Tales from Twelve O’clock High is a movie that provides leadership lessons for the 21s century as several changes in terms of force structure, organization, equipment, and missions will change. The army budgets are also expected to shrink more and less deployment conducted. The changes that are expected in the 21st Century require a superb and unwavering leader to manage the changes. This paper reviews the characteristics of the charismatic leadership of General Savage in the Tales from Twelve O’clock High film by studying his conduct and actions.
Charismatic leadership is perceptional based on how followers perceive the behaviors of the leader. Some of the specific traits and behaviors of charismatic leaders include self-confidence, the ability and need to influence others, a strong conviction in their beliefs, and their followers show implicit obedience, trust, acceptance, and affection of the leaders. However, the most significant attribute of a charismatic leader is the capacity to fashion a captivating vision that their followers can enthusiastically share and accept (Takala, 2004). The Army leadership doctrine of charismatic leadership is based on principles such as loyalty to subordinates, taking decision making responsibilities, establishing a success based teamwork climate, inspiring and directing assigned resources and forces towards an end that is purposeful, maintaining morale and physical courage during hardship, and crafting a vision that anticipate and focuses on forthcoming developments.
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With consideration of the expected characteristics of a charismatic leader, the Tales from Twelve O’clock High can be used to evaluate Savage leadership perceptions. When savage first joins the 918th Bomber Group, he establishes that the soldiers had extremely low discipline levels since most of them lacked military courtesy, were always no uniformed and frequently drunk alcohol. Savage appraises personnel files of junior leaders, and he found that Air Executive Officer Lieutenant Colonel Ben Gately was not at his station of duty (King, 1949). Despite Gately having a strong file, Savage ordered his arrest by the Military Police. Savage blames heaps also the responsibility for the earlier commander’s downfall on Gately since Gately did not pull his share of the load. Savage takes actions, including relieving Gately as an executive officer and assigns him as a bomber commander. Savage also resigns all the 918th’s misfits. The actions of Savage in the situation demonstrate charismatic leadership despite them appearing to be degrading. Charismatic leaders are often unconventional, assertive, and radical in terms of change (Hamad, 2015). Savage understands that Gately is an extremely capable officer as well as pilot, but he need to gain self-actualization to rise to a selfless from his current selfish state and start developing strong professional ethics. Savage offers Gately a chance to redeem himself by making him understand his contribution towards the success of the unit.
During the scene of Savage’s first air mission brief, he is able to display the radical and risk-taking nature of a charismatic leader. The tension in the briefing room was an indication of how stressful men were. Despite realizing the tension in the room, Savage assures the unit of his commitment to attend to all their shortcomings and demand the unit to fight to their best, even if it means dying. Savage offers transfer to those men who cannot stand with the vision and mission of the unit, which gets men to commit themselves to the vision of the unit. Savage in the brief seeks to transform the unit into accepting the selfless state by enforcing high professional ethics, high training, and emphasize on competency. Another charismatic leadership ability demonstrated by Savage is self-confidence during numerous obstacles. For instance, Savage learns that men had requested a transfer from the unit as they had a cling to Davenport’s memory. However, Savage remains confidence by maintaining freedom and personal beliefs from internal conflicts. By allowing personal beliefs at the workplace, it indicates that a charismatic leader should not be restrained by self-doubt or popular opinion from their set visions.
During Savage’s second briefing, Adjutant Major Harvey Stovall assures Savage of his loyalty to the group by slowing the transfer process. Stovall is one of the men that treasured their friendship with Davenport but understood what Savage was trying to give the group was more than what Davenport could manage (King, 1949). Savage gains charismatic leadership as he manages to convert men to become loyal to his vision and be committed to it. When Davenport meets with Savage, he warns Savage about the possibility of inspector general conducting an investigation regarding the holding up of transfer requests. Davenport demonstrates the characteristics of a caring leader in the situation. However, since Savage is far more visionary, he does not buy into the idea that caring can be indicated through passes and leniency but as neglect. According to Savage, real caring involves giving the unit enough technical and physical competence and moral courage to conduct its mission successfully (Hamad, 2015). Savage also demonstrates a charismatic leader’s unconventional and radicle nature when he risks his reputation by ignoring Pritchard’s order of aborting the mission based on bad weather (Bognar, n.d.). Savage leads his screw through an extremely successful mission by ignoring the radio call to abort the mission. The relentless quest of rebuilding the unit’s morale and confidence pushes Savage to ignore Pritchard’s order as he strives to gain his followers' commitment, trust, and energize them.
In conclusion, the film demonstrates how leaders can exercise a charismatic leader’s transformational qualities. The main aim of a charismatic leader is to transform followers into self-actualized individuals who consider every action they take in their duties to be intrinsically connected to the success of their organization. Ensuring that employees are in a selfless state helps them seek ways to improve the capabilities of the organization while maintaining its strong professional ethic.
References
Bognar, A. J. (n.d.). Tales from Twelve O'Clock High: Leadership Lessons for the 21st Century. Strategist. Retrieved from http://www.strategosinc.com/downloads/twelve_oclock_high.pdf
Hamad, H. (2015). Transformational Leadership Theory: Why Military Leaders are More Charismatic and Transformational? doi: 10.21863/ijl/2015.3.1.001
King, H. (Dir). (1949). Twelve O'Clock High . USA. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.gostream.cool/film/10391-twelve-oclock-high.html#
Takala, T. (2004). Charismatic Leadership and Power. Problems and Perspectives in Management. 3(3). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264194000_Charismatic_Leadership_and_Power
