Breaking the Maverick Code: Let Your Mind Take You to Places Far Beyond Your Imagination

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There is an implied interdependency. Everyone has the capacity for leadership. Often what most people lack is the courage—the courage to initiate. Initiative means moving outside your comfort zone. It means seeking out opportunities and being willing to act. Nearly everyone can see a need or see where changes need to be made. What is uncommon though, are people who are willing to take the initiative; to do something about it. Leadership is not always seen in the brightest or the most talented, but it is always found in the courageous. The CEO mindset involves taking the time to think about the forces that are shaping the future of both you and your organization.

Managing yourself in this way is important not only to the organization but also to your own personal development. Looking for Leaders Recently someone was lamenting to me the lack of new leaders in their organization. Maybe they were looking for leaders in all the wrong places. We commonly look for what looks like leadership. We look for people who stand out self-promoters. We look for clones people who are just like us. We look for the smartest person in the room technically competent. We look for people who did a good job for us promote as a reward.

All too often I see people being chosen for leadership jobs on the basis of superficial personal traits and characteristics. I just feel in my gut he can do the job. How she ever boiled down all that data onto the PowerPoints is beyond me. She certainly had the committee in the palm of her hand. Such a morale builder and motivator! We need to look deeper. It seems there are more responsibilities and pressures than ever before. Of course, hardships and stress always accompany accomplishment. Successful people have exceptionally high levels of tenacity and persistence and a general hardiness.

Kouzes and Posner find hardiness an important ingredient for leadership success: Increasing your hardiness has a lot to do with your context setting agility. As Bill Joiner and Stephen Josephs explain, Context setting agility includes scanning your environment, anticipating important changes, deciding what initiatives to take, scoping each initiative, and determining your desired outcomes.

At the same time, increasing your agility level can increase your capacity for dealing with stress. The thing I had to do was to try to relax. Winston Churchill certainly had it. Focused and On Track. The Study of Leadership In a keynote address in Tokyo, Peter Drucker made the following observation about an aspect of leadership—management: There are management tools and techniques.

There are management concepts and principles. There is a common language of management. And there may be even a universal "discipline" of management. Certainly there is a worldwide generic function which we call management and which serves the same purpose in any and all developed societies. But management is also a culture and a system of values and beliefs.

It is also the means through which a given society makes productive its own values and beliefs. Management must, indeed, become the instrument through which cultural diversity can be made to serve the common purposes of mankind. At the same time, management increasingly is not being practiced within the confines of one national culture, law, or sovereignty but "multinationally. Of course, along the same lines, leadership encompasses far more than the business or political environment we typically confine it to.

From being the act of a few, it has become a personal responsibility. The issues we face today require a multidimensional understanding of leadership that is broader than most academic studies would give it. Many times leaders are promoted because of a strong record of achievement, only to derail later because of their inability to adapt. For example, an individual may be good at demanding high performance from his or her followers, or have strong technical ability.

However, those strengths are not sufficient when, for example, big-picture thinking or relationship building are also essential to success. To prepare yourself and others for growing challenges, you need the clarity of thought and flexibility to understand your own weaknesses and develop new talents. The survey shows that business leaders fail across the board at setting clear objectives, motivating staff and weeding out poor performers. He suggests that you repeatedly practice making judgments of other people and reflect on why you might have missed in some cases.

Did the individual have the potential you saw in them? How good are your judgments compared to others judgments on the same individual? They consistently deliver ambitious results. They continuously demonstrate growth, adaptability, and learning better and faster than their excellently performing peers. They seize the opportunity for challenging, bigger assignments, thereby expanding capability and capacity and improving judgment. They have the ability to think through the business and take leaps of imagination to grow the business.

They are driven to take things to the next level. They come to the point succinctly, are clear thinkers, and have the courage to state a point-of-view even though listeners may react adversely. They ask incisive questions that open minds and incite the imagination. They perceptively judge their own direct reports, have the courage to give them honest feedback so the direct reports grow; they dig into cause and effect if a direct report is failing.

They know the non-negotiable criteria of the job of heir direct reports and match the job with the person; of there is a mismatch they deal with it promptly. What differentiates a connected leader is the way in which they impact and influence those around them and this is largely determined by the way in which they view good leadership. More than even our individual skill-set, how we see the role of leadership greatly determines the impact we have on others and the success we will have as leaders.

Our impact is the result of a number of factors. Using the iceberg metaphor, above the waterline for all to see, are skills and knowledge. On their own, they do not differentiate between average and superior performance…. But it is below the waterline that the real differentiators lie. Performance will differ depending on how people see their role. If doctors believe that their primary role is solving problems, their behavior is likely to be different from that of surgeons who see their roles as healers.

Often we see the "smartest person in the room" or " the leader of all leaders" mind-set to thinking about leadership. With this mentality we won't have the necessary ability to work well with other leaders and developing community. As Jean Lipman-Blumen wrote in Connective Leadership , "leaders cannot just issue orders; instead, they have to join forces, persuade, and negotiate to resolve conflicts. The Go Point Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past.

Leadership Agility What is leadership agility? Like agile organizations—organizations that anticipate and respond to rapidly changing conditions by leveraging highly effective internal and external relationships—leadership agility is the ability to take wise and effective action amid complex, rapidly changing conditions. Without a framework, leaders often handicap themselves in a number of significant ways. Leaders tend to operate from intuition and experience. While both can serve a leader well, neither is infallible: Leaders tend to become leaders because they are technically competent.

Being good at something singles them out for promotion. But what makes people effective at one level can make them ineffective at another. Leaders tend to operate with the skills that were most useful two levels below their current level. In part because of the way they were chosen for the leadership track, they tend to maintain the mind-set of the level where they last felt real mastery. Few leaders are taught to lead. Because most leaders learn intuitively from experience, that experience is seldom analyzed with any depth, consistency, or systematic feedback. A few leaders have the good fortune of being taught informally by a particularly effective boss or mentor, but such teachers are rare.

Even fewer leaders are taught formally; academic institutions focus on the organization of work more than on the application of leadership. Many corporations offer inhouse programs, but few combine strong teaching with the kind of in-depth coaching that guarantees its application. Leaders tend to stop learning in midlife. By the time people hit their forties, many rely on their previous knowledge and have only a shallow commitment to ongoing self-education and self development. Few leaders lead from a clear sense of purpose.

Even fewer lead from a clear sense of noble purpose. Few leaders know how to pass on what they know. Not having been taught, they have little idea how to help others develop their leadership skills. Bell writes, "To overcome these obstacles, leaders need some guidelines; they need a framework for understanding and exercising great leadership. Leaders stand or fall not so much by their talent or lack of it as by their understanding or misunderstanding of what great leadership is. He demonstrates how these three dimensions, when properly integrated and applied, will greatly enhance the quality of your leadership.

Essentially, it is a blueprint for leadership development. He has created a leadership pyramid founded on basics such as a desire to be in charge, and the corresponding ability, strength, and character that all leaders—especially the great ones—must possess. From there he divides leadership characteristics between analytical reptilian leadership characteristics and those of the nurturing, engaged mammal. While we generally have a tendency to lean one way or the other, we must develop a capacity to deal effectively with both the reptilian economic and performance issues and the mammalian soft or people issues.

Both are vital and most people are, of course a complex mix of the two. We need task-oriented, no-nonsense Reptiles to ensure the work gets done and done well. We need people-oriented, nurturing Mammals to maintain the human community through which work gets done. The authors have put together an online Nature of Your Leadership Self-Assessment that will help you to determine your preference—mammalian or reptilian—and thus the kind of functions you naturally gravitate to.

The scoring is automated. The corresponding web site for the book graphically explains the Leadership Pyramid as well. You can read Chapter 1 online: I wouldn't say anyone is born a leader. There have been some studies that indicate people who have been exposed to psychologically traumatic experiences are better leaders. They've had to overcome trials and tribulations. So they're more inclined to be challenging and look deep within themselves for what they believe in. Leaders like that learn to be clear about the story they're telling about where they have come from and where they're going.

Teaching people to control risk is much easier than teaching people to create it. And it's essential for companies to draw the distinction between leadership and management. It's just wrong to use them interchangeably. Managers tend to react. Leaders tend to seek out opportunities. Managers follow the rules. Leaders change the rules. Managers seek and follow direction. These are profound differences. Of course you need both.

But organizations fail to recognize the difference. Organizations start to fail when they start to produce too many managers and not enough leaders. Or too many leaders of a certain type. The lesson in the corporate world, how can you simulate that [traumatic experience] in the corporate world without destroying people. How can you learn from it without becoming a casualty. This might be called imposing context. This is not just a cursory overview but an understanding of what we really think on issues we would rather not think about. Like a nighttime traveler attuned to every sound in the forest, the leader must be aware of all possibilities lurking in the shadows.

