With Great Responsibility Comes Great Power
What a decade of experience as a film director taught me about leadership.
“The fact is, you don’t know what directing is until the sun is setting and you’ve got to get five shots and you’re only going to get two.” — David Fincher, director of Se7en, Fight Club, The Social Network.
An NGO commissioned me to shoot a Public Service Announcement (PSA) a few years back. We had to shoot three videos, each about two minutes long. The budget was tight. It meant we had to wrap the shoot in two days. Anyone who has worked in the business will know that this meant a razor-thin margin for error.
The shoot day arrived. I had twelve hours to shoot everything. 6 AM to 6 PM. That was the standard call sheet. We had thoroughly prepped. No stone was left unturned.
But man proposes, and God disposes. The chaos of the universe is indifferent to every man equally.
The cameras arrived late. And with it began a domino effect that ended with the shoot starting four hours after the proposed roll time. At 2 PM, eight hours into the call sheet, when we broke for lunch we had only forty percent of what we needed in the can. We would resume rolling at 3 PM and had to wrap up by six. I had to shoot sixty percent of the footage within three hours.
I thought I had planned for everything, but I didn’t plan for this.
The Origin Story
“Remember, every person on set, from the producer to the spot boy, is observing you. They all want to know why they should listen to you. If you’re wasting their time or not. If you’ve got the stuff or you are just a pretender to the throne.”
When I heard these words from my mentor at Black Picture Co., an ad film production house, I knew they rang true. I understood why he said what he said on an intellectual level. But it was only a year later when I joined film school, did I truly understand the meaning of his words.
In our first semester, each student was assigned a different role in one another’s project. You were the director on one project, the cinematographer on the next, the sound recordist on the third, the editor, the producer, and so on, until every person had experienced the responsibility of each role. We had to walk in every shoe and try a pair to know what it’s like to get a shoe bite from all.
My peers and I had to subsume our creative voice, now and again, depending on the role we were assigned, and listen to the person directing us. Everyone believed that they knew better than the other. Mild conversations would escalate into major disputes. Creative control had metamorphosized into Helen of Troy — everyone fought for her.
Having dragged myself through these petty wars, I suddenly had a real taste of what it felt like to steer a ship that refused to change course. Theory and good taste were not enough to navigate these rough waters. Everyone was slowly learning the painful lesson that being an artist was not enough to be an artist. Something more was needed, and my mentor’s words echoed in my ears. And as it made more sense, I became more fearful.
I desperately wanted people to follow my lead. But I was foundering. I didn’t know my desire to have people follow my lead was why they didn’t follow me.
#1: A leader must assume responsibility, not wield power
I have noticed that many who decide to work as directors do so for the promise of fame, power and money that they are sold. I knew why I wanted the job. The movies that moulded me inspired me. And I wanted to add my dash of creative flourish.
However, while I judged all those who came in for the wrong reason, I did not know that part of me craved the same fame and power. This is perhaps what Carl Jung calls the shadow. Repressed parts of your psyche that you shove deep into the unconscious because you are ashamed of it.
The day I realised this, was the day I truly came into my own. It was not easy. I felt shame, undiluted and inescapable. I thought I was better than this. But that was the problem — I thought I was better.
“With great power comes great responsibility.” — Uncle Ben
This quote from Spiderman is powerful in its implications. But I believe that it has a fundamental flaw in its core assumption. It states that you must undertake great responsibility as a result of the great power that you possess. But when was the last time an ordinary person has come in contact with extraordinary power, whether spider-bite induced or otherwise?
No, it is the opposite that is true. It is the responsibility that you take upon yourself that grants you the power necessary to wield the actions dictated by your responsibility. Spiderman’s greatest strength was not that he could shoot webs and climb walls, but his greatest strength was that he became “the friendly, neighbourhood Spiderman.” He took it upon himself to help and protect those in need. And he was rewarded with the loyalty and support of all in the neighbourhood.
People follow a leader of their own volition. They cannot be forced. Leadership is thrust upon the leader as a byproduct of their actions, and power is the byproduct of assuming responsibility for one’s actions.
#2: Leadership is a skill you can hone
The belief that you are either born a leader or a follower is as ubiquitous as it is erroneous. The longer you believe this, the more you imprint in yourself that you are not a leader.
“Growth comes at the point of resistance. We learn by pushing ourselves and finding what really lies at the outer reaches of our abilities.”― Josh Waitzkin, The Art of Learning
You must practise leadership like you do any other skill. How do you practise leadership? Take responsibility for things. Start small and with yourself. Make your bed, eat healthy, practise mindfulness, whatever it may be.
Then take small responsibilities for the things outside yourself. If you live with your family, take out the trash, have a real conversation with a friend, compliment a stranger, and make another smile. You will soon see you are the source of fulfillment in others’ lives. As a result, you are teaching yourself that you have the power to affect change.
Build on this. Feel comfortable being uncomfortable. Assume more responsibility. Put yourself in positions where you must execute. Soon, you will understand the mechanics of what it takes to make things work. That understanding when you impart to others as you guide them in your field of expertise is what makes you a leader.
#3: Delegation is a multiplier, whereas micro-management is burnout
You are most effective as a leader when you run the system efficiently. As the captain, you must keep the ship afloat long enough to reach the destination. You cannot run around putting out fires. There is not enough time. You will end up saving a tree while allowing the forest to burn down.
