Star Wars is without doubt one of the greatest movies ever created. It embodies many of the great heroic story line ingredients, the princess in distress Princess Leia, the evil leader of the empire Darth Vader, and the hero’s journey of Luke Skywalker. With such a great recipe for growth and development of characters within the series there are numerous lessons and examples that can be help us better understand the leadership success’s and failures in the star wars universe.
One of the most iconic character in Star Wars is Yoda. The wise old Jedi master that lives deep in the swamps of Dagobah is known for his wise and very broken words of wisdom. Today let’s look at Yoda’s leadership style; Servant Leadership.
The clip is one of the most important moments in all of star wars and represents a huge milestone in Luke Skywalkers training and finding the strength to believe in himself. After Luke has been continually frustrated with his training he sees his crash ship begin to sink in the swamp and at the point has lost all confidence in his development.
This scene has almost too many amazing quotes so I’m just going to list them all because it’s an injustice if I don’t.
- “Always with you, what cannot be done.” Referring to Luke constantly commenting on how he cannot accomplish his tasks instead of what he could accomplish.
- “Only different in your mind, you must unlearn what you have learned” Yoda explains to Luke that it’s possible for him to move the ship as long as he believes he can accomplish it.
- “Try not, Do or do not there is no try” Luke at this point is still discouraged in accomplishing his tasks and says he will try, Yoda corrects him with the most motivational quote in Star Wars.
- “I don’t believe it. That is why you fail.” Luke says to Yoda he couldn’t believe that Yoda was able to move his ship from the swamp, Yoda replys with the perfect ending for the scene summarizing Luke’s problem this entire time; Luke wasn’t believing in himself.
Yoda is the perfect example of a servant leader. “Servant Leadership begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. The best test is: do those served grow as persons; do they while being served become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous…” (Northouse 2013)
The ability to persuade others is one of Greenleaf’s 10 characteristics of Servant Behavior. “Persuasion is clear and persistent communication that convinces others to change. As opposed to coercion, which utilizes positional authority to force compliance, persuasion creates change through the use of gentle nonjudgmental argument.”(Northouse 2013)
This scene again represents a huge shift in the mindset of Luke Skywalker. After failing countless times and having no faith in his abilities Yoda proves to Luke that the biggest obstacle he is encountering is telling himself he can’t accomplish his goals. Once Luke finally begins to understand that he must look at his obstacles differently his next scene shows how successful Luke has become now that his faith in himself is restored. Yoda clearly represents the catalyst in Luke’s changes and persuades Luke into thinking in a different way.
Yoda represents the perfect embodiment of Servant Leadership. Yoda has nothing to gain in taking the time to help Luke become the Jedi he wants to become. Yoda is patient with Luke but also pushes him to grow, he teaches him to look at the world in a different light, to believe in himself, and to not let the fear of failure get in the way of his success. Yoda successfully changes Luke’s mindset and later Luke becomes a Servant Leader himself training these valuable lessons on to the future Jedi.
References:
Northouse, Peter Guy. Leadership: Theory and Practice. 6th ed. Los Angeles, Calif.: SAGE, 2013. Print.
“Adywans Empire Strikes Back – Raising the X-Wing.” YouTube. YouTube. Web. 24 Apr. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_QcRPNfUuE&feature=youtu.be&t=49s>.
Anthony D Ferrono says
I too am a star wars fan, and find it very interesting how you coupled leadership with Yodas apparent qualities. Throughout the movie and the series in fact, Yoda proves that he is one the “good side” and seems to give knowledge to everyone who is willing to listen. You described his leader skills as a being a servant leader, and quoted ““Servant Leadership begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. The best test is: do those served grow as persons; do they while being served become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous…” (Northouse 2013). This is a very strong correlation with Yoda and being a leader, in the sense that he mentored Luke Skywalker. As defined in servant leadership, the real test is weather or not the hose who are served become a better person. This would conflict with the movies plot because in the end of the movie Luke, turns evil. This would conclude that while perhaps Yoda was a servant leader, his leadership was not proven effective, and thusly failed as being a leader to Luke. I have to say that I think it was fantastic how you correlated leadership within the movie, and would love for your thoughts on how Yodas leadership molded Luke in the long run. Do you think that Yoda failed Luke due to his incompetency to lead? Or do you think that it was in Luke’s nature to always turn to the dark side, voiding Yodas leadership as the issue?
Northouse, Peter Guy. Leadership: Theory and Practice. 6th ed. Los Angeles, Calif.: SAGE, 2013. Print.