Twelve O Clock High: Movie Analysis

Leadership is one of the only characteristics that cannot be taught, but rather learned through experience. Possessing qualities of leadership are essential inside the cockpit and out. However, being a follower is not any less important. This is because every leader has to report to a higher power, qualifying them as a follower. But because he or she is a follower, it does not necessarily make them any less of a leader. In fact, it could potentially make them a stronger one.

The movie Twelve O’Clock High has many examples of both leadership and followership. But before those examples are discussed, one must know what exactly leadership and followership are. Leadership is broken down into four main categories: autocratic, bureaucratic, democratic, and laissez-faire. Autocratic leaders tend to dictate tasks to others to make sure the work gets done to how they see fit. Bureaucratic leaders use guidelines, rules, and regulations to accomplish tasks. Democratic leaders delegate duties to other people, sharing the workload and responsibilities, in order to complete goals. And lastly, leaders who follow a laissez-faire style tend to sit back and let the followers do all of the work. While

An example of good follower behavior was Gately. He consistently followed orders given to him by the higher-ups, was a Medal of Honor recipient, and was second-in-command to Savage. In the end, he takes Savage’s place as the lead pilot of the squadron. A bad example of followership comes from Savage. During one mission, all of the groups are required to stop fighting and abort the mission when the order was recalled for dangerous weather conditions. After dismissing the order, Savage risked getting the entire group reprimanded by Pritchard. Although it was poor followership, because he took control and made a victory for the group, it was an outstanding leadership decision (Twelve O'Clock