Drawing Leadership Lessons from the Harry Potter Movies

In watching the conclusion of the Harry Potter epic last weekend (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2), I was struck by a number of themes that have become visible during the 10-year evolution of the J.K. Rowling book-based movie series.  As Scott Eblin of the Next Level Leadership blog has written a wonderful column on the servant-leadership ideas inherent in Harry’s story,  I’d like to reflect on leadership lessons visible in the making of the movies themselves.

(Director David Yates gives direction to Daniel Radcliffe on the Harry Potter set). Matching management talent to the evolving needs of the material was a key element in the success of the movie series.

Leadership Lessons

These leadership points stand out to me:

Hire for “talent” … then provide them with all the support they need
I wrote several months ago about the unique challenge of casting three 10-year old leads on whose shoulders would rest

Managing By Cliches: Timing Is Everything (Pick Your Spots)

This is another in our series of posts on the topic of “managing by cliches.”

Last week was a very good one in my department, as a long-hoped for project moved forward in a significant way, after years of opposition from certain quarters.  Reflecting on the reasons that we  finally made progress,  I believe it came down to two things:

• perseverance  (i.e., being too stubborn to give up)
• patience (being willing to “wait it out” until conditions were more favorable).

Melding these two qualities together, I think the cliche “timing is everything” is really what was at work here.

Do we always have the patience (and perseverance) to wait for the right moment to make our move?

Luck?

One might argue that “timing” is nothing more than luck — i.e., some people are just “born under a lucky star” and always appear to be “in the right place at the right time.”  “Not me,”  you might say.  “If I didn’t have bad luck, I’d have no luck at all” we might all feel in our “Charlie Brown” moments.  (Raise your hand if you’ve ever thought this about yourself).  While I wouldn’t argue that luck (or “good fortune,” or “kizmet,” or “serendipity”) plays no role, I do think that other more controllable factors are involved, as well.

I believe that awareness of “the moment”  plays a key role in this.  No one can be fully aware of everything and everyone around them, of course.  But through practice and focus, we can probably all get better at this.

Poor Timing

As one example on the “bad timing” side … our national sales director