I am frequently asked to recommend films, most recently those from which valuable lessons about leadership can be learned. Listed in chrono order with a few brief comments, here are ten selections:

Twelve O’clock High (1949): A burned-out bomber group commander is replaced by a friend and admirer who eventually becomes burned out.

Key Lesson: Never underestimate the power of distributed leadership, an organization’s “shock absorber.”

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The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Key Lesson: Constantly ask, “What must be done?” and then “What purpose will that serve?”

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12 Angry Men (1957):

Key Lesson: Asking the right questions and then listening patiently with respect as others respond to them is one of the most effective ways to persuade them.

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Spartacus (1960): A gladiator leads other gladiators and thousands of slaves in efforts to become free and live in peace but first they must defeat the Roman legions.

Key Lesson: To those who interact with you while doing business with your organization, you are that organization. (” I am Container Store!”)

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962): A white attorney defends an innocent black man in a small Southern town.

Key Lesson: Character always trumps expediency.

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Lawerence of Arabia (1962):

Key Lesson: Find common ground with others, then build upon it with them something of enduring value.

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Zulu (1964): Two British officers without any prior combat experience and 139 men (a third in the infirmary) defend Rorke’s Drift in Natal, a supply depot and hospital, against 4,000 Zulu warriors.

Key Lesson: There are times when during a crisis, no one is fully qualified and fully prepared to respond to it but someone MUST… and that person may be you.

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A Man for All Seasons (1964): Unless Lord Chancellor Thomas More supports King Henry VIII’s divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, to marry Anne Boleyn, he will be decapitated.

Key Lesson: “What profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul?”

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The Godfather (1972):

Key Lesson: “Keep you friends close and your enemies closer.”

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Lincoln (2012): In 1865, Abraham Lincoln struggled every way he could to obtain passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, one that would abolish slavery.

Key Lesson: A time may come when an objective is so important that achieving it is all that matters.