{"id":140,"date":"2023-12-19T15:05:17","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T15:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/?p=140"},"modified":"2025-01-21T17:15:40","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T17:15:40","slug":"the-myth-of-leadership-there-can-be-only-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/2023\/12\/19\/the-myth-of-leadership-there-can-be-only-one\/","title":{"rendered":"The Myth of Leadership (there can be only one)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently challenged my team mates to throw me a random topic that I would be obliged to improvise a blog around, and the only response was \u201cthe myth of leadership.\u201d\u00a0 My first thought was: \u201cwhich one?\u201d but my mind quickly drifted to the mythology of leadership and the workshops I\u2019ve heard about training leaders through the lens of King Lear, or Henry V, or even Beowulf. It struck me that this all presumes a particular cultural heritage that we may not all share.\u00a0 So in a spirit of festive silliness, here are my thoughts on some myths of leadership through a different cultural lens, the 1980 cult film classic \u201cFlash Gordon.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve haven\u2019t trod this cultural path (and I know many won\u2019t have), it\u2019s a vividly-coloured space opera with many nods to its comic book origins (before that was a thing) and its 1950s monochrome TV precursor. The budget seems to have been mostly spent on coloured smoke and well-known acting talent like Max von Sydow, Timothy Dalton (The Fifth Bond) and that bloke off Blue Peter. Gloriously silly, and sound-tracked by Queen, it concerns Ming the Merciless of Planet Mongo, who has decided that Earth will be his next plaything before its destruction. The Earth, and indeed the Universe, is saved by our titular hero, the quarterback of the New York Jets. (Current NFL fans can have a chortle at this point).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, good workshop participants, who in all of this is showing the great leadership? Is it Flash, who puts it all on the line to save others and in doing so unites previously competing factions in common cause?\u00a0 Is it Prince Barin (\u201cI\u2019ve changed\u201d), who lets his manly ego get distracted by the threat of Flash until he too realises he must be part of the solution? Or Prince Voltan of the Hawkmen, putting his people first (commendable) but realising the bigger picture needs some sacrifice (\u201cthank you for giving an old bird a second chance.\u201d)\u00a0 Or even treacherous Princess Ora (\u201cDoes anyone trust her twice?\u201d) or Dr Zarkov, the discredited NASA scientist who stuck to his guns, believed in his data and was proved right? I\u2019ll put in a bid for Freddie Mercury, who is heard but not seen, and at this time was holding stadium-sized audiences in his palm by the stagecraft he had pretty much had to invent for south American tours in the days before giant screens. (Taylor Swift be thankful.)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The biggest leadership myth of all, of course, is that there is one thing, an innate property, a kind of magic, that you are born with or can learn, and that makes you a leader.\u00a0 The messy reality of leadership is that you take what you\u2019ve got, make sense of how you can act in the world you\u2019re facing, and do your best.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And we all tread our own cultural path. You\u2019ve had a glimpse into mine, but I\u2019m not assuming anyone reading this will get all the references, as I wouldn\u2019t get yours. But I\u2019d like to think I\u2019d be curious to delve further, to make sense of whatever aliens are lurking beneath those technicolour cloud tops.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wishing you all the best for the winter festival season and a very happy new year. Stay curious.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Simon Inger<\/a><\/p>\n

Organisational Development Consultant, Workforce Development Team, Department of Human Resources<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The trailer:\u00a0Flash Gordon | Official Trailer [4K] - YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently challenged my team mates to throw me a random topic that I would be obliged to improvise a blog around, and the only response was \u201cthe myth of leadership.\u201d\u00a0 My first thought was: \u201cwhich one?\u201d but my mind...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":369,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-simon-inger"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/369"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}