After watching the movie Braveheart over the weekend it got me thinking about the leadership style of William Wallace, who was the main protagonist of the movie. The movie is about William Wallace who is a fierce Scottish warrior and leader who fought for the independence of Scotland against King Edward of England in the 1200s. Throughout the movie Wallace displays great leadership. He is an inspirational leader who uses transformational leadership in order to rally his men to follow him in to battle and fight the British with him. Braveheart displays transformational leadership through Wallace’s personal characteristics, the follower’s characteristics, and the crisis situation in which the movie took place.
William Wallace’s personal characteristics are one of the defining factors of his transformational leadership style. He was just like any other Scottish man from his exterior look. However, he had the heart of a giant and was a great leader of men. Throughout the movie different characteristics would emerge that showed what a great leader he was. First, Wallace was depicted to have great rhetorical skills in the movie. As the men were preparing for battle across the field from the larger and more dominant army of the British, Wallace would emerge from the crowd and speak to the men. He would inspire them to fight for their freedom with quotes such as this:
“Wallace: I am William Wallace. And I see a whole army of my countrymen, here in defiance of tyranny! You have come to fight as free men. And free man you are! What will you do without freedom? Will you fight?
Soldier: No, we will run and live!
Wallace: Yes! Fight and you may die. Run and you will live, at least awhile. And dying in your bed many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance, to come back here as young men and tell our enemies that they may take our lives but they will never take our freedom! (Jackson)”
Wallace’s vision and ability to bond with his followers allowed him to be such a good leader. Also, in the movie Wallace was depicted as a person who has a strong and confident personal image and moral conviction. He would ultimately pay with his life as he was tortured and put to death in front of an English crowd. However, he never wavered from his mission as he yelled for freedom as they took his life. These characteristics of vision, rhetorical skills, image, trust building, self-sacrifice, and bonding were all held by William Wallace and are indicators of a transformational leader (PSU, L10, p4).
Next, the followers are just as important in any leadership situation. The followers of William Wallace were the men that he led into battle. These men identified with Wallace and his vision of a free Scotland so much that they were willing to give up their life fighting for him. PSU World Campus says that a follower in a transformational leadership situation will have heightened emotional levels and a feeling of empowerment. When Wallace would speak to the crowd he would have this exact effect on the men. They would be inspired by his words and actions and end up fighting harder for Wallace than they would have for other Scottish leaders.
Finally, the last characteristic to consider is the situational characteristics of the movie. A transformational leader is more likely to emerge when a crisis situation occurs. Also, these are the times when followers look for a leader to solve their crisis (PSU, L10, p4). The movie occurs during a Scottish war of independence which is clearly a crisis situation. Wallace emerges as the leader because the men could relate to him and they wanted to fight for him. All three of the transformational leadership characteristics (Leader, Follower, and Situational) can be related to Wallace in one way or another. Because of this he is a great example of a transformational leader.
References
B, Jackson. “Braveheart.” Braveheart. Rotten Tomatoes, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.
Penn State World Campus (2013). PSYCH 485 Lesson 10: Transformational Leadership. Retrieved on April 1, 2013, from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/sp13/psych485/003/content/11_lesson/03_pag
JONATHAN ANDREW FISHER says
The movie Braveheart is a great example to analyze leadership and the lines from Wallace’s speech that you quoted are some of the most famed inspirational movie quotes in history. The background of the situation in the film is “textbook” of transformational leadership as you have pointed out. I also believe that looking through the lens of situational approach, we can see that William Wallace is showing some signs of a coaching style. This is because he give highly directive tasks and instructions but as we can see from his speech he is also highly supportive. (PSU, 2013)
Penn State World Campus (2013). PSYCH 485 Lesson 10: Transformational Leadership. Retrieved on April 25, 2013, from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/sp13/psych485/003/content/11_lesson/03_pag
CHAD STUART CLELLAND says
This is a great depiction of transformational leadership. I also think that he was a great servant leader as well. The quote, “They can take our lives but they cannot take our freedom” jumps out when talking about servant leadership. The premise that you as the leader sacrifice for the greater good of the followers is exactly what William Wallace was speaking of. He not only motivated the warriors to follow him but to sacrifice their lives so that their families could have a prosperous life. He encouraged others to step up and take on leadership roles within the movie as well. William Wallace is a perfect example of one who epitomized the characteristics of a servant leader.