Teaching leadership lessons through the camera lens in a global information context

Movies appeal to people globally and can be used as a very valuable intellectual exercise in understanding the diverse workplace settings, stimulating curiosity towards other cultures, and learning the nuances of leading and managing in a global information context. This study demonstrates how a learning experience involving movies can be utilized in complementing existing pedagogical approaches for imparting leadership lessons. The findings from sixty LIS students’ reflections reveal that a majority of students’ (53 out of 60) perspectives about leadership either “changed” or “reinforced” their existing beliefs by studying leadership concepts portrayed in movies. Overall, the findings revealed students’ critical thinking and take-away lessons about leadership regardless of their response about leadership perspectives (changed, reinforced, or unchanged). This study indicates that by utilizing media in leadership education through carefully crafted pedagogy, LIS instructors can provide students with more realistic examples of positive and negative leadership in a global context