“Hire people who are better than you are, then leave them to get on with it.” — David Ogilvy
You must delegate. Every personnel is a leader of their department. It is under their responsibility and therefore under their command. They must be given leeway to put out fires the best way they see fit. Your job is to allow them to figure out what the best way is by explaining to them what the mission is. Thus, they can make tactical decisions that fit within the overall strategy.
The bonus of delegation is that people feel pride in their work because their creativity is allowed to flourish. Whereas, if you micro-manage they feel stifled and can become indifferent or resentful.
#4: Ego is the enemy
Often, ego gets in the way. As a leader, it is imperative that you have a handle on your ego before you sabotage yourself and your team. The reason is that there will inevitably come situations where you will be at odds with someone on the team. During such scenarios, you must have your ego in check lest simple statements be misconstrued. And you will react in ways that will undermine your leadership.
“Those who have subdued their ego understand that it doesn’t degrade you when others treat you poorly; it degrades them.”― Ryan Holiday, Ego Is the Enemy
As a director, I have always been attached to my vision. Every time it was questioned, my instinct was defensiveness. It prevented me from doing my job because I suddenly became more concerned with defending my vision instead of understanding the question in the first place.
Anytime you are questioned, more often than not it is a request for clarity. If you know your vision well enough, you will be able to clarify. And on rare occasions, the question may poke a hole in the plan that you haven’t noticed yet. Understand it for the valuable gift that it is and work with it to bulletproof the plan.
It is impossible while the ego is working on self-preservation instead of solutions.
#5: Hiring: The right attitude trumps talent
The right person for the job need not be the most talented. Sure, they must have the technical skills for the job. But having the right attitude is far more valuable. It is easier to develop technical skills than to teach the right attitude.
“Character is Destiny.” — Heraclitus
Watch ants. Observe how they work in a group to achieve the objective. They act and react as though they are a single organism. It is because they know the mission and act in accordance. Cain the ant is not envious of Abel the ant.
Every individual has a valuable set of skills. However, individual skills are useless unless they work with other departments to fulfil the goal. This is where attitude is invaluable. People who are talented but have the wrong attitude will inevitably bottleneck the operation.
Often, such people are guided by their insecurities. They misconstrue feedback, fight plans and sow discontent. Your job as a leader is to recognise these traits when you hire them. Questions about their past jobs will often reveal a lot of information. Do they constantly blame others? Are they always late? Are they more show than substance?
The most talented fool is but a beautiful fountain pen without ink.
#6: Preparation is the key to winging it
As a director, the film set is one of the most terrifying places in the world. It is chaos manifest. There is a baseline feeling of anxiety permeating at all times. It is because money is lost every time a shot is delayed or fails. And a lot of factors need to be considered before locking a scene. So preparation is essential when filming.
On the surface, the point of preparation seems to be to figure out the actions needed to achieve a goal. However, the real purpose of preparation is understanding the goal at a level so deep that when things don’t go according to plan, you have the ability to navigate the situation.
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” ―Seneca
The more you prepare, the more you unconsciously understand the strategy. Every time you plan a path of action, it is done with the goal in mind. This way you are looking at the end goal from all angles.
Soon, you will be unfazed by problems when they occur in real-time because you know what the source of the problem is and the solution. You will be able to improvise with ease as if you were a master.
How to clean up when shit hits the fan —
Let’s circle to the PSA shoot to illustrate the things I learned.
As I mentioned, I had not planned for everything to get as chaotic and messy as it turned out. While everyone had lunch, I found myself a corner and began unknotting the problem in my head. I seriously considered gathering the infinity stones and disappearing from the situation. But reality does not play such games. Instead, it gives profound gifts disguised as profound misery.
My mind was racing, processing every scenario, not realizing the lunch break was over. Then it hit me. I was attached to the style I had envisioned. As much as I would have loved to bring that to life, it was now an old dream. But it did not matter because I had prepared well enough to know that the videos would work as long as I could realize the underlying emotional core and message of the scripts. If I could tether myself to that core, all choices would pick themselves.
Firstly, now that I have discarded the original style, I need not shoot certain elaborate sequences. Instead, we would go handheld. Suddenly, the most time-consuming parts of each setup — setting the camera on the dolly and changing camera lenses — became a non-factor.
Secondly, we would shoot entire sequences in single takes instead of individual chunks that cost a lot of time between takes. I could cut down the single take in the edit.
I had the entire shot division playing in my head, so I quickly devised a choreography to make it happen. I knew the actors were pros and had their lines and marks memorised. So there would not be any speedbumps there. The iron was hot. Now was the time to strike.
Within the next three hours, we pulled a rabbit out of a hat, maybe multiple rabbits even. No one wasted time. Everyone was sucked into the moment and delivered exceptionally. And it was obvious from the cathartic smile on the faces once we wrapped.
In Conclusion
Leadership is not a goal. It is who you are. It is how you approach life and handle situations. Do you take charge by assuming responsibility or let someone else handle it?
Do not make leadership about the accolades. If you do, you are simply a follower of your ego. And even in fields where you are the leader, allow yourself the opportunity to learn. Be open and curious like a child learning something for the first time. Do not believe you know all because you are a leader in a particular field, job or project. You must remember to follow when it is not your place to lead. Better that a fireman leads the way out of a burning building than an investment banker.
I hope these lessons I learned have been helpful and you can incorporate them into your life. Remember, the process of learning never stops. And as always, best of luck!
