For my media presentation, I chose a clip from The Departed, directed by Martin Scorcese. In The Departed, Jack Nicholson plays Frank Costello, the head of the Irish mafia in South Boston. He is the sole leader of the gang scene in Southie, and exhibits several of the characteristics of a bad leader outlined by Sydney Finkelstein in her “Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful People”.
Despite perhaps being past his prime as a mob leader, Frank refuses to step down, or to look to anyone else for help in his leadership role. This failure as leader and bad “habit” is reminiscent of Finkelstein’s “Habit #3: They think they have all the answers” (Finkelstein, 223). Even when Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) challenges Frank’s status and says that he is becoming washed up and replaceable, Frank refuses to admit weakness or failure.
In addition, Frank clearly exhibits the fourth habit: “They ruthlessly eliminate anyone who isn’t 100 percent behind them” (Finkelstein, 226). In my clip, Frank talks about a “rat” in his unit of men, and explains that normally in this situation, he would kill everyone who might be questionable, or who challenged him. Thus, Frank is ready to literally eliminate (by killing) anyone who does not stand behind him.
Frank Costello demonstrates several characteristics of a bad leader in The Departed, including his immense overconfidence, his stubbornness to get help or to step down, and his automatic elimination of any men who do not back him completely.
SOURCES:
Finkelstein, Sydney. "Chapter 9: Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful People." Why Smart Executives Fail: and What You Can Learn from Their Mistakes. New York: Portfolio, 2004. 213-37. Print.
The Departed. Dir. Martin Scorcese. Perf. Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Jack Nicholson. Warner Bros., 2006. DVD.
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