For we can neither challenge not transform what we cannot see. What you believe about human nature influences your leadership style. If you believe people are fundamentally good—good meaning that they're trying to do their best, they're self-motivated, they want to perform—then your fundamental leadership style will be one way. It will be empowering them, getting obstacles out of the way, and setting high goals while maintaining standards. If you believe people are fundamentally bad—if you believe people are constantly looking to get over and get by and won't do anything unless they're watched—then you'll tend to lead with a very transactional management style that's built primarily around rewards and punishments.

Tight supervision, a controlling type of leadership style characterized by a great deal of social distance between leaders and led. The better we understand ourselves, the more authentic the contribution we can make— shed the image and do the job. The Fred Factor for Kids Too I'd thought I'd pass this along for the Father's Day weekend.

Additionally, the absence of a dad from so many homes plays a direct role in a number of social ills. Kids in father-deprived homes are more likely to be abused, poor, prone to drug abuse, prone to poor scholastic achievement, and prone to emotional and behavior problems including suicide and crime. A study if violent criminals in U.

Looking for Leaders Where to find good leaders has always been an issue. In our search we unfortunately find it easiest to gravitate to the role players —. The best leadership examples are found in the home by parents who are involved in their communities. People can do small things, like build a community park in their neighborhood, or big things like run for public office or join community groups. Be a leader in your family. Their examples profoundly affect the kind of leaders they become. Additionally, leadership needs to be modeled by the parents.

It helps if you view all of this in the long-term. The big picture view assists in smoothing out the immature peaks and valleys and helps keep your goals on track. Here are some not comprehensive ideas to think on: Take time to know your child. For example, an assertive, outgoing personality is a great trait in a leader, but without self-control it can be seen as overly aggressive and controlling.

Powered by Movable Type 3. Leading Blog Main Page Leading Matters is about the journey. The stories he tells here are revolve around the ten elements that shaped his journey and how he relied on these traits in pivotal moments. The elements are relevant to any leader at any level. As he observes, the higher up you go the crises just get bigger and come faster.

He begins by discussing the foundational elements: He then links them together with courage. Finally, he shows how collaboration, innovation, intellectual curiosity, storytelling, and creating change that lasts, helped him reach his goals. Here are some of his thoughts on each element extracted from his stories: Arrogance sees only strengths, ignores our weaknesses, and overlooks the strengths of others, therefore leaving us vulnerable to catastrophic mistakes.

Authenticity and Trust Authenticity is essential to building trust. Consider the wisdom popularly attributed to Socrates: So this is part of the practice: If you take a leadership role as a step toward a personal goal of gathering ever-greater titles, awards, and salaries, you will never see true success in that role. Recognize the service of others. As a leader it is easy to get wrapped up in big projects and ambitious initiatives, and, in the process, to forget the smaller, but no less important, individual acts of service taking place all around you.

Much of that service supports and enables the widely celebrated success of others. Empathy Empathy should always be a factor in making decisions and setting goals. Empathy represents a crucial check on action—placing a deep understanding of and concern for the human condition next to data can lead to decisions that support the wellbeing of all. Empathy usually implies compassion and perhaps charity, but we are looking for more than that: Courage, on the other hand, compels a leader to take that right action.

While many people can discern what is right and true, acting on that discernment is more difficult. Even if risk-taking is against your nature, for the good of your organization, you must find the courage to practice it. Collaboration and Teamwork Most significant endeavors will be accomplished by a team. Certain ground rules circumvented interteam rivalries. First of all, I reminded everyone of our shared goal: Further, to support innovative, cross-disciplinary thinking, I set a second ground rule: To this, I added a third ground rule: This led to my final ground rule: Innovation presents great opportunities for smart entrepreneurs, not the other way around.

Intellectual Curiosity Beyond personal enjoyment, though, this lifelong curiosity has served me well in my career. It has enabled me to engage in meaningful dialog about the world and its future. In challenging moments, great leaders show their true character. Storytelling If you really want to inspire a team to action, best to engage them with a story.

Once they become receptive—once they can imagine themselves as part of your vision—you can back your story up with facts and figures. When you turn that dream into a vivid story, you make it so attractive and so real that people will want to share it with you by joining your team. When it came time to respond to change, these companies moved quickly and efficiently, because every employee already understood the company identity and therefore knew how to respond without direct coaching. In every profession and career, as we climb to higher leadership positions, the role of facts and data decreases.

Legacy means the institution serves people more effectively now than it did when you arrived. The context of leadership has changed, but the fundamentals of leadership have not. It is still working with people. And that has never changed. It is organized around six practices. The six practices are practical and provide a useful guide taking responsibility to lead and improve your effectiveness.

Building a Unifying Vision Organizational success requires a bold and compelling vision that brings people together and inspires them to achieve extraordinary results. The vision needs to be exciting, clear, and simple—and stakeholders should be involved in its creation. Developing a Strategy Implementing a strong, measurable strategy is the key to realizing a vision. A great strategy is composed of key actionable choices about what to do, and what not to do to create distinctive value. Getting Great People on Board Smart and dedicated people help bring strategies to life.

Executing strategies skillfully begins with recruiting, developing, and retaining high-performing talent. People need feedback to grow and incentives to feel recognized. Focusing on Results The experience of achieving short-term results motivates teams to strive for even more.

Setting high expectations and sharpening accountability is necessary for high performance. Sold metrics and reviews can help this process become an organized one. Innovating for the Future Balancing current performance while investing for tomorrow is a key for enduring success. By keeping an eye on the demands of the future, leaders can continually drive innovations that will reshape the company to keep up with a changing world.

Leading Yourself In order for leaders to lead others, they need to know and grow themselves. Feeling healthy, energized, and balanced also helps leaders do their best work. You shouldn't wait to be anointed a leader. Step up and take the responsibility now. Seizing the leadership opportunity and making the leadership difference in fact requires courage and also an ability to look beyond the every day and near-term tasks of basic management.

The ground is shifting under your feet. The only way to stay relevant and therefore effective is to invest in building your skills as a leader. As you take on more responsibility, the demands on you as a leader change. When conditions change, you have to change too. Complexity skills are often what got you in the door. They are about changing how you do what you do. How you approach doing the job having done so.

How you think and behave so your people eagerly receive your leadership. Getting the how right is the challenge when it comes to sophistication. Complex challenges are easier to wrap your mind around. You can measure them. Sophistication challenges are not as clear. They can be more painful as they get into more personal aspects of who you are as a person. But distinguishing between the two challenges is critical. Responding to increased levels of sophistication demands that you do something much harder. You must fundamentally rethink how you spend time, where you focus energy, how you communicate, with whom you develop relationships, and how you look at the big picture to understand when, where, and how to act.

As you rise as a leader, sophistication skills take on greater importance. What are the new capabilities on which your leadership success will depend? More importantly, which skills that you value today should you deemphasize—or resist exercising at all?

No matter how good your complexity skills are if you fail to access your sophistication skills by regularly challenging yourself as to what and how you do what you do, you risk stalling as a leader. The authors identify seven inflection points that can trigger a stall in your leadership. You then must craft a narrative that carries your people forward on an inspirational, shared, purpose-based quest—a story that can guide their actions when you are not there to give specific direction at every new turn. Develop the ability to persuade and influence rather than control.

Leading Change Stall When you struggle in your ability to explain and lead change Determine how readily employees and stakeholders receive and embrace your messages about change, and then offer new behaviors and practices for engaging people, so they grasp, welcome, and act on your initiatives. Combine empathetic understanding with discernment, creativity, and determination. Authority Stall When your authority slips in the eyes of followers Assess your own sources of leadership authority and invest in your own self-development.

Focus Stall When you fail to focus your time and energy to have the most impact Anticipate this stall by examining how you allocate your time and energy. What should you be doing and what should you let others do? Become a leader of leaders, multiplying your own leadership success through the success of others. The authors walk you through each of these stalls to help you overcome or avoid them. Of course, self-awareness is key here—understanding the impact you have on others.

Elevate your view and understand where you are and determine where you need to be. They call for a three-part approach: Every stall is an opportunity for growth. Any one of them has the potential to derail even the best of leaders. While they may creep up on us, we can see them coming and apply the proper antidote.

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And even though these seven challenges never really go away, we can create some life habits that keep them at bay. Nieuwhof writes from a been-there-done-that Christian perspective about the issues as they manifest themselves in our lives and follows up each one with a chapter on how to combat it. These issues affect everyone and some you'll find hit close to home. The seven challenges are: Cynicism Disappointment and frustration often end in cynicism. Ask them and they know all about it. It may get us in the door, but character is what determines how far we go.

Technology just makes it worse. Eliminate hurry from your life. And this comment could pull any of us up short: For me, the sense that a conversation is going nowhere always carries with it an underpinning of judgment and even arrogance on my part. Which, of course, should drive me right back to my knees in confession. Irrelevance Irrelevance happens when what you do no longer connects to the culture and the people around you.

