Leadership Lesssons From the Movie - The Last Castle

Leadership Lessons from the movie “The Last Castle” Date – 25th Oct , 2013

Presented by – 1- Pramod Tyagi 2- Mohit Agarwal 3- Mohan Govil 4- Rajneesh Jadon 5- Vivek Tripathi

Lead Characters

Col. Winter

Gen Irwin

Yate

Aguilar

Seargent Major Gen Wheeler 2

Capt.

The story

Famed and decorated three-star General Irwin is sent to a maximum security military prison for disobeying an order that resulted in a very negative outcome. Colonel Winter, the prison warden admires Irwin prior to meeting him, but their values clash since Colonel Winter operates with suspect methods in order to maintain discipline in the prison. Although General Irwin tries to avoid a leadership role, the unjust treatment of the inmates cannot be ignored. As any good leader would, Irwin takes command of the situation.

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Leadership Traits - Irwin 1. Boosting peoples’ self-respect, creating a sense of purpose, a vision, winning their hearts and minds, about finding the good in people 2. Gives them back a sense of personal dignity and purpose 3. Irwin sees inmates as soldiers who have made mistakes 4. Leadership during crisis 5. Courage to challenge – Asking to resign 6. He knew whom to take into the bus -Recognizes the talent of those around him – Trust your men a)

b) c)

Boosting the confidence and moral of shy Aguilar, whose masonry skills help build the castle wall – Low Conf The sergeant major’s skills are put to use in addressing the inmates Brings Yates into his confidence because he recognizes the good soldier within him, and has faith in his ability to change his ways 4

Leadership Traits - Irwin 7. Vision - clear and simple goal of taking over the prison with the sole aim of removing Winter from power ; 8. Connect with his men – No compromise with the punishment given 9. Use of Referent Power – Most strong trait of leaders 10. Whatever you do – Give your best - Building the wall 11. A natural leader who is able to anticipate Winter's every move, he knows exactly the right thing to do and say to get his way – Utilizing Yate by inspiring him. 12. Because of Irwin’s acumen he could use Yates to optimum level. 13. Direct Criticism – Not good for leaders

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Leadership Traits - Irwin 14. Effective Planning - Irwin uses some men to build a stone wall, an act of rebellion, while others gather information about the guards and their training by tricking them with a false kidnapping scheme. 15. Speech in cafeteria 17. He refuses to allow his men to be punished for his own actions – Last scene 18. Resourcefulness – Catapult, Water Cannon 19. He garnered their trust because he was able to demonstrate he was concerned for the common good, not just looking out for himself. His selfless actions caused others to rethink their values and step up to the plate. 20. A leader who knew how people want to be treated and how they act in return for proper treatment. 6

Leadership Traits - Irwin 21. Irwin knew that ultimately each inmate could benefit from what he was trying to create, which in turn showed the depth of his leadership abilities: he wanted to bring out the best in his people in order to better their situation. 22. Participative leadership is not a complex issue. It is simply a matter of getting and keeping everyone involved and informed. As a rule people like to know what is expected of them, where they are headed, and how they are going to get there. 23. Collective Decision Making – Everyone is included though they do not have final say 24. Knows all men’s work, fights for what is fair, creative in salutes and nicknames, knows history of saluting and is able to look ahead in planning Castle attack. 25. Promoting principles and values -Tells prisoners to have pride – they are still soldiers 7

Col. Winter 1. Exercises authoritative power 2. Rules are Rules – For everyone, Adaptability 3. Power – he wants power and control over others ,makes people wait on him while he eats , Arrogant 4. Winter's understanding of his men and their willingness to stand with him falls apart as he orders Irwin's death; however, his second-in-command, a well-trained man, takes Winter prisoner and restores order after Winter kills Irwin himself. 5. Punishment - Winter picks on Agui who is so impressed by the presence of General Irwin that he disobeys regulations and salutes him, for which the punishment is to maintain a salute for hours despite a heavy downpour of rain

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Leadership Traits - Wheeler 1. Did not exercise authoritative power despite having alert signals 2. No creativity– could setup an enquiry if he was aware about the deaths in prison

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Important Scene 1. 4 Elements of a castle 2. First scene where Irwin arrives in Prison , Gen Meeting Col but no show off – Observe the environment 3. Irwin – holding the hand of a guard, accepted the punishment and completes the task 4. Augie – Taking a lead to build the wall, standing in front of tank 5. Sense of humor when he says “After 30yrs, every man’s a good man – it’s the law” 6. Passion for work - Gets them to come together by building the wall again 7. Kidnapping plan 8. Last scene – Cap disobeys Winter’s order, Irwin ask people to lay down, Sharp shooters refuse to follow Winter’s order, Irwin – Lead by example 10

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