Leadership Traits in Ocean's 11, Part 1
Theory
Chapter 11 of our textbook is entitled "Leadership Fundamentals." In Figure 11.1 the authors provide a "Framework for Studying Leadership" containing four major components, as shown above. These are (1) the leader's traits (2) the leader's behavior (3) situational variables and (4) effective results.
Although they concede that there is debate in certain circles about whether leadership makes a difference in organizational performance, the authors' point of view is clear: there is something that "sets apart those individuals who become leaders from those who do not." The broad name which they give to that "something" is "traits", specifically the "specific characteristics ... associated with leadership success." As shown in Figure 11.1, these traits include (1) Abilities (2) Personality and (3) Motivation.
The three most important abilities, according to the text, are the possession of interpersonal, cognitive, and technical skills. The first refers to "the ability to get along with people", as well as "persuasiveness, tact ,and diplomacy." Cognitive skills refers to having a level of intelligence that is higher than the followers, but not too much higher, and to having sound judgment and fluency of speech. By technical skills the authors mean "more than passing technical knowledge of relevant to the task undertaken by the followers" (p. 315).
Several personality traits are identified: energy level, stress tolerance, self-confidence, emotional maturity, and integrity. Another one, decisiveness, deserves special attention. About the authors state that one researcher found
...that the ability to initiate action decisively was related to the individual's level in the organization. The higher the person went in the organization, the more important this trait became; CEO's were more decisive than the middle managers, who were more decisive than supervisors.
Finally, the model includes four important aspects of the successful leaders' motivation: socialized power orientation, strong need for achievement, weak need for affiliation, and persuasiveness. About the first we are told that while leaders exhibit a high need for power, successful ones "act on that need in socially acceptable ways." That is to say, they work "within the system to accomplish socially-desirable outcomes"; they "use power for constructive purposes."
The "weak need for affiliation" construct doesn't mean that leaders don't care to associate or affiliate with others. Nor does it mean that they ought to be unfriendly or aloof or that they lack the ability to affiliate. Rather, it just means that the leader "would be more motivated by getting the task done than by interacting with other people." In other words, as the founder of CMU is famous for having said "My heart is in the work."
Plot Summary of Ocean's Eleven from IMDB:
"Recently paroled con artist Danny Ocean is a man who keeps his cool in situations unlikely to make any individual comfortable. No sooner does he violate his parole that he's traveling around the country gathering people for his next big scheme: to rob three casinos owned by the ever ruthless Terry Benedict. With the aid of a right hand man named Dusty, a thief out of retirement, a pickpocket, a card dealer, a surveillance man, a chinese acrobat, an explosives expert, two frontmen, and a bitter casino mogul, they make up Ocean's eleven, out to make one very big score." Written by MonkeyKingMA
Application
There are several scenes in the movie Ocean's 11 where the leadership traits of the Danny Ocean, played by George Clooney, are displayed.
Abilities, Cognitive Skills: In the opening scene of the film, Ocean reveals himself as a man who not only speaks well or fluently, but who thinks before he speaks and who can understand what his questioners, the parole board, expect to hear from him. Without appearing either disrespectful or weak, he confesses to his previous poor judgment and leaves the impression
Later in the movie Ocean demonstrates that his intelligence level is higher than those of other members of his crew. The first time we see this is in his interaction with Rusty, played by Brad Pitt. He shows up unannounced at the nightclub where Rusty is "cold decking B-team cover boys" , i.e. teaching (with modest success) not-so-famous and not-so-intelligent actors how to play poker. Knowing that the actors look to Rusty as their coach and mentor, Ocean proceeds to take a large sum of their money as they follow the advice given by Rusty. And he does it in a very understated way, pretending to know little about the game, ("I don't know what the four nines do for me but the Ace is pretty high.")
Abilities, Technical Skills. On a number of occasions Ocean shows that he has "more than passing technical knowledge" of the tasks to be performed by the crew that he is forming. The first time we see this is when he attempts to recruit Linus, a pick-pocket played by Matt Damon. Linus and Ocean have never met; Linus was referred to Ocean by a fellow criminal associate, Linus' father. Ocean follows Linus and watches him skillfully pick the pocket of a stockbroker on the train. Then, unbeknownst to Linus, Ocean even more skillfully picks his pocket and leaves him a calling card requesting a meeting. At the meeting Ocean explains why he is interested in Linus' ability and, in a very clever move, allows Linus to demonstrate for Ocean his prowess and sleight of hand, thereby redeeming himself in Ocean's eyes. Still the point is clear: Ocean could do Linus's job of "feeling up stockbrokers for a living" if he had to. But, he has bigger plans, plans which Linus can be a part of if he lifts his aim higher and is willing to trust and apprentice himself to Ocean.
Abilities, Interpersonal Skills: There are several scenes in the movie where Ocean displays his interpersonal skills like persuasiveness, tact, and diplomacy. One impression that is unmistakable about the character is that though he may be capable of brute force or coercion, he is a master of persuasion. He gets everything he wants from his team by properly motivating them, not by threats, by calling on old favors, through blackmail, or any other such method. Clearly many of the crew members don't need much persuading. Most have worked together before and at least one, Basher, the munitions expert, is thrilled at the prospect of "working with proper villians again."
One of the prime examples of this is the way Ocean and Rusty convince Ruben to finance their daring scheme. Early in the movie we see Ocean holding a neatly folded page from a newspaper. It contains a story about Ruben's casino and the the man who appears to have bought it out, Terry Benedict. Aware that Ruben may want revenge against Benedict, Ocean and Rusty develop a plan to make financing the plan seem as it if was Ruben's idea. This they do by appealing both to his since of inequity, his nostalgia for the old days, and by deferring (or at least pretending to) his vast knowledge on casino security ( "I invented it", he proudly declares.)
As for tact and diplomacy, Ocean demonstrates this too. When he meets his ex-wife, Tess, the person for whom he has undertaken the plan, and her new beau, Terry Benedict, Ocean is the model of tact. Rather than berate her for her choice ("He doesn't make me cry"), Ocean tries to persuade her of his sincerity in wanting her back. He also does not respond immediately to her many sarcastic remarks. Rather than behave in an aggressive or sarcastic manner towards Benedict, Ocean offers his seat to Benedict ("I am in your seat.") politely declines the offer to join the two for a drink. He also refrains from responding to Benedict's verbal taunts or the open displays of affection Benedict directs toward Tess.
Conclusion
Danny Ocean doesn't just possess all of the skills of a successful leader indicated in the textbook, he has them all in abundance. His interpersonal, cognitive, and technical skills are formidable. Yet, he is not peerless. Many of his crew members have skills which he does not possess, especially in technical areas such as computers, robotics, and electronic surveillance.