That gap is a factor of how fast things change relative to you. Change staves off irrelevance. Get radical about change. Surround yourself with younger people. Seek change to transform you. Burnout Burnout saps the meaning and wonder out of life. Signs of burnout include among other things: Getting out of this state begins by admitting it and then figuring out how to live today so you will thrive tomorrow.

What does that look like? Nieuwhof recommends some concrete steps you can take to bring you back from burnout. Go deep enough and take enough time to recover so that you begin to feel gratitude for the process. Emptiness Ironically, success often makes you feel empty. Humility will win you what pride never will: Other people naturally gravitate toward people who live for a cause beyond themselves.

The practical advice found here will benefit anyone on their leadership journey. Editors Ken Blanchard and Renee Broadwell have collected some good essays on the subject. The servant aspect of servant leadership is all about turning the hierarchy upside down and helping everyone throughout the organization develop great relationships, get great results, and, eventually, delight their customers. Covey says that trust is essential. They serve first and they extend trust first.

Leadership is the by-product and positional authority is, at best, an afterthought. They stay humble by turning the organizational chart upside down and serving others. They communicate to their teams the goals and values that form their culture so that everyone stays in focus. They are aware of their own strengths and weaknesses—through feedback and by following the greatest servant leader of all time [—Jesus].

And they continually strive to do the right thing. It is not based on a series of transactions, but on the promise of being there when someone needs you most. They are setting up a transactional relationship that is likely to promote self-interest. Just like any relationship in which trust is the basis, it is the combination of a lot of little things that makes all the difference.

Now I know better. Our message is always given to an audience of one—the person we are serving. In serving others, our message is our lives. We must live our message for our message to have life. One person at a time means we will never be too busy to help one person in need. To lead effectively we must understand what is going on inside of us, so that we can lead ourselves. Only when we have developed a consistent habit of doing that can we then better understand and lead others and then collectively our teams and organizations.

In The Mind of the Leader , authors Rasmus Hougaard and Jaqueline Carter of the Potential Project, report that there are three mental qualities that stand out as being foundational for leaders today: Mindfulness, Selflessness, and Compassion. They call it MSC Leadership. All three work together and enrich the others. Mindfulness Mindfulness is about managing your attention and in turn managing your thoughts. Mindfulness enables us to respond to our circumstances instead of reacting.

The two key qualities of mindfulness are focus and awareness. More specifically, a stronger sense of selfless confidence arises, helping you develop the second quality of MSC Leadership: Selflessness combines strong self-confidence with a humble intention to be of service. Selflessness is often thought of as weak by the uninitiated. It is important that selflessness is combined with self-confidence. You become an enabler. You have a strong focus on the well-being of your people and your organization. Leaders are three times more likely than lower-level employees to interrupt coworkers, multitask during meetings, raise their voices, and say insulting things.

We have seen many leaders that think they are above the mores of everyone else. Mindfulness plays a big part in that. In this way, compassion arises as a natural outgrowth of selflessness. Wisdom gives compassion a compass so that choices can be made that are thoughtful and holistic. This includes sometimes doing things that are difficult bit will benefit the culture and the organization in the long term.

This book provides a well-articulated and comprehensive look at these essential qualities of leadership. Charles Dawes was often one such guest. In Portrait of an American: Dawes by Bascom Timmons, he quotes from Dawes diary about one such gathering: He was considering the appointment of a minister to a foreign country. There were two candidates.

Six Essential Practices to Grow Your Leadership

The President outlined their qualifications, which seemed almost identical. Both were able, experienced, honest, and competent. Each was equally entitled to preference from a political standpoint. Then he told this little story, an incident apparently so unimportant that, except for its consequences, it never would have been told, an incident so trivial that the ordinary man would have forgotten it. But McKinley was not an ordinary man. The President said that, years before, when he was a member of the House of Representatives, he boarded a streetcar on Pennsylvania Avenue one stormy night, and took the last seat in the car, next to the rear door.

An old and bent washerwoman, dripping wet, entered, carrying a heavy basket. She walked to the other end of the car and stood in the aisle. No one offered her a seat, tired and forlorn as she looked. One of the candidates whom the President was considering—he did not name him to us—was sitting in the seat near which she was standing. He was reading a newspaper, which he shifted so as not to seem to see her, and retained his seat.

Representative McKinley arose, walked down the aisle, picked up the basket of washing, and led the old lady back to his seat, which he gave her. The present candidate did not look up from his newspaper. He did not see McKinley or what he had done. This was the story. The candidate never knew what we then knew, that this little act of selfishness, or rather this little omission of an act of consideration for others, had deprived him of that which would have crowned his ambition of perhaps a lifetime.

Dawes relates this lesson: We never know what determines one's career in life.

Indeed, it may be these little forgotten deeds, accumulated, are the more important factors ; for it is they which must, in many cases, provide us with the opportunity to do the greater deeds, and we unconscious of it. Why comes this reward in life? Why that disappointment or failure? We cannot know with certainty.

This we can know, however, and this story illustrates it: There is no act of kindliness, however small, which may not help us in life; and there is no act of unkindness, however trivial, which may not hurt us. The habitual doing of kindness always adds to our happiness, for kindness done is duty performed.

Unkindness always breeds an unhappy spirit, for unkindness is duty neglected. They may have cause for concern. This externalized perspective is futile. It robs the complainer of their growth potential. How can we be proactive in developing strong character in our up-and-coming leaders?

Mentor emerging leaders on character-based issues. This includes taking personal responsibility, developing determination, knowing how to do what is right over what is easy, being trustworthy in all areas of life, and being accountable for their choices. If your up-and-coming leader is playing this game of externalization, challenge him or her to think more constructively. When they focus on leveraging their internal skills, strengths, and resources, finding creative solutions becomes easier. Build Confidence by Leveraging Strengths Some Millennials believe they possess an unlimited well of knowledge just because they are able to find the answer to just about any question on Google or YouTube.

This phenomenon is validated by research. Yale doctoral candidate, Matt Fisher, and his colleagues Mariel Goddu and Frank Keil, conducted fascinating research on this topic. They asked people a series of questions that appeared to be general knowledge but were actually difficult to answer. Some of the participants had access to the internet and others not. Use an assessment to enable your emerging leader to discover his or her strengths.

The insights gained will build confidence and aid productivity, performance, and engagement at work. Support your Millennial leader with personal mentoring to gain confidence. They will develop the ability to turn perceived failures into stepping stones to move forward and achieve greater business results. It is a powerful mentoring tool to help your Millennial leader get a deeper understanding of where they can create win-win synergy. And, is there something I care deeply about all the time at a core level?

Guide your emerging leader to figure out which aspects of his job energize him or her. This knowledge helps them to discover their core passion. Present your Millennial leader with opportunities to make a positive contribution to their community and to the world. It will enable them to align their personal and professional goals, and you will be rewarded with a highly motivated, dedicated, and focused employee.

Will you be left high and dry when your Baby Boomers retire? Step up and take action to implement real-world, rubber-meets-the-road leadership development strategies. Prioritize time to transfer skills, knowledge, and experience to boost accountability, build confidence, and maximize collaboration in your up-and-coming leader so that your business will thrive even after your last Baby Boomer has retired.

She is a member of Forbes Coaches Council, is a leadership and sales development expert and author of the new book, Millennials Matter: The careers of one-half to two-thirds of managers and leaders will derail. These archetypes are present across all organizations, genders, and levels of seniority. Captain Fantastic These people are human wrecking balls known for being insensitive, arrogant, dismissive and emotionally volatile. This archetype gets more people into trouble than any other. In short, they lack interpersonal skills.

Cast relates a conversation he had with Stuart Kaplan, the director of leadership recruiting at Google to make this point: As you progress [in your career], your relationship with others is more important than your knowledge of and relationship with data. This need kicks in as you move into middle and upper management. You have to suppress your ego, let go of having the answer and embrace the relational world.

It becomes less about having competencies and more about engendering trust. The Solo Flier The Solo Flier is a strong individual contributor, but they have difficulty building and leading teams. They create problems for themselves by overmanaging which makes it difficult to build and lead an effective team.

Some research studies state that it affects over half of managers who derailed. They lack curiosity preferring the status quo. They protect themselves by being rigid and aloof and acting with complete assurance. Then, when challenged with a contrary point of view, they become combative and aggressive, like Captain Fantastic. That is, they lack a holistic understanding of the organization. They struggle with converting ideas into action. Say no when you have to and delegate task to keep things moving. Having the Right Stuff To avoid derailing, you must learn to lead yourself first.

And of the three, taking the initiative is the most important. Avoiding derailing requires that you continuously reflect on your performance. Know where you want to go and understand where you are. Then take steps to bridge the gaps. Cast provides abundant examples of the archetypes and corrective measures for each.

