1/21/09 - "The Queen"

In class on Wednesday, January 21, we started watching the movie titled "The Queen" about the current queen of England and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair. We are supposed to look at the leadership successes and failures in the film, and I found quite a few. I won't go into deep detail here considering this is also an assignment but I will say a few things I noticed about leadership from the movie.

The British royals and the government had very different leadership strategies in the movie which took place in 1997 around the time of Princess Diana's death. The royal family's leadership qualities are based years of tradition and protocols. Those formalities they are so used to causes everyone to automatically give them respect. Because that respect is expected of the people, the Royals live life with an authoritative attitude even though their government actually gives them very little. When there is a precedent of leadership, it is often followed until someone challenges it.

The British government and Prime Minister display a different type of leadership style. Theirs is almost completely focused on the well-being of the people of the country. In the movie, they often acted in response to the people's demands or in order to prevent something worse. Their leadership is based on likability and actions. In contrast to the royals, they work for their respect instead of assuming it.

The contrast between Tony Blair and the Queen is drastic. Both are human beings who lead in one way or another. One by tradition and dignities and the other by popular actions and the people's priorities. Both are good ways to lead but in order to be the BEST leader, one must develop aspects of both. The best leader would represent the people he or she is leading and develop a tradition of fair leadership.