Leadership is an essential factor in attaining organizational objectives, increasing performance, integrating organizational and employee goals, and promoting coordination among employees. Inefficiency and poor performance tend to be common in organizations lacking effective leaders. Various types of leadership styles impact organizational outputs, including productivity, creativity, job performance, and job satisfaction. However, some negative aspects of leadership can adversely impact organizational outputs. For instance, toxic leadership reduces employee engagement, creates a negative work environment, and erodes trust in organizational settings. Therefore, this paper will discuss different aspects of leadership as portrayed in the film, “Remember the Titans.”
Bad leadership style is characterized by several negative behaviors and attributes, including change resistance, micromanaging employees, and the absence of effective communication mechanisms. These negative behaviors and traits compromise productivity and demotivate employees. Moreover, bad leaders make poor decisions, avoid responsibility, and ignore other staff members’ feedback. They engage in activities that create a confusing and frustrating work environment. Conversely, a good leadership style is characterized by effective decision-making, communication, active listening, confidence, and a clear vision. It influences leaders to engage in activities that motivate their followers to achieve their performance objectives. Quiet leaders are reflective, reserved, and maintain an appropriate balance between humility and determination. They share similar attributes with good leaders since they push their followers to high achievement and performance levels. Toxic leaders pursue their benefits and goals at the expense of their followers’ interests. Moreover, they humiliate their followers with their authoritarian attitudes and narcissistic tendencies (Coban, 2022). Overall, quiet, bad, toxic, and good leaders differ based on their attitudes and behaviors.
Different characters in the film “Remember the Titans” display the attributes of good and quiet leadership styles. In this film, an example of a good leader is Coach Boone. Coach Boone is portrayed as an effective leader who is respectful, fair, and dedicated to the team’s success (Meridian University, 2023). He relies on his high emotional intelligence to control himself and his team members. Consequently, Coach Boone creates an environment characterized by a sense of belonging, respect, and high levels of trust within the team. Through his effective leadership style, Boone influences his followers to put aside their racial differences and focus on achieving a common objective. An example of a bad leader in the film, “Remember the Titans,” is the school board’s chairman. The chairman organized for the team to lose during the semi-final games to allow Yoast to serve as the head coach. He influenced the referees to make many biased decisions against Boone’s team. Thus, bad leaders tend to be ineffective since they are less likely to make appropriate decisions or support their followers to achieve their performance objectives.
Yoast displayed the attributes of a quiet leader by approaching these referees to warn them against unfair officiating. He informed these referees that he would expose them in the press if they continued with such a biased act. As a quiet leader, Yoast reflected, changed his mind, and agreed to serve as Boone’s defensive coordinator (IMDb, 2000). The referees can be described as toxic leaders since they were willing to engage in activity to ensure that the Titans lost. They were willing to humiliate the Titans with their authoritarian attitudes and narcissistic tendencies. These referees agreed to misuse their power to engage in activities that could make the Titans lose the state semi-finals to satisfy the board chairman’s selfish interests. Overall, quiet leaders differ from their toxic counterparts since they engage in actions aimed at influencing followers to embrace hard work and achieve the team’s goals.
Organic leaders unite and engage followers around the team’s shared objectives. Also, they promote clear communication and create a sense of purpose to guide followers as they undertake their tasks. However, persons in positions of authority do not influence their followers to change their behaviors and attitudes. In the film, “Remember the Titans,” Boone can be described as an organic leader since he instilled an atmosphere that fostered intergroup cooperation. Moreover, he influenced his Caucasian followers to know their black teammates better. Boone created a success culture by treating all his followers with respect, being consistent and fair, and working hard (Meridian University, 2023). In this film, the school board chairman had authority since he demonstrated that he could influence various decisions. For instance, he influenced the referees to make unfair and biased decisions against the Titans. Thus, organic leaders possess the necessary attributes and values that promote employee engagement and productivity.