We are all a work-in-progress. Carter Cast provides an assessment on his website to find out where your career is vulnerable. The better you become, the better your leadership becomes. It is a misconception of leadership that if you engage in the best practices of a great leader, you will become that leader. Applying the idea that if I do this or if I have this quality I will become a great leader like my chosen mentor, can derail your leadership development.

That said, there are principles you can discover that if adhered to will propel you in the right direction. Harvard professor Nancy Koehn illuminates some of these principles for us in Forged in Crisis as seen through the lives of five exemplary leaders: These principles set the stage for leadership effectiveness, but the decision to step into leadership is yours alone. We have to work at it. We can all get there. Leaders are not born, they are forged. Each of the leaders Koehn has chosen faced an uncertain outcome in the midst of a crisis. Shackleton was marooned on an Antarctic ice floe trying to bring his men home alive; Lincoln was on the verge of seeing the Union collapse even as he tried to save it; escaped slave Douglass faced possible capture while wanting to free black Americans held in slavery; Bonhoeffer was agonizing over how to counter absolute evil with faith while imprisoned by the Gestapo; Carson raced against the cancer ravaging her to finish her book Silent Spring, in a bid to save the planet.

The crisis that can break one person can give birth to leadership in another. Koehn brings out key lessons common to these people as they struggled with their thoughts in what were do or die situations. Here are some of the lessons that we should all take to heart: It took each of them some of the way. But then, interestingly, ambition ceased to motivate and influence them as it once had. As they discovered a larger purpose and embraced it, each found his or her impetus, strength, and validation in the mission itself.

It was not willful blindness or forced optimism. They knew what they were up against. Time and time again as president, [Lincoln] refused to be goaded by the force of his own emotions or of those around him into taking precipitate action that might compromise his larger mission. Even when he was at his most frustrated, he managed somehow to acknowledge his feelings without acting on them in a way that was destructive to larger matters. They came out the other side of calamity without falling through the floorboards of doubt, without giving up on their mission and themselves.

They were not born leaders. They became leaders through successes, but mostly through failures and mistakes. Leaders can come from anywhere. As we look around the world today, if we are looking for larger-than-life heroes, we misunderstand what leadership is. Although these leaders appear to be larger than life to us now, as you read their stories you see that they are you and me. They are ordinary people in turbulent and trying circumstances.

They were often overwhelmed and depressed, but they kept moving on. What distinguishes these people from many of the leaders we see today is their approach to the experiences of their lives. Throughout their lives, they purposefully extracted the lessons they needed to grow. It was thoughtful and intentional. If you go through life any other way, you are just collecting experiences to no end. Experiences alone ensure nothing.

Leading Matters: John L. Hennessy on the Leadership Journey

We must reflect on them to gain insights and learn from them. All of the lessons these leaders learned are relevant to any leader in any situation. James in northwest Spain. I first walked that trail — miles over 29 days — in and have returned twice since. My passion for discovering new hiking trails was what drew me to the Camino, but the lessons from the Camino are what keep me going back. Here are five of those lessons that have helped me become a better leader. Welcome Help When you walk for a month, you inevitably get lost.

I realized that they were sitting there specifically to help direct lost hikers. It was their pastime. That experience taught me that welcoming help from others was not just about the specific piece of help I received when I asked. It also made the person helping me feel good and be invested in my success. Ever since the Camino, I have vowed to be more welcoming of help from others, at work and beyond. I plotted out a 29 day itinerary that optimized my distances per day and found a bed I could reserve each night.

That exercise took days, tapped my analytical skills, and resulted in a large spreadsheet that I was proud to show off. That is until I realized that I had recreated the same itinerary that several guidebooks had already figured out. People have been walking the Camino for over years. Instead of taking a step back to see what I could have learned from others who went before me, I plunged right into the task.

Since the Camino, I am more thoughtful when I start a new project to look for lessons from the past. Think About the Future Any trail that has remained popular for over years can teach us how to build longevity in our organization. That same ethos is important for leaders.

Leaders need to think about their successors as they make decisions in their jobs. Their goal should be to leave their role and team in a better position than they inherited it. Everyone dresses in much the same way while walking, giving few clues from their outward appearance about their background. Hikers learn to reserve judgment about others. Instead of silently critiquing others, hikers support each other as they go through the same difficult challenge of walking across a country.

They may not know how or why another person got on the trail, but they know the shared challenges they are facing and simply focus on those. Stretch Yourself Walking across a country sounded like a crazy thing to do before I did it. By doing it, I gained self-confidence to do other bold things. Walking the Camino emboldened me to check off a goal that I had long thought was beyond my abilities — writing a book. While I was walking the Camino, I thought a lot about my career and the leadership lessons I had learned.

I decided to write a book about those insights. That book, Lead Inside the Box: This week, my third book, The Camino Way: I recommend hiking the Camino to anyone who can.

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The combination of the physical challenge, the alone time for introspection, and the opportunity to meet people from around the world is a wonderful means of self-improvement. Prince can be reached at www. S MART used to be a quantity game. I get more things right. The new smart is about quality. Specifically, the quality of your thinking, your listening, and your relating and collaborative skills. Those skills, while uniquely human, are not what we are typically trained to do and require a deal of messy personal development.

We will need to become better thinkers, listeners, relators, and collaborators, while working to overcome our culture of obsessive individualism in order to thrive in the SMA. Humility is the mindset that will make all of this possible. In short, say the authors, we need to acquire and continually develop four fundamental NewSmart behaviors: Quieting Ego Quieting Ego has always been the challenge for us humans.

Managing Self—Thinking and Emotions We need to get above ourselves to see ourselves impartially. Otherness To create these new behaviors and mindsets, it should become obvious that we need to enlist the help of others. It means creating opportunities for people to connect and build trust. He has written at least a dozen books on leadership that I am aware of. The Power of Positive Leadership summarizes much of his thinking and provides a great introduction to all of his other work.

As a result, it is full of good practices and thinking. Positive leadership is grounded in reality. We deal with it and move on. It is because we will have to overcome negativity, adversity and problems that we should be positive. It is the real stuff that makes great leaders great. A positive mindset reveals possibilities and gives you the courage to take the actions required to move past negative situations. Gordon explains nine things positive leaders do. Nine actions that will enhance your leadership capabilities and positively impact all of your relationship—your family, your friends and your team.

A positive leader lives the culture because it is an extension of who they are. Part of Santo's deal is that if he kills Sailor he also gets Marietta's permission to kill his perceived competition for Marietta's love, Dan Heyeda. Marietta filled with guilt, rage and hatred finally flies down to new Orleans to warn Johny Heyeda that Marcellas plans on kiling him but she's too late to prevent his assassination.

Sailor and Lulu flee New Orleans but things are about to really get strange. As they flee New Orleans, late at night, they come across a terribke car accident and find a bloodied women along the side of the road who dies in their presence. Before perishing it becomes apparent that the women is very badly unbalanced and Lulu takes this as a very bad omen. They spend a very uncomfortable evening in their presence, particularly weird is William Defoe's character - Bobby Peru. Lulu tells sailor she is pregnant in light of all the sex they've been having and Bobby Peru deduces this tidbit when he tries to seduce Lulu when Sailor goes to get some grub.

Booby Peru tries to convince Sailor to help him with his planned bank robbery as a way to relieve their financial situation. Next day they break into a bank where things go wrong and the cruel Bobby Peru informs Cage that he is one of the people hired by Marietta. Sailor goes to shoot Bobby but Bobby surreptitiously has removed the bullets from Sailor's gun. And as he gets ready to finish Sailor off the police show up and arrest Sailor, letting the silver tongued Bobby Peru off. Finally Sailor get's beat up by a gang that was sent by Marietta.

As Sailor passes out he is visited by Glenda, the good witch of the north. Sailor is sent back to prison, this time for five and one half years. And he tells Lulu that maybe this time it is just too long to wait for him to get out. But of course true love can't be denied and when Sailor is finally released Lulu's again waiting for him this time with Sailor's son in tow. After Sailor has a chance to look at his son he starts walking off in the opposite direction but then turns and runs back to Lulu and their progeny and they drive off into the sunset.

This movie is something really special and you can sense that as you are watching the movie and great performances abound. Nick Cage - not one of my favorites - actually plays the role of his lifetime. And the lovely and uber talented Laura Dern is so convincing that you may be tempted to think of her in the future as that character. But the terrific performances don't stop there. Of particular note is Diane Ladd's performance as Lulu insanely, envious mother, Marietta. It has all the craziness, bizarreness and symbolism as Lynch's other movies but the plot is a bit more conventional and the movie is a bit more accessible for the average movie goer.

One thing I really admire about John Lynch movies is that he accepts that the audience is intelligent and will understand his movies. This seems to be the exact opposite to the way main stream Hollywood likes to spoon feed the story to it's audiences, often dummying down their movies to the lowest common denominator. Please treat yourself and watch this with the one you love. I wrote it very late at night and was struggling to stay awake. Unrated min Drama, Mystery, Thriller. A teenage hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions cross paths, together discovering a horrible, liberating truth.

