Top 11 Leadership Tales Masquerading as Sports Movies

For my purposes, a leadership tale involves a leader who is presented with a large team challenge that is solved by creating a culture of integrity within that team. Trust and accountability--in various forms--are always part of that culture.

I have left out some great and sometimes inspirational sports movies such as "Chariots of Fire", "The Greatest Game Ever Played", "Varsity Blues", "Major League" and "Friday Night Lights" because they don’t meet this definition for one reason or another. You can comment on the blog-site with counter opinions.

None of the leaders are women. I am sorry for that, Holly and Bolly (Wood, that is) haven’t awakened to leaders within the other gender. If I missed such a movie, please tell me.

Now to the list of leadership parables masquerading as sports movies. First, the more well known ones.
--"Miracle", the story of the 1980 US Olympic hockey team and what their coach Herb Brooks did in order to bond them as a team.
--"Glory Road", the story of the 1966 UTEP NCAA championship basketball team, and how their coach Don Haskins build and motivated a team that--for the first time in NCAA history--started all black players to beat historically white Kentucky.
--"Hoosiers", the fictional story of a struggling high school basketball coach in a 1950’s Indiana small high school. Simply a classic.
--In many ways "Hoosiers" true darker equivalent is "Coach Carter". Samuel Jackson’s performance is awesome.
--"Remember The Titans" tells the story of how the first black football coach in 1970’s Richmond VA blended a team of whites and blacks into a championship squad.
--"Jerry Maguire". Super agent is fired because he is more honest and introduces a service-mentality approach into being a sports agent. He struggles--not to lead a team--but to define a way of doing business that has a large degree of integrity. I couldn’t leave this one out.

I am not including the totally great "Friday Night Lights", a true Texas story. The TV series of the same name is filmed a few miles from where I live. It is not included because the movie is not focused on the efforts of a leader who is facing a tough team situation. It is more of a pastoral piece about the town, the boys and what the football team means to the same. Sorry, Texan friends!

Now for some movies not so widely known.
--"Lagaan". An Indian film about a village competing in cricket (a game unknown to them) with the local English Army team to avoid crushing extra taxes (“lagaan” in Hindi). I warn you, this movie is a bit long and has the Bollywood habit of perhaps overly frequent song, but the hero is definitely a leader who builds a culture of integrity against great odds.
--"Believe in Me". An up and coming male coach arrives in an Oklahoma town to coach--he thinks--their boys’ team. He actually is assigned to coach the poorly funded and under supported girls’ team. His struggle to build a culture of integrity within the situation is a wonder to behold.
--"Pride". How a former black swimmer builds a winning swim team in a inner city Philadelphia recreation center that has been targeted for closing.
--"Chak De! India". Years after facing humiliating defeat on the field against Pakistan, former hockey (field hockey in the US) star Kabir Khan returns to the game as coach of the Indian women's national hockey team, striving to shape a ragtag bunch of female athletes into a true team.
--"Miracle at Oxford" . Almost unbelievable that a movie about the yearly Oxford vs. Cambridge rowing competition could be a leadership parable, but it is. With its prima donna American rowers (who seem a lot like some designers I have known), this movie clearly shows how the value of trust built with accountability, teamwork and desire can make up for lesser talent. If you only watch one of these movies, this is the best one you haven’t seen.

Last movie not included was "The Miracle Match", story of the 1950 US soccer team’s victory over then world-class England. To get the size of the upset, imagine a basketball team from someplace not at all known for basketball, like, say New Zealand beating the US national team. If the US had won the World Cup that year, I would have included it! Uruguay actually won the cup in 1950.

And then there is perhaps the best leadership tale that isn’t a sports movie, "12 O’ Clock High". But that is a subject for another blog. Companies, including Intel and Motorola, have used this movie in leadership classes.

Finally, my wife (not a sports person and who has fallen asleep repeatedly over the several nights I have watched all these movies) suggested a blog called “Chick Flicks Masquerading as Leadership Tales.” That one is going to take me a while. Any suggestions?

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