Things in our everyday lives can influence us drastically. From tv shows to newspapers, to magazines, and social media we take in outside information and recycle it by displaying it in our daily encounters. Through those mediums, we, as viewers, are able to see how leadership and followership are handled. We may take in and see what is useful and also what is not useful and be able to implement the positive ways to carry out leadership. A great example of the relationship and various styles of leadership is shown through the movie McFarland, USA.
In the movie the main character is Jim White played by Kevin Costner. White was fired as a football coach because of a verbal altercation with a player on the team. After that, he accepted a position as a life science/PE teacher in a predominately Latino high school in California. While in PE he made the students run and immediately noticed two boys who were fast. He took those boys and found others to be a part of his new cross-country team. In the first few races, the team did not meet expectations and ultimately placed poorly which led to frustration from Coach White. After changing the training regimen and overall becoming more connected with each team member on a deeper level, the team rose up and competed in the state finals and won.
At the beginning of the film, Coach White led the team based on little prior knowledge of cross-country and a style that worked for his old football team. His style did not accommodate that of the cross-country team and it showed in their performance. After realizing that his aggressive and old ways were not benefiting the team he switched it up. In addition, he realized that in order to be a successful leader he had to be able to relate and serve his followers. He helped the team do their duties so he could understand the lives of the members and help them with their work so they could focus more on running and less on trying to hold the weight of the world in their backs. He transitioned from a destructive leader to a serving leader (Lesson 3 Commentary).
Leadership is a two-way process between a leader and followers, so without followers, there is no leader (Lesson 3 Commentary). McFarland, USA showed how important followership is to the process. Followership started as a role-based approach in the beginning which led to poor performance because the team members only saw their coach as a leader because he was put in charge, not due to any qualifications or positive attributes that make a good leader (Lesson 3 Commentary). However, once Coach White began to get involved in the team members’ personal lives and making a positive impact the followership took the relational-based approach (Lesson 3 Commentary). The mutual influence the team members had on the coach and vice versa made them cohesive and the team was able to determine how leadership was to occur (Lesson 3 Commentary). Which more so supports the idea that followers change leaders in this case, it was for the better. Once the coach displayed leadership behaviors and the team showed following behaviors they created a type of leadership that was custom to them and in turn successful such as winning the state championship (Lesson 3 Commentary. Overall, followership is just as important as being a leader and at times more influential because success occurs only when followers and the leader can work together.
McFarland, USA is a great example of the process of leadership and the importance of followership. Through trials and mistakes, it is proven that success comes from a mutual relationship between followers and leaders. From the last place to first, leadership was a successful journey for Coach White and his team that involved effort from both ends, being a leader and being a follower.
Caro, N. (2015). McFarland, USA. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
Hamel, R. (n.d.). Lesson 3: Followership, 2021
Hello,
This was quite a fascinating read and I definitely agree with the message you are trying to get across. Although I have never seen McFarland, USA, I could picture the story in my mind. I never really realized how much daily life influences us and the choices we make as individuals. I enjoyed reading how Coach White originally failed his student athletes because of the way he coached for a different sport, but eventually changed the way he led them which resulted in a state title.
This film definitely provides an accurate example of changing leadership pertaining to the specific followers. Coach White was never going to have a successful track team if he coached the way he did with football. He made the transition of being a role-based leader to a relational-based leader because that is what his followers required in order to generate success. You are absolutely right when you stated that effort is needed on both ends. Overall, very nice work.