But like many truly memorable films it is rather depressing - definitely not a feel good movie. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, one of our very finest young actors BRICK, INCEPTION plays Neil, an arrogant, narcissistic teenager who has a gift for playing baseball, but only plays as a way to get what he wants from a studly coach who takes him back to his pad to indulge in video games, beer and soon enough physical intimacy.

Shy and socially backward, good boy Brian is removed from the team by a smothering mother, which just reaffirms his neglectful father's opinion of his son as a failure and a "sissy. Following several abusive encounters with "coach" Brian begins to suffer form recurring nightmares and nose-bleeds and to escape his emotional torment he starts to believe that he is being abducted by aliens. Meanwhile Neil turns his gay talents into a profit making business eventually heading off to New York where the easy money and good times turn into bad times and much worse.

Brian becomes a model student in college and searches for answers to his nightmares in alien abduction theories. Through a college friend, Eric, a gay boy who admires Neil, he finally discovers the answers that have remained hidden to him for all these years. This is not an easy movie to watch and I squirmed through many of the scenes. The director tackles so many difficult issues it's amazing that he squeezed it so well into minutes.

But it is a compelling story that is worth telling and very much worth seeing. This movie deserves to be a top ten film of the decade, but, once again be forewarned; it exposes ugly issues to the light of day. A bus crash in a small town brings a lawyer to the town to defend the families, but he discovers that everything is not what it seems.

This is becoming an ongoing theme in a lot of my top movies and maybe there is something to be said for that! Once again the story is far from a feel good story. In many ways it is a sad, even tragic story of loss in a small town and the unfortunate way it effects everyone differently. If memory serves me correctly this is a Canadian made film but it is equally powerful in any location. It's basically the story of a small rural quiet town that is torn apart when a horrible bus accident kills a majority of the community's children. A horrible premise, but it does make for dramatic and moving film making.

A lawyer from outside the area visits the community and tries to stir up the parent's of the deceased children's anger so he can launch a class action lawsuit for his own profits as well as theirs, or so he claims. Problem is the town folks are so paralyzed by the tragedy that no one can seem to agree on what their next course of action should be, except for one young survivor who is now bond to a wheelchair and through her amazing courage will lead them to the sweet hereafter.

There are fragmented stories and subplot's that actually add to the movie in their own way from the lawyers own demons involving his daughter and their estrangement to the way the different sets of parents attempts to deal with their grief. I don't really want to give away anymore than that except to say this is an exceptional movie that will haunt you but also give you an idea of what hope really means even years after seeing the movie.

This movie is probably deserving of 10 out of R min Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller. A man struggles with memories of his past, including a wife he cannot remember, in a nightmarish world with no sun. For anyone who has yet to see it prepare yourself foe a unique experience. Rufus Sewell plays Robert Murdoch, a young man who wakes up in his or maybe not his bathtub with a dead body in the other room and a live goldfish flipping around on the floor.

When he realizes that he doesn't know quite where he is or for that matter just who he is he grabs his clothes and heads out the door. Soon he realizes he can't remember his wife or just what she looks like. As a matter he can't remember much of anything. As if this isn't strange eonough there is no sunshine in Dark City but no one seems the least bit concerned.

Everybody falls to sleep at midnight they don't even realize it and these ghaslty gray complected men and boys in long black leather trenchcoats seem to just glide across the floor as they go about their midnight 'tunning'. You see they are after souls for energy because their home planet is running out of an energy source and it would seem harvested souls is the best solution.

This is one of those movies that words just don't do justice. This is definitley in my top fifty all-time. And is deserving of a 9 out of R min Crime, Drama, Thriller. Algerian born Jean Reno, the great Gary Oldman and a 12 year old Natalie Portman give top-notch performances in this delicious movie about revenge, kindness, evil and retribution. Reno is fantastic and Oldman was made for this the role of a crooked DEA cop.

But the young Natalie Portman all but steals the movie. When a quiet Italian hitman rescues a foul mouthed 12 year from Oldman's crooked task force he finds out about parts of himself long forgotten. This movie has a high 'stand up and cheer factor' and grades out at in my book. R min Drama, Fantasy, War.

In the falangist Spain of , the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world. Guillermo del Toro Stars: If this isn't Guillermo del Toro master work than I don't know what is. The movie is in Spanish with sub-tittles but don't let that deter you from watching this amazing film. You could probably watch it without the sub-tittles and still understand the gist of it. The story takes place in Fascist Spain, a young girl with a very fertile imagination and a love of fairy-tales is sent with her pregnant mother to live with a sadistic captain who desires a son and will serve as her new stepfather.

She ventures off at night to meet with a "fawn-fairy" who tells the little girl that she is actually a princess, but to prove her royalty she must complete three gruesome tasks. If she fails she will never meet her true father, the king and will not fulfill her destiny as Princess of the Forest. I won't give anything away as it would spoil the ending for the viewer. Suffice it to say the fantasy scenes are beautifully shot and equally frightening - it's really not for kids, but for adults who still are kids at heart.

The entire movie is beautifully shot and the parallel story lines between fantasy and reality blend so perfectly. Del Torro seemingly did not use much if any CGI but used good old fashion costuming and puppetry for the most part. And the story itself is wonderful and full of meaning. This is a movie well worth purchasing as you will want to watch it again and again - each time noticing something that you missed in previous viewings. Compared to the Narnia movies and others of that ilk this blows them out of the water.

Well deserving of 9 stars out of PG 96 min Drama, Sci-Fi. As a modern-day scientist, Tommy is struggling with mortality, desperately searching for the medical breakthrough that will save the life of his cancer-stricken wife, Izzi. For me the fountain was one of the best movie of I know a lot of people would be quick to debate that - including a lot of critics - but i thought the movie was beautifully shot, well written and intellectually challenging.

In many ways the movie is the same story told in three different time periods by the same actors. In the present or maybe I should say in our times is Tommy a cancer researcher desperately looking for a cure for his wife Izzi's terminal cancer. The story moves back and forth about years in both directions. In the past tommy is Tomas a conquistador during the period of Queen Isabel and the inquisitions. In the past Izzi is Queen Isabel and as the inquisition is sweeping across Spain.

Queen Isabel summons Tomas to her chambers with a plan to save her country she wants Tomas to go to America Mayan country to be more specific and find The Tree of Life, so she can free his captive Queen. During his trip he experiences hallucinations of his now dead wife Izzi an through his trip he hopes to meet her in eternity. This is just a brief thumbnail sketch of what the movie is about, a full explanation would take much longer than the time I'm willing to give to it. Suffice it to say there is a lot of symbolism, along with Mayan war chiefs, scenes from the inquisitions additional subplots and on and on.

It is not an easy movie to tie a bow around with a simple explanation. An example is while Izzi is slowly dying she is also writing a book about the inquisition period in Spain and it just so happens there is a Conquistador by the name of Tomas in her book who is searching for the fountain of youth among the Mayans. Tommy also thinks he may have found a cure for his lovely wife when an execration from a piece of tree bark from Central America proves very successful in arresting the brain cancer in a monkey - coincidently the same type of cancer his wife is suffering from.

Many people had problems with this Darren Aronofsky movie ranging from not understanding the movie or trying to over interpret the movie. Aronofsky, as usual, shoots this movie absolutely beautifully, using color, tone, symbolism and sharp dialog throughout. For me it was another masterpiece and a real work of love. The movie had been in the works for many years. Back in they were ready to start shooting with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett as the leads and a budget of 75 million dollars. However during pre-production Pitt and Aronofsky had creative differences and the project fell through.

It was resurrected in with a much smaller budget of 35 million and Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz Aronofsy's current wife took over the leads. One last interesting fact pertains to the very end of the movie I have to give The Fountain 8 out of Again that's just my opinion.

R 98 min Drama. A thrill seeker agrees to help a shady professional gambler win a high stakes poker game. However, they lose and become captives of two eccentric rich men who decide to forcibly keep them on their remote gated ranch as indentured servants. James Spader , Mandy Patinkin , M.

Emmet Walsh , Charles Durning. The author, Paul Auster, is probably one of the four or five best writers of contemporary fiction and this was a great novella. When I heard it was going to be made into a movie I was excited and at the same time ready to be disappointed. This is not your typical movie, with predictable plot lines and aimed at the largest audience.

Instead it is a piece of art that appears to start out moving in one direction and, without a hiccup, is suddenly headed for much deeper, darker waters. Mandy Patinkin plays Nashe, a recently retired fireman who after inheriting a considerable amount of money sets off for a cross country trip hoping to find out who he really is. As his trip is nearing it's end without supplying the hoped for answers he picks up a smooth talking hitch-hiker, Pozzi, played by James Spader.