Social norms impact leadership by enhancing followers’ clarity about their performance expectations. Further, they increase bonds among team members. In the film, several benefits of being part of the team are highlighted. For instance, members of the Titans supported one another, formed new bonds, and established new friendships (Leary, 2023). These benefits were portrayed in many training scenes. At the start of the film, the team members formed two separate factions and did not want to work as a unit (IMDb, 2000). They segregated themselves and fought with one another. A low level of cohesiveness emerged since some Caucasian players did not want to interact with their black counterparts. In addition, these players were reluctant to listen to coaches from another race. However, such norms changed after Boone took over as the team’s coach. Boone instilled values that encouraged the players to work together as a team. With these values, the players started to build new friendships, spend time together, and support one another. The change in such social norms was motivated by the followers’ desire to perform well, gain community support, and battle racial prejudice. Overall, leaders implement the right social norms to drive success and challenge their followers’ existing behaviors.
Leadership styles can change based on followers. In some instances, leaders may be compelled to adapt their styles and strategies based on their followers’ maturity and readiness levels. Followers’ readiness is influenced by their level of commitment and competence toward an objective or responsibility. In the film, Coach Boone changes his leadership style based on others’ behaviors and culture. At first, he used the command leadership style since he took over a team characterized by racial issues. Therefore, Boone had to use this command style since he operated in a tense environment. In one instance, he informed Yoast and other white students that he would not tolerate anyone undermining his authority (Leary, 2013). Through this style, Boone embraced rigorous training and forceful coaching to change his followers’ behaviors and attitudes. It led to massive improvements in the team’s performance and focus. Coach Boone later embraced the cooperative leadership style after the team bonded, became disciplined, accepted the coach, showed respect, and developed positive character. Thus, leaders can change their styles based on organizational culture and followers’ behaviors.
An example of a character who made a wrong decision is the school board’s chairman. The chairman informed Yoast that the board members had organized for the team to lose (IMDb, 2000). He stated that Boone would be fired as the coach if the team lost and that Yoast would take such a position. Consequently, the chairman influenced the referees to make many unfair decisions against Boone’s team. He could not have made such a decision due to its negative effects on his reputation. The chairman could have been fair and considerate before making this decision. He could have appraised Boone’s performance based on his contributions to the Titans. The outcomes of this appraisal could have been used to determine whether Boone should be dismissed due to poor team performance. The use of performance appraisal could have generated fair results acceptable to all the concerned parties. Overall, leaders are required to be fair and considerate before making any decision that can impact their followers.
I was inspired by Coach Boone’s actions and leadership strategies. One aspect of his style that I will adopt is that he led by example. I was inspired by how Coach Boone set the team’s tone and influenced his followers to accept his vision. Boone was dedicated to enhancing the team’s performance by working hard and being consistent and fair when relating with his followers. He outlined the strategies that the team had to embrace to become successful. I was inspired by how Coach Boone created a culture of cooperation and teamwork among his followers. Through this film, I learned about the need for leaders to inspire and motivate their followers to perform well and overcome various obstacles. In addition, I will embrace change management strategies in my future leadership roles. Coach Boone emphasized the need for his followers to change their past behaviors and attitudes to achieve a new result. I will also develop a philosophy to guide me in my leadership roles. Thus, Coach Boone became an effective leader by creating a clear vision, embracing change management, motivating his team, and developing a culture of cooperation.
Coban, C. (2022). The dark side of leadership: A conceptual assessment of toxic leadership. Business, Economics, and Management Research Journal, 5(1), 50-61.
IMDb (2000). Remember the Titans. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0210945/
Leary, R. (2013). Remember the Titans: A theoretical analysis. Journal of Arts and Humanities, 2(4), 11-21.
Meridian University (2023). Remember the Titans: How attitude reflects leadership. https://meridianuniversity.edu/content/remember-the-titans-how-attitude-reflects-leadership