The Godfather, Don Corleone
What can a movie about mafia bosses and gangsters teach us about leadership? If you look closely at the main characters in The Godfather, Don Vito Corleone and his son, Michael Corleone, you can learn a lot about leadership principles, both the good and the bad.
1. Transactional Leadership Can Work: Transactional leadership involves an exchange money for work, one favor for another. Throughout the Godfather transactional leadership is on full display. The famous line, “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse,” suggests that everyone has a price or a pressure point. Wise leaders, however, make sure that transactions are fair to all parties to avoid resentment later.
2. Relationships Matter: The Godfather is full of illustrations of the power of relational leadership. In fact, it is the power of familial relationships that makes the mafia an effective organization. In fact, the very term “Godfather,” suggests that an individual can have a family tie despite not actually being a blood relative. Good leaders work hard to develop strong relationships with followers.
3. Successful Leaders are Strategic: Much of the movie depicts the strategies that Don Corleone and his advisors use to manage their operations, deal with competition from other mafia families, and overcome setbacks. Thinking ahead, having contingency plans, being resilient, are all important elements of effective leadership.
4. The Best Leaders Develop Leadership Capacity in Others: Much of the latter portion of the Godfather movie depicts the development of Michael Corleone from an “outsider” in the family “business,” to the eventual leader and successor to his father, Don Corleone. The movie illustrates the emergence of Michael as a leader. For example in the scene in the hospital where he takes charge to protect his father from assassins, and the Don’s development of Michael’s leadership through his, and his trusted advisor, Tom Hagen’s, mentoring of Michael.
1. Transactional Leadership Can Work: Transactional leadership involves an exchange money for work, one favor for another. Throughout the Godfather transactional leadership is on full display. The famous line, “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse,” suggests that everyone has a price or a pressure point. Wise leaders, however, make sure that transactions are fair to all parties to avoid resentment later.
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| Don Corleone, Vito Corleone. Source: Google |
2. Relationships Matter: The Godfather is full of illustrations of the power of relational leadership. In fact, it is the power of familial relationships that makes the mafia an effective organization. In fact, the very term “Godfather,” suggests that an individual can have a family tie despite not actually being a blood relative. Good leaders work hard to develop strong relationships with followers.
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| At his daughter's wedding, Connie Corleone. Source: Google |
3. Successful Leaders are Strategic: Much of the movie depicts the strategies that Don Corleone and his advisors use to manage their operations, deal with competition from other mafia families, and overcome setbacks. Thinking ahead, having contingency plans, being resilient, are all important elements of effective leadership.
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| Vito's journey from Italy to the States. Source: Google |
4. The Best Leaders Develop Leadership Capacity in Others: Much of the latter portion of the Godfather movie depicts the development of Michael Corleone from an “outsider” in the family “business,” to the eventual leader and successor to his father, Don Corleone. The movie illustrates the emergence of Michael as a leader. For example in the scene in the hospital where he takes charge to protect his father from assassins, and the Don’s development of Michael’s leadership through his, and his trusted advisor, Tom Hagen’s, mentoring of Michael.
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| Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, the successor of the Godfather after his father, Vito, retired. Source: Google |
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