Lex Luther- A Bad Leader

For my movie clip, I chose a scene from Superman Returns. In this clip, the villain of the film, Lex Luthor, displays many of the characteristics of bad leadership. For example, he shows intemperate leadership in that he lacks any form of self-control. He plans on using a stolen Krytponian crystal, which he has combined with Kryptonite, to create a new continent in the Atlantic Ocean. This new continent will cause sea levels to rise drastically, killing billions of people in the process. Then, he plans on selling the land of his new continent for incredibly high prices. Thus, Luthor lacks self-control, as he is willing to do anything for money and power. Moreover, his followers do not intervene to try to stop his destructive plan, instead choosing to help him for personal gain. Also, Luthor displays an extreme form of insular leadership by completely disregarding the health and welfare of any people outside of his small group of followers. Furthermore, he exhibits several of the characteristics of bad leadership revealed in Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful People. For instance, he sees himself as dominating the world. When Lois Lane asks him what he will do when the world reacts to his evil scheme, Luthor simply replies that the world will be unable to stop him due to the advanced alien technology that he possesses. In this manner, he also illustrates another habit of bad leaders: he underestimates major obstacles. Not only does he seem to underestimate the power of the world, but he also underestimates the power of Superman. He believes that Superman will be unable to stop him because his new landmass will be filled with Kryptonite. However, Superman ultimately pushes the landmass into space before it grows to a catastrophic size, almost dying in the process. Thus, Lex Luthor serves as a classic example of bad leadership as his huge ego and intemperance eventually lead to the failure of his “flawless” plan.