Hoosiers is a film about second chances. Redemption is given to a short tempered coach, who was issued a lifetime suspension by the NCAA for physically assaulting a player, and a former star player- turned town drunk. These two defeat their odds by taking a small town high school basketball team from being just 15 and 10, all the way to the state championship. In my review, I’ll attempt to explain how this coach matches up against Kouzes and Posner’s “Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership.” Our setting is rural Indiana in a town called Hickory. It’s a place that’s resistant to change. Hickory is a place where, according to Myra Fleener, a character in the film, “basketball heroes are treated like gods”. This At first, Coach Dale had to demand respect. During their first game of the season, a couple of the players felt the coach’s approach wasn’t working and decided to take the game in their own direction. In the locker room afterwards, coach threatens that any player that wants to stay on the team can stay under one condition, that what he says is law. Dale thought the best way to inspire a shared vision was to break his players down and build them back up. Eventually, his players believed when they realized that perfecting this concept helped them tremendously. Norman even inspired Jimmy to not only come back and play but to stick up for him at the town meeting where a vote occurred to remove him from his position. Coach Dale, I would say, definitely “Challenged the Process” which is another of the practices of exemplary leadership. “Luck” or “being in the right place at the right time” may play a role in the specific opportunities leaders embrace, but those who lead others to greatness seek and accept challenge. The Leadership Challenge, pg.18. Coach Dale put in place the changes he wanted to despite what others thought or the process that had given his predecessor success. He didn’t care if the star player came back to the team or not. He challenged what everyone else thought was best for his team. To get extraordinary things done in organizations, leaders have to enable others to act. The Leadership Challenge, pg. 20. Let’s
