Movie-Based Leadership Training That Transforms How Leaders Think
Discover a curated library of powerful films paired with leadership facilitation guides and insights. Each movie is mapped to real-world leadership themes—so you can learn, teach, and lead with confidence.
Movie Overview Guide
Download a free overview of all films to see which movie best supports your leadership goals.
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12 Angry Men
12 Angry Men takes place entirely in one room over the course of one sweltering afternoon. Twelve jurors must decide the fate of an 18-year-old boy from a slum, accused of murdering his father with a switchblade knife. If convicted, he faces the death penalty. The case seems open-and-shut: two eyewitnesses, a clear motive (years of abuse), and a purchased murder weapon. An initial vote shows 11 jurors ready to convict and go home.
12 O’clock High
12 O'Clock High is set in England, 1942, during World War II's early years when the U.S. Army Air Forces conducted daylight bombing raids over Nazi-occupied Europe. These missions had catastrophic casualty rates—some groups lost 25-30% of crews per mission. The film focuses on the 918th Bombardment Group, which has become "hard luck" after months of losses, failed missions, and accumulated trauma.
Apollo 13
In an era where leadership development commands billions in corporate training budgets, organizations are discovering an unexpectedly powerful tool hiding in plain sight: movies. Far from mere entertainment, films represent one of the most effective vehicles for teaching complex leadership principles, fostering emotional intelligence, and creating lasting behavioral change.
Galadiator
Gladiator is set in 180 AD during the twilight of Rome's "Golden Age" under the philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius. The film opens with General Maximus leading Roman legions to victory in Germania, completing Marcus Aurelius's decades-long campaign to secure the empire's borders. Maximus is beloved by his troops, respected by the emperor, and yearns only to return home to his wife and son in Spain to farm his land.
Good Will Hunting
Good Will Hunting is set in Boston, primarily in South Boston ("Southie"), a working-class Irish neighborhood where Will Hunting was born and raised in foster care. Will is a 20-year-old janitor at MIT who spends his free time with his construction-worker friends, drinking beer, getting into fights, and hiding his extraordinary intellect from everyone except his closest friend, Chuckie.
HIdden Figures
Hidden Figures tells the true story of three Black women mathematicians who were essential to NASA's early space program during the Space Race of the 1960s. Set between 1961-1962, the film captures a pivotal moment when America competed with the Soviet Union for space supremacy while Black Americans fought for civil rights at home.
INVICTUS
Invictus is set in 1995, just one year after Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first Black president following the end of apartheid. The country teeters on the edge of chaos, decades of brutal racial segregation have left deep wounds, economic inequality, and mutual distrust between Black and white South Africans. Many in Mandela's African National Congress (ANC) party want retribution against their former oppressors. White South Africans fear losing their jobs, homes, and safety.
Lincoln
Lincoln focuses on the final four months of Abraham Lincoln's life (January-April 1865) as he fights to pass the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which would permanently abolish slavery nationwide. The film is based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's book Team of Rivals and captures a moment when military victory in the Civil War is near but not certain, and Lincoln faces a critical choice: end the war through negotiation (which would likely preserve slavery in border states) or continue fighting until he can pass the amendment.
Money Ball
Moneyball is based on Michael Lewis's 2003 book about Billy Beane's revolutionary approach to building a competitive baseball team with one of the sport's smallest budgets. Set primarily in 2002, the film captures a moment when baseball—a sport steeped in tradition and conventional wisdom—confronted data analytics that challenged everything scouts and managers believed.
Norma Rae
Norma Rae is based on the true story of Crystal Lee Sutton, a textile worker who helped unionize the J.P. Stevens textile mill in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, in the 1970s. The film captures the American South's labor struggles during an era when textile mills dominated local economies, paying poverty wages while demanding dangerous working conditions.
Pursuit of Happyness
The Pursuit of Happyness is based on the true story of Chris Gardner, who in the early 1980s went from homeless and sleeping in San Francisco subway bathrooms to becoming a multimillionaire stockbroker and, eventually, a successful entrepreneur and motivational speaker. The film opens with Chris struggling to sell portable bone density scanners, medical equipment that is expensive, slightly obsolete, and nearly impossible to move. His investment in scanner inventory has drained his savings, putting immense strain on his marriage.
Remember the Titans
Remember the Titans is based on the true story of the 1971 T.C. Williams High School football team in Alexandria, Virginia, during the first year of court-ordered school integration. The film captures a moment when America's racial wounds were raw—the Civil Rights Act was only seven years old, and many communities violently resisted integration. The story begins in summer 1971 when Alexandria's school board merges three high schools (one predominantly Black, two white) into T.C. Williams.
Schindlers List
Schindler's List is based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, a Czech-German industrialist who saved approximately 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust. Set primarily between 1939 and 1945, the film follows Schindler's transformation from opportunistic war profiteer to heroic savior. When the film opens, Schindler is a bon vivant, a member of the Nazi party seeking to profit from World War II by opening an enamelware factory in Krakow, Poland.
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