Pozzi turns out to be a real card shark, always looking for one big score. Pozzi talks Nasche into bank rolling him in a high stakes poker game against two elderly old millionaires - by way of the lottery - Flower and Stone. Nasche is at first skeptical, but this seems to be a no brain-er and a way to keep himself on the road indefinitely.

When Pozzi can't seem to win a hand Nashe, not a gambler in the least, gets pulled into the game. Eventually Pozzi and Nashe loss everything and the final bet is for their freedom if they win, and if they lose? Well I don't want to spoil it for those who decide to check it out, but it is nothing nearly as simple and as straight forward as you might guess. Like in his books, an Auster movie, under the right director, will take you for an unexpected ride in which you are never quite sure what is around the next corner. Please check out this movie if indie films with some brains appeal to you!

Not Rated 89 min Horror. Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child. But great film making it really is if given a chance. The plot - and yes there is one - is really secondary in this case to what you see and interpreted on the screen. Is it a nightmare of some not too distant future, a fantasy of images and thoughts or is it something more? I'll leave that up to you to decide.

The story is that of one Henry Spencer who lives in a dark industrialized place where he is just trying to survive his life and the harrowing experiences and things that haunt it including a girlfriend who Henry gets pregnant and she delivers a frighteningly bizarre mutant baby. To really say much more is unfair to the viewer. If you prefer movies where all plot lines lead to one final tidy conclusion you won't like this movie. I even find it hard to say that I enjoyed it. Enjoy and this movie have very little in common. But I appreciated the movie a great deal for what it was more than what it wasn't.

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And just what it was I'll leave that up to you. In an unexplainable way this movie is very gratifying in a unique and artistic way and is totally deserving of it's almost cult following. You can watch this movie 25 times and when you watch it for the 26th you will still come across something that you missed out on in all the previous viewings.

Grading it on a scale of 1 to 10 seems like folly so just see it! R min Crime, Drama, Mystery. A journalist is aided by a young female hacker in his search for the killer of a woman who has been dead for forty years. Niels Arden Oplev Stars: He followed this up with two more novels with the same characters and called it The Millennium Trilogy.

Sadly, he had a fourth book in the series three quarters of the way finished with extensive notes and outlines for a fifth and sixth book. The books quickly became an international sensation and all three novels have been number one best sellers. I am usually disappointed when I read a really great book that gets made into a feature length movie and I imagine that many of you have experienced the same.

Not only did Oplev make a film that is true to the book, but he made a truly outstanding movie that stands on it's own. Even though I read the book and knew going in all the twists and turns, I was - never the less - totally caught up in the movie almost as if I had never even read the book. I'm sure that there are some 'purists' out there who would want to disagree. But see the movie for yourself and I think you will find a movie that is not only a well told story of mystery and suspense but a movie that also captures the dark undertones and themes that were such an important part of the book.

Forty years ago, a young Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. The body was never found, but her uncle, the family patriarch, Henrik Vanger remains convinced that his lovely niece was not only murdered; but murdered by a member of the Vanger clan, a truly dysfunctional lot. Harriet use to give her uncle a pressed and framed flower every year on her birthday. And when her next birthday roled around, to Henrick's great surprise and distress, he received a pressed flower, framed, via the mail and that has continued right up to the present day.

There was never a note or anything to give him any indication who was sending him these 'presents. Not even the postmarks on the parcel revealed anything as to the origination of the parcels. Since they were mailed from different locals from around the world. As Henrick feels he is getting too old to continue to pursue what has become his own personal obsession.

He was sued and lost in court a slander case initiated by the Swedish power broker and in doing so had stepped down from his positions with the magazine. He was looking at an eventual three months in jail and decided it was in the best interest of the magazine that he stepped down until he served his sentence an things had a chance to blow over. Henrick, having had Blomkvist investigated, decided that this was precisely the right man for the job.

He invites Mikael up to his island mansion where he proposes that Blomkvist is the ideal candidate to write a history of the Vanger family and as a secondary endeavor to look into the disappearance of his niece - of course Henrick used the idea of a family history to lure in the bright Blomkvist. His real interest was for the journalist to discover his nieces murderer. Blomkvist is at first not interested but as Vanger tells his story Blomkvist finds himself being drawn in by the opportunity to research the famous Vanger financial empire and finally agrees to do the job when Vanger offers him an enormous sum of money and free reign to follow up with unfettered access to all of the Vangner family papers.

Blomkvist is set up in a small cottage right on the grounds of the Vanger estate and gets to work immediately. It's not long before he realizes Vanger's number one interest is the strange circumstances surrounding Harriets disappearance. And Mikael finds the story equally as fascinating.

As he starts researching his subject he soon enough realizes that his computer has been hacked into and the culprit is one Lisbeth Salander - played brilliantly by the Swedish actress Noomi Rapace. Salander knows a lot about Blomkvist as she was the one who had done the "background check" on Mikeal prior to his being hired. Salander is the real star of the movie. A twenty something troubled young women - we only receive bits and pieces of why she is so troubled - Salander has numerous piercings and a large dragon tattoo that covers her entire back.

She generally dresses all in black and has a very goth look about her from the hairstyle to the piercings to the all black wardrobe right down to the Doc Marten black boots. While Blomkvist isn't too pleased that Salander gained acess to all his computer files he is fascinated by this young troubled women and her hacking skills would come in handy if he could convince her to work for him on the Vanger project. Which she hesitantly agrees to. This pretty well sets up the entire movie. As salander and Blomkvist - played by Michael Nyqvist - dig into the investigation they link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from almost forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history.

They also develop a complex and sometimes baffling relationship as their work brings them together. But the Vanger's are a very private and secretive clan with more than their share of very dark skeletons in their own closets and as Mikael and Lisbeth start to close in on this old family secret they must decide just how far they are willing to go to both discover the answer to Henrick's obsession and eventually to protect themselves.

The story is this and so much more. Lisbeth it turns out suffered something very traumatic as a child at this point we are only given bits and pieces of her history0 which has shaped her entire life and personality and her story is as central to the movie as is the mystery of the long lost niece Harriet Vanger. We see the ways Lisbeth's life has been effected by these dark memories in some brutally frank scenes. As a troubled young women she is in a program instituted by the Swedish government that requires her to have a guardian to "help her with her affairs. I tell you this to just give you some idea about the intensity and depth of her character.

She makes sure he get's what he has coming, but be forewarned: This is not an American made movie where sex is often simply thrown in for titillation. No, in this movie there are some very frank scenes involving sexuality that are brutal and in your face and they do belong in the picture. But if you are easily offended be forewarned. I really can not say enough good things about this movie. While the current version is over dubbed in English it is so skillfully done that it is not even minutely distracting. One last pont that I find rather curious. My question is why?

It's not like the material is so nebulas that it's open to several interperetaions. And strangely enough Finchner has used big name actors who look very similar to their Swedish counterparts. The only way I can understand his making such a remake so close to the original is if he is assuming that the only people that saw the Swedish version were lovers of the book and there is still a large enough group of people who have never seen the Swedish version.

I'll be curious to view Finchner's effort, which I'm sure will be well done. But is it really necessary? I give it 9 out of 10 and apologize for the length of this review. Do yourself a big favor and see this movie ASAP!!! A bank manager with: Based on the story of the largest one-man bank fraud in Canadian history. OWNING MAHOWNY is one of those little indeprndant "art-house" movies that turns out to be so good you almost want to keep it for yourself, but you can't help but reccommend it to your co-workers, friends and fellow movie buffs.

To his co-workers he was a quiet, somewhat sloppily dressed, shooting star in the banking indusrty. To his client's he was a brilliant, astute, decisive and helpful young man. And to his girl friend Minnie Driver he was a reserved, pudgy, responsible sweetheart of a guy But none of them knew the Dan Mahowny that the Casino's liked. The unassuming gentleman who managed to go through 18 million dollars in about that same number of months. Okay, I might even be saying the same thing at this point: He wrote the movie, directed it, was the co-star with a close friend , edited it, did the musical score This was truly a small indie film if ever there was one.

The storyline is a bit more complicated. Four geekified buddies run a little cottage industry out of one of the friends garage making error-checking devices that aren't exactly bringing in big dollars. As they continue to try to come up with something that will bring in larger profits, two of the friends happen across something that is potentially so valuable that they are afraid to share it with anybody.

I don't want to spoil the plot for any future viewers though the plot gets rather complicated and it may take several viewings to "get it" anyhow so I'll proceed cautiously. Suffice it to say that what the two main characters discover has been a dream of man for a long time. The discovery they make carries with it not only a lot of excitement for the buddies but a lot of responsibility. In addition to the intriguing technological plot there is an even more compelling moral plot - when you always want what you can't have, what do you want when you can seemingly have anything you want?

Primer can be a real mind-bender, so pay close attention - I think I'll watch it again after writing this little blurb - and it still may take multiple viewings to put all the puzzle pieces together. But it is well worth the effort. While the movie does have that "indie" feel, it is still so well made that it is hard to imagine it was completed on such an amazingly small budget.

