert's ability to embrace ethics and Sedgewick's unethical behavior allow Hundert to emerge as a strong leader making an impact on history, while Sedgewick is characterized as a power-hungry leader whose legacy is limited.

Although Hundert and Bell's appearance, dialogue, and actions characterize them as polar opposites throughout the movie, both possess many of the characteristics of leadership. Both have acquired a unique assertiveness, or ability to express themselves and their desires, in addition to a unique flexibility, insight, and high tolerance for frustration. This can easily be seen through their first interactions with each other. While Bell comes across as a cool, James Dean type personality, Hundert plays the role of a hard, but caring professor without skipping a beat. Neither character becomes unable to function due to frustration with the other, but rather practices a great degree of flexibility in their relationship, finding new ways either to attempt to communicate or exasperate the other's patience -- to no avail. Furthermore, both men possess cognitive factors, drive, and Charisma. While Hundert's intelligence level and ability to use outside references as a motivation for his behavior certainly exceed Bell's, the young student also possesses a great deal of intelligence and ability to manipulate a situation. Through both of his cheating incidences, this quality can be seen, in addition to the lengths he goes to in order to arrange the weekend rematch in honor of Mr. Hundert. Additionally, though both Hundert and Bell have the unique charismatic ability to draw the attention of many, Bell's degree of Charisma slightly exceeds Hundert's, in that he is able to capture the attention and actions of the boys throughout the film, leading them into a variety of pranks and troublemaking situations. Thus, through opposites and sometimes enemies throughout the movie, Hundert and Bell are actually quite similar, both possessing a variety of characteristics that make for an excellent leader.

Though their leadership characteristics are similar, however, the two characters' ethical persuasions are not. While both make ethical mistakes throughout the movie, Hundert learns and feels remorse for his mistakes while Bell continues to bend rules of ethics in order to gain more roles of leadership and power. For instance, Mr. Hundert performs an unethical act when both loaning his book to Bell and vouching for his character to the librarian. Although Hundert is simply attempting to boost the boy's confidence, he offers him an unfair advantage over the other students. Similarly, Hundert's submission to the headmaster when he asks the teacher to ignore Bell's cheating can be construed as an unethical act as well as a lapse in leadership, as Hundert fails to use his assertiveness. Although it is the headmaster -- anxious about offending Bell's father, a powerful man who could make a powerful donation -- who commits the unethical act, Hundert's silence can be seen as similarly unethical and damaging to not only the spirit of the competition but the development of young boys. Hundert also attempts to resist unethical acts, like his refusal to accept a Cuban cigar from Bell's father, and therefore accept his authority, while Bell makes no attempt at resistance.

Like Hundert, Bell also commits unethical acts throughout the movie. In fact, from the movie's beginning, Bell's actions are both unethical and obnoxious. Bell uses his leadership skills to convince other boys to join him in his delinquency, offering them contraband materials and taking them on against-the-rules outings. Regardless of these actions, however, Bell's two largest unethical acts during the movie are the incidences in which he cheats. It is these incidences that suggest Bell has not learned from his unethical mistakes, while Hundert has. In fact, throughout the movie Hundert feels sorry for his unethical actions, and he does his best to repair them. He talks about them with other faculty, confronts Bell about his choices, and at the end of the movie apologizes to the boy who was knocked out of the competition by his actions. Bell, on the other hand, simply cheats again in order to obtain another position of power. In both their motivations and their reactions to unethical behavior, therefore, Hundert and Bell are radically different. While Hundert commits immoral acts in order to boost a young boy's confidence and later makes reparations for those acts, Bell commits unethical acts in order to boost his own position of power and admits that he does not feel sorry for what he has done. Thus, while both Hundert and Bell possess qualities of leadership, only Hundert possesses a positive attitude toward ethics.

Set against the backdrop of some of the greatest leaders in history, the emperor's of Rome, Hoffman's film, the Emperor's Club, allows viewers to understand universal truths about leadership and ethics through the coming of age of a class full of boys under the leadership of their brilliant professor. While each of the boys must face decisions regarding leadership and ethics throughout the film -- they are offered the choice to look at pornography, travel off the grounds, and claim their mistakes and pranks -- the foils of Sedgewick Bell and Mr. Hundert best encompass the film's theme regarding leadership and ethics. While both Bell and Hundert possess many characteristics of leaders, their leadership takes on very different roles. Hundert leads in order to lead his class to success; he shoots for a degree of leadership effectiveness. This can be observed by his teachings and his actions. Hundert states that one can only be remembered by history if one uses their leadership qualities to give something to the world. When one does not use their power and leadership qualities to give back, Hundert suggests that they are forgotten. By teaching the students this concept, Hundert not only increases their drive to be successful, but he also increases their drive to be ethical. Furthermore, Hundert's teachings can be witnessed in his own life. Although he is not always successful, especially at earning the new headmaster position, Hundert has a great deal of achievement motivation; he is excited about his accomplishments because he has achieved them. Though he does become discouraged, his decision to return to the classroom is an excellent example of this fact and suggests that he has a strong internal locus of control. His students view him with an expertise approach, and see him as a transformational leader.