The 2011 WorkLife Balance Film Awards
With the Golden Globes just behind us and the Oscars a month away, we here at Balanced WorkLife Company have decided to nominate the movies from the past year that shared creative insight and applications of personal growth, work life balance, and lessons in life. Warning, some spoilers will be shared in this post.
Best “Team Building” Movie
Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3 demonstrated how a trilogy should be done, as well as, taught stupendous values of teamwork. This theme is carried throughout the whole franchise, but it had a large role in the 3rd movie especially.
If you haven’t seen the movie the premise is that Andy, the toys’ owner is now grown up and heading to college, leaving the future of the gang in question. By accident the majority of the group ends up in a day care center, where plenty of toy abuse takes place. The rest of the movie develops the danger the toys face in their change of surroundings, the new characters they meet, and the heroic escape plan.
What Toy Story 3 does well is the way they emphasize each character’s strengths and how they can be applied for the betterment of the team. Mr. Potato Head becomes a master of disguise, Barbie uses her people charming skills, Buzz is an action hero, Woody a master planner. No one questions the skills and abilities that set them each apart.
For a childrens’ movie, there are adult lessons to be learned as well. What if we instilled the same level of confidence and support in our work teams? What if we tried to learn about their past experiences and abilities? We’ve done that with several corporate teams, and it works.
Best “Follow Your Passion” Movie
The Social Network
The Social Network was an eyeopening movie. Though I have been on Facebook from the early start, I had no idea how the network started, other than knowing some geniuses came up with the idea in college. One thing that set this movie apart was the passion of Mark Zuckerberg and everything that happened to allow his idea to become the mammoth it is today.
We all hear we should follow our passions and do what we love, but we also tend to follow that with, “too bad you can’t make decent money assembling elaborate ant farms, sculpting marshmallow structures, or whatever affection it is you enjoy. Before Mark Zuckerberg made The Facebook, there wasn’t a realm of social media as it stands today. You also may be surprised to find others who make very good livings doing bizarre passionate activities.
The fact is Zuckerberg was a genius and could have programmed for the IBMs, Microsofts, or Apples of our time, but he chose to take the harder route of building his passion for the world.
I also praised the movie for its realistic look at following your dreams. The path to dream chasing isn’t always obstacle free. Zuckerberg made several sacrifices, he lost friends, went to court, was sued, and had the pressures of growing a fast paced company, all in order to reach his potential.
Some may argue whether Mark behaved appropriately with the relationships involved for him getting where he is today, and that’s noted. However, we can all learn something from his determination to follow his passions.
Best “Problem Solving” Movie
Inception
Inception received such critical acclaim not for its special effects and use of action, but for the complexity and richness of its well crafted plot. Even though the movie bent reality in terms of diving into people’s dreams, exploring different levels of the sub conscience, and building worlds; it stayed grounded through the truths we all come to know in our own minds. How we deal with problems, issues, and our own personal development.
Celes, in a blog mentions some of the lessons she experienced with Inception, which fit well in this theme. First, the movie plays with the idea that our sub conscience’s potential is unlimited. Second, we can’t just run away or lock out our problems. Third, positive motivation is superior to negative motivation. Lastly, that the problems and issues we face can affect those close to us.
By relating to Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, we can understand the consequences of dealing inappropriately with the problems and issues we face and hold deep inside us.
Best “Change Your Circumstances” Movie
How To Train Your Dragon
We all feel at times that some of the situations we grow up with are never going to change. Our family will always be middle class, we will never graduate from college, or we are limited by the circumstances we came into life with.
How To Train Your Dragon, took this concept and turned it on it’s head, resonating with audiences around the world. A viking boy, son to one of the fiercest dragon slayers in the kingdom, has no desire to kill the beasts. He enjoys hobbies of his own, but in a viking village, boys who don’t grow into dragon slaying warriors are considered outcasts. The rest of the movie takes the plot further by telling a fascinating story of a hero’s journey.
There are some relatable moments the movie demonstrates. Hiccup, the main character, teaches us that sometimes acceptance comes after we prove ourselves. He teaches us that friendships are powerful bonds that help us reach our dreams. Finally, he teaches us that not everything is as it first seems.
Best “Lessons on Influence” Movie
The Town
“You are the product of those you surround yourself with”, is a popular mantra shared by parents, leaders, and coaches. The Town was a movie that captured that idea and showed the resulting consequences dramatically.
The Town is the story of Charlestown, a neighborhood of Boston renowned for churning out a high number of armed robbers, generation after generation. Because this way of life has become accepted in the area, many who choose this path do so until they grow old.
Ben Affleck’s character goes through a journey of discovery, as he organizes the heists to end all heists, and eventually leave the criminal path for good.
The Town excels in its portrayal of how difficult it is to make positive choices when the people you associate yourself with are choosing poorly themselves. It shows how one can get “stuck” in an undesirable life path because of the friends and others they spend time with. It shows how youth is the prime age for many of these relationships to start that will take us either to rewarding opportunities or bondage.
What Are Your Picks?
I made these picks based on the limited movies I saw this year. There may be several more that have valuable life lessons to teach as well. Share your top movies of the past and what lessons from movies you have learned in the comments below.
image courtesy of carbon arc