Don't miss this one if you like really sophisticated sci-fi. R min Biography, Crime, Drama. Female-born Teena Brandon adopts his male identity of Brandon Teena and attempts to find himself and love in Nebraska. This movie, based on actual events, was the film that put Hillary Swank's name on the map.

He 'hangs' with the guys doing those small town guy things like getting drunk, racing cars, cussing and shooting pool. And he charms the pants off the young women of the town pun intended who can't recall ever meeting a kinder, gentler more compassionate young man.

Life is good for Brandon. He finally feels accepted as one of the guys and he's dating hometown beauty, Lana. However Brandon has chosen to not mention- rightly or wrongly - certain facets of himself. It's not that he's wanted in a neighboring county for passing bad checks, or driving without a license. No, Brandon Teena was actually born a women, Teena Brandon, and she had been living her whole life hiding behind this secret.

When his new friends find out about the truth, what results is what is to be expected: Brandon life is all but torn apart. But she didn't survive this long by not being courageous and she falls in love with a girl played with absolute brilliance, who in her own way, has a lot of courage and is willing to stand on her own beliefs. This movie is well deserving, of any lover of quality movies, to be viewed. After watching it once I have little doubt that you, like myself, will be anxious to view it again. This is great moviemaking and deserves to be seen repeatedly.

Please don't hesitate in seeing this modern day classic. R min Adventure, Comedy, Drama. In a hospital on the outskirts of s Los Angeles, an injured stuntman begins to tell a fellow patient, a little girl with a broken arm, a fantastic story of five mythical heroes. Thanks to his fractured state of mind and her vivid imagination, the line between fiction and reality blurs as the tale advances.

THE FALL is one of those rare movies that you may never have heard of, but given he chance it will knock your socks off. If you like surrealism a touch of Dali a sophisticated story line and hard to forget characters than this movie will probably be one you would come away from feeling fully satiated.

The movie takes place sometime in the 's in a rehabilitation hospital facility where an injured stunt man, who seems to be in a spiraling downward, state of depression, begins to tell a fellow patient - a five or six year old precocious little girl with a broken arm played superbly by the adorable Catinca Untaru - a fantastical story about five mythical heroes that starts to come to life in the little girls fertile imagination Thanks to his deteriorating mental situation and her fertile young mind the line between reality and fantasy becomes more and more blurred.

The stunt man is so depressed that at one point he tries to get the little girl to swipe some morphine from a nurses cart so she can end it all but she will have none of it because she wants to know how the story ends, and gradually the fantasy turns more and more real as it progresses until that fine line between fantasy and reality becomes indistinguishable.

To tell much more would be to give away a very satisfying ending, so I won't do that. But the film is truly remarkable on so many levels. Let me just say that in the fantasy world the stunt man and the little girl unite to take on a common enemy that personifies evil for both characters. THE FALL is one of those very few movies that after seeing it you will realize it is unlike anything else you have ever seen.

It is surely one of the wildest indulgences a director has ever given himself and the best part of all it works. To try to describe it is really most unjust because words just can not do fair judgement to images and in THE FALL the images are lush, colorful, extravagant and delight fall.

You will want more, but this is a once and done deal. My understanding is that the director - Tarsem - shot the movie over four years and in 28 different countries. There are scenes where you would think were impossible without the use of CGI. Don't let the fact that J-Lo played the lead, the movie is a delight.

I also would just guess that Tarsem has a fixation on the artist M. See the movie and I think you will understand. R min Action, Drama, Sci-Fi. In a future British tyranny, a shadowy freedom fighter, known only by the alias of "V", plots to overthrow it with the help of a young woman. One of my absolute favorite movies of all-time. Maybe not the best well, no it's not the best, probably not even all that close to my top 10 best movies ever. It's one of no more than 2 or 3 movies that I have watched ten or more times I've probably seen it a good 20 times if not more. The story is adapted from the Alan Moore Graphic Novel of the same name and I felt, despite it's many critics it was very true to the book while being current as well.

For those who thought it should be just like the book Unless you want to watch an 11 hour movie. Hugo Weaving, despite wearing a Guy Fawkes mask through out the entire film was fantastic in being able to convey the essence of the character. Natalie Portman was superb as usual and John Hurt excelled as the evil dictator. But Stephen Rea, as the seemingly slow-footed slueth and Stephen Fry, as the British Johnny Carson really stole the movie from an acting standpoint. And to be honest probably doesn't belong on this list because it is fairly well known.

But as one of my favorite 25 movies of all-time I could not help but put it on my list. If you haven't seen it prepare yourself to be blown away!!! And that's a good thing!

The movie, to me, didn't have a weak spot from start to finish. Textile company heir Wayland is accused of murder of a prostitute named Elizabeth, whose body was found cut in two in the park. The murder is investigated by tough detective Kennesaw and Jonas Pate , Josh Pate Stars: Tim Roth, superb as always, plays Wayland, a textile heir with a brilliant, mind is accused of the murder of a prostitute, Elizabeth Renee Zelwegger whose body was found cut in two in the park.

The two detectives who bring him in for questioning - the experienced Kennesaw Michael Rooker and the less experienced Phillip Braxton Chris Penn who both have skeletons in their own closets - are convinced they have the right man. Wayland is a heavy drinker and compulsive liar who suffers from seizures when under stress as well as memory loss and outbreaks of violence.

During questioning he seemingly is able to outwit the detectives and ends up being let go after the first round of questioning. Wayland is very resourceful and is able to discover the detectives darkest secrets prior to his next run in with the detectives. In his second go round with the detectives Wayland agrees to a polygraph exam but continues to toy with the cops.

When Wayland seems close to admitting his guilt he suddenly goes into a seizure, where he often acts bizarrely. The detectives have been forewarned by Wayland's doctor to never touch him during a seizure. Kennesaw, thinking Wayland is faking it, grabs him and Wayland almost kills Kennesaw. This state of affairs has Kennesaw really anxious to pin the murder on Wayland. As the movie moves to it's conclusion Braxton, in fear for his and his family's well being asks Kennesaw for a loan to get "The Mook" off his back. Kennesaw can loan him half of the twenty grand so Braxton sees as the only way out the idea of borrowing the additional 10 grand from Wayland.

At about the same time we find out that Kennesaw was with the prostitute Elizabeth the night of her horrific murder. The ending will knock your socks off as everything you thought you knew is turned upside down. While the final twist is a big part of what makes the movie it is also the movies one weakness in my opinion. The acting is superb throughout with the possible exception of Chris Penn, but the movie is very much worth seeing. I'd give it a solid 7.

R 99 min Crime, Drama, Thriller. A rich but jealous man hires a private investigator to kill his cheating wife and her new man. But, when blood is involved, nothing is simple. Joel Coen , Ethan Coen Stars: Blood Simple is a great example of the Coen Brothers at their very best. When a tavern owner in Texas is convinced his wife is cheating on him he hires a shady private dick to get to the bottom of things. Emmit Walsh gives an Oscar worthy performance as the P. Don Hedaya and Frances McDormand also give top notch, if a bit subdued, performances in this twisting, turning tale of envy, greed, murder and revenge.

The surprise twists come seemingly fast and furious at the first viewing. But if you watch it a second time, or really pay attention the first time you will find that the Coen's left just enough little clues that the story is not as complex as it first appears. Blood Simple has a delightful 'rawness' about it that later Coen brother's efforts seem to lack. I think it's time for me to watch it again A young man's experience in a juvenile detention center that touches on the tumultuous changes that befall his family and the community in which he lives. Matthew Ryan Hoge Stars: If you, like me, find yourself drawn to psychological, suspenseful, dark, yet intellectual movies i.

This was also Ryan Gosling's first big role and you can see the talent all ready there that has made him into an up and coming leading man. The movie also has many other excellent performances which help to make the movie work. At first Cheadle's motives for wanting to help the boy seem translucent enough - he hopes to write a book about the evil that permeates todays youth and use Leland as example A. But as he gets to know Leland he feels real empathy for the troubled young man and genuinely hopes that he can make a difference. The story itself is about a young, quiet, rather intellectual young man, Leland P.

Fitgerald who is very troubled with depression, sadness and a sense of doom and gloom. One day the troubled teen, with no apparent motive or reasoning, stabs and kills an autistic youth. This throws the two families involved plus the entire, small town into a state of shock and turmoil. There is a great need among the townsfolk, the police and numerous individuals on why such a nice16 year old young man would do such a heinous thing.

But Leland's motives just aren't satisfiable to most. Why would a kid commit such a blatantly cruel act of violence. As Pearl Cheadle get's closer and closer to Leland his book idea goes by the wayside and he takes a genuine interest in helping the troubled youth discover what motives lie behind his horrendously brutal act. And though this may sound bizarre you may very well start empathizing with the troubled Leland as he struggles to discover what could make him become such a monster.

