Popular Culture for Leadership from Film

Studying in the M.A. International Management with a focus on 'Creative Leadership' includes connecting academic theory with the world of popular culture. One way we do this is through our "learning with film" approach - a method that uses cinema, television, and streaming content as resources for leadership. Instead of treating film and media as just entertainment, we explore them as aesthetic media that convey a lot of what has aptly described as the "messy, unordered side" of organisational and work life. Films enable viewers to experience how leaders and followers struggle with themselves and others, with their identity, power, and shared goals.

This approach builds on our research, such as Prof. Dr Brigitte Biehl's contribution to the Exploring Effective Leadership Practices through Popular Culture book series at Emerald. In this series, popular media - from superheroes to reality TV - is analysed as a way of understanding leadership. For example, Biehl's study of the Kardashians explores leadership concepts that focus on women in business, and the obstacles they face in a male dominated world. Her experiential learning approach has won the Management Learning Best Paper Award in 2023 explored "Learning how to manage by watching TV" with regard to popular TV shows such police drama series and many others.

In an elective seminar, students have watched selected scenes alone and together, pausing to unpack how leadership roles are portrayed. They have conducted their own personal learning logs, in which they reflected in writing and with creative drawings on their experiences and what they take forward as a learning transfer.

In terms of transfer outcomes, participants reported an enhanced perception of situations and individuals that they can deploy at work. They stated a deeper understanding of leaders and the pressures they face. Regarding the overarching outcome of identity work, a common theme was that participants reported pro-active behaviours ("I see myself now more as a protagonist than a co-star"; "I now actively tackle different components of the interaction, like communication"). Participants however also rejected certain behaviours they observed and used the film experience to assert and clarify their own position. Being able to work with film and other popular culture experiences is the basis for continuous self-development that participants also reported in the context of their overall leadership development.