Amazingly enough, to me at least is the weakness of Kevin Spacey's character.

Spacey plays Leland's dad a world renowned author who never had much time for any members of his family, particularly Leland, because Leland was simply too much work for the narcissistic author. It just comes off as too convenient. Leland's problems go much deeper than a part-time father. The real story finally comes down to the time Pearl Cheadle was very good per usual spends trying to understand what makes Leland tick.

And when Pearl finally realizes there will be no "Leland Book," but he wants to help Leland anyway, some real humanity finally starts to shine through all the previous confusion. You do get some idea about why Leland may have done what he did, but the story is equally about Pearl's inner demons and how he goes from his selfish interest's in Leland's story to putting Leland's cries for help ahead of his own interests as the more important issue. All in all it's a very provocative movie that will really make you think about life and living it in ways that aren't always pleasant.

It is not a perfect movie, but there is enough meat on the bone to make it a movie worthy of your consideration. I'd give it 7. R min Drama, Mystery, Thriller. The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.

Let's face it, any movie that starts out with a young, tender, adolescent boy just happening across a severed ear in a near by park, is probably a good reson to expect something a bit unusual. Just like in many Lynchonian epics one wierd circumstance leads yo another. Always play close attention, never assume anything and you should be in for quite some ride if you don't wear your saftey suit to the screenmg before entering. For young Jeffrey Beaumont he is about to discover the tarnsihed underbelly of his once iddlylic suburban existence. Not at all satisfied with the investigation teams progress, the police chiefs daughter plated by the absolutely lovely and uber talented Laura Dern decide to carry out their own investigation.

The prime character of their investigation turn out to be a quite but beautiful and amazingly, mysterious and sensuous young women who is involved with an evil and very pretentious man neither of which Jeffrey can keep his eyes off of. Jeffrey, more out of his own curiosity than civic duty, continues to ply the olice Chief for information, but the Chief tells Jeffrey this is an ongoing police investigation just added to Jeffrey's curiosity. Leaving the Chief's house he runs into none other than the Chiefs daughter, Sandy Williams, She tells him details she's overheard about the case plus the name of a women that is supposedly under intense scrutiny, Dorothy Valens, who also lives in the neighbrood.

Somehow Kyle MacLachlan's character Jeffrey Beaumont comes up with the bright idea of slipping into the room of the mysterious lounge singer Dorothy Vallens in hopes of finding some clues about what might be going on between Vallens and the strange and sickly fascinating Frank Booth. Jeffry quickly finds himself mixed up much deeper than he had ever hoped to be. Often lending a sympathetic ear to Dorthy Vallnes he frequently finds himself "hiding out in her closet with Frank being the perverse and very sinister person that he really is. The ending comes at you in a whirlwind of bizarre and unexpected happenings that will leave you sitting there watching the credits scroll down the screen as you are try to come to some sort of mental conclusion as to exactly what it is you just experienced, and it 'is' an experience.

It is truly a power house of a movie R min Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller. A troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes, after he narrowly escapes a bizarre accident. The first time I saw Darko I must admit to really enjoying the movie. It was fresh, different and yet oddly entertaining and extremely well shot. Over these past ten years the movie has become such a "Cult Favorite" that I think a lot of people are starting to dismiss it for just how brilliant this movie really is..

Jake Gylenhaal is terrific as the very mixed up and mildly disturbed high school student. Who often finds himself wondering around in a sort of dream state. He has a friend "Frank" a giant rabbit who continues to tell Donnie the world is coming to an end very soon and compels Donnie to do mischievous deeds that one has to suppose are out of kilter with his normal behavior. Donnie also appears incapable at times of balancing these hallucinations with the reality around him.

He struggles to get along with his parents, his siblings and his peers but he does find a kindred soul, in Gretchen Ross played by Jena Malone a girl who just moved into the school district after her parents could no longer get along. Donnie asks Gretchen if she "wants to go with him" and Gretchen asks, "Go where? As previously mentioned, Donnie has a fiend named Frank, a giant bunny rabbit with an eerily, frightening rabbit head mask, whom only Donnie can see.

When an engine falls off an air plane which crashes through Donnie's bedroom in the middle of the night, Donnie's not there. Both the inexplicable "missing engine" which the FAA can not clear up, and Donnie's just happening to not be there seem to have been precipitated by some sort of supernatural powers. Donnie's apparent mental illness, which is explored by his psychotherapist - there are some very funny scenes involving Donnie's therapist and Donnie, which at the least will make you snicker - doesn't really seem to be going anywhere. Included in the movie are several small but relevant side plots involving various minor characters.

Patrick Swayze plays a self help guru who the school's ulta-conservative chearleader instructor has a crush on whether for the right or the wrong reason. Than there is the little old lady in town who all the kids pick on except for Donnie, whose genuinely kind heart goes out of his way to be kind to She happens to be Roberta Sparrow - an author who years early wrote a book on the potential of time travel and she religiously checks her mail several times a day even though she never gets any mail.

Frank continues to show up more and more always with an accurate countdown until the end of the world. And Donnie continues to follow through on Frank's orders To try to retell the story in this limited space is really futile. In closing let me just say that the entire movie, as crazy as it sounds, pulls everything together so cunningly and yet doesn't insult the audience. As I statedat the beginning of this review, The movie has become so well known in some circles that now you have critics for the sake of wanting to be different.

It's just so much high school angst that it's rather droll. To anyone who wants to take that stand the more power to you, but who are you really trying to impress. Don't bother spending the time investment watching S. DARKO, it is sure to disappoint. R min Comedy, Drama. A writer's young assistant becomes both pawn and catalyst in his boss's disintegrating household. I had never heard of the movie and rented it based on the front and rear covers.

I got far more than my monies worth. This movie is in many ways truly tragic but still has a weird comedic element that shines through at times. Jeff Bridges absolutely superb as usual plays Ted Cole one half of a fractured and irreparable relationship with the lovely and talented Kim Bassinger who plays his wife Marion Cole. I admit to not reading the book so I can't make any comparisons - but honestly, when a movie is this good, who cares.

The movie covers one summer of the lives of the Cole's in the ritzy East Hampton's. Ted is a very successful - and extremely eccentric - children's book author and his wife Marion is merely a shell of her former self. It just so happens that the Cole's lost twin boys about 14 years ago in a horrific car accident when both were in their teenage years. To try to save the marriage they have a little girl about 5 in the movie played marvelously by Elle Fannong, but instead of bringing them closer together the child has just widened the chasm between the two.

That summer Ted hires on an assistant, mainly a driver, as Ted has lost his licence due to too many DUI's. The strange thing is the kid looks remarkably like one of their deceased sons, and you are never quite sure what Ted's motives are. He obviously knew that it might help fill a void in Marion's heart that he no longer could or he may have purposely hired the young man because he knew Marion would fall for him and thus give him ammo in a custody hearing that looked to be inevitable.

The once great marriage is now doomed due to Bassinger's inability to deal with the deaths, her despondency and her inability to be intimate, meanwhile Ted doodles as an artist also and has affairs with most of the women he gets to pose for him. Minnie Driver is the subject during this particular summer of their life and brings a unique comedic elements to the movie.

As the summer wears on Eddie the young teen who is Ted's assistant falls in love with Marion and Marion connects with him on some level and makes love to him frequently Eddie turns out to be a pawn in both their lives as they are trying to find a way out and he is the catalyst for their eventual breakup. This review does not do the movie justice and I apologize for that. It is equally for men and women alike This is deep drama at it's very best with a few hilarious scenes thrown in that work very well.

I won't give away the ending because the movie is that good and is one of my favorites of that genre. With Bridges recent success I now consider him one of the finest actors plying his craft. Do yourself a favor and please make it a point to see this movie. A detective investigates a mysterious motel room, which acts as a portal to an alternate universe. Normally the Sci-Fi channels original programming leaves me disappointed. Another mini-series a weekly series, whatever. I just knew after watching it for the first time I knew I wanted more. Once I watched it again on DVD my attitude only intensified.

This is great Sci-Fi. To give a thumbnail of this terrific story will not be easy so bear with me. Peter Krause plays a Pittsburgh detective who is given an unexplainable case to try to crack. When he realizes that a youngster who he looks out for my have witnesses what happened he brings him in for questioning. When Krause steps out of the interrogation room for 30 seconds and returns the young man is inexplicably gone. Running away the boy gets hit by a car and Krause finds a motel key in his pocket with the number 10 he doesn't know what to make of it.

That is until he accidentally uses the 'key' and realizes after he opens the door the key takes you to whatever place you were thinking of. Close the door again and open it and the room resets back into a plain motel room. One evening he catches his daughter playing with the key and she goes into the room and the door gets closed on her. When Krause opens the door in a panic the room has rest and his daughter is gone.

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