The Leadership Lessons One Can Learn from Coach Carter

Introduction

Coach Carter is a film about a basketball coach, coaching a Richmond high schoolteam. The story is about a group of students playing basketball and its poor academics. Ken Carter takes the job from a retiring friend in the film and is very sorry, since the team won four games in the season. The team wasn't a team at all, as everyone wasn't playing and fighting together. Ken Carter, who was a high school player himself, wanted his team to be good at school and game play. After taking over the team, he made a contract that each player has to sign. Few players rejected the signing of the contract. He makes his team extremely difficult to practice and punishes them if mistakes occur. He made everyone follow his rules vigorously. He was hard, though, but he had a vision. He studied thoroughly the success rate of Richmond High School graduates. Only 50% of students graduate from school, in which only 6% of students attend the university. Others are either unemployed or end up in prison. His team is trained so heavily that his team is undefeated for 16 games. Meanwhile, Carter's son Damien leaves a good school and joins Richmond in training with his dad. Ken was sad when Damien had changed the college and told him that he had to work hard to have the time to play. During their win, Ken received a shocking information that all the players were academically doing very badly, and they were not going to school. Coach calls everyone and talks about the situation in the library. He locks the gym and commands it to play and practice again with a minimum GPA agreement. Players disagreed with that, and few left. The student's parents and the Richmond people began to hate and attack the coach. Ken talks about the academics and the rate of graduation of the Richmond High school in a meeting convened by the parents and management. However, their parents wanted to concentrate on playing rather than studying. Ken had been sad and ready to leave the job. When he was about to leave, he was shocked to find out that all his players had been working to secure the GPA target. After reaching the GPA sometime, Ken Carter opens the gym. He was so glad he saw it. They begin to play together again and start winning again. They were finally called in for a tournament to play the country's number one team. It was an amazing match, however, Richmond oilers lose by one point. But the crowd and opposite team appreciated and admired them. The film ends in a high note, showing what happens next in each player's life. The short film illustrates how a group of bullies acts and works hard under the leadership of a strict, motivational leader to reach the goals.

Vision and Motivation

Before the coach accepted the job, he had a clear idea, and this was not just for money. He's got a bad reputation from the place (Richmond) where half of the students don't graduate, and they are either criminals or shot dead. Carter had faith and believed in his team. He wanted them not only to train them for matches but also to win in life. Every leader has a vision, Carter finds a real problem in this film, and how this objective can be achieved. Not only did Carter make the players focus on the game, but also win, succeed and think about the future. His vision was to give his team a better life, not commit crime, because many of his teammates were imprisoned and dead. He was looking to change the Richmond high school education system, which focused more on basketball than on studies. The film contains one dialog, which states “If they can’t follow the rules in the contract how are they going to follow the rules and abide as a citizen”. When the entire city was against him, Carter believed and stood for what was right. His vision was firm, and he was prepared to sacrifice anything for a goal. Carter asks Timo Cruz about his greatest fears in one of the scenes. Until he realized what Carter was looking at in him, he could not reply. He responded that 'Fear is not that they can do anything, but that they are vulnerable to failure and can do something.' He ensures that everybody works in a team and that everyone goes through them together. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is one theory of motivation. The theory shows that physiological needs, security needs, love and property, esteem and self-rehabilitation are certain necessities. The physiological necessities include food, water and rest, security, love and belonging, relations and friendship, appreciation and self-realization. Motivation is natural and requires no recognition or rewards. Coach Carter encouraged his team by saying 'play as winners, act as winners and you're going to be winners.'

Ethics

The principles of right behavior or a system of moral values are ethics. Attitudes and actions are guided or motivated by personal values. Theoretical, economic, cosmetic, social, political and religious are six types of personal values. One important point in the film is that he calls all his team members sir and also asks them to do the same. If the members don't do that, he's going to make sure they're following and calling sir. Carter is a man of his words. He ensured that all contract rules were followed by his team. He thought they would have a good life and a better career by doing that. His team has spread verbal communication with the opposing team during games, the coach hasn't like that, calling his team and asking them to play as Champions to show some kind of class. All of these can be called ethics. The four ethical dilemmas by Rushworth Kidder demonstrate trust versus loyalty in a scene in which the school manager, Carter and the players ' family met to lock the gym. Carter told him about the future of the team, but the parents questioned his loyalty and lost the vote of confidence. Carter leaves behind his business, and focuses entirely on the team when it comes to individuals and communities. His friend looks after the shop and asks him to visit the shop for a while. His business is compromised in order to make his team great. The whole school management and parents wanted the team to focus on basketball play in the short term versus the long term. But Carter concentrated on their studies so they can go to university, get a scholarship and have a good future. When it comes to justice versus mercy, Carter's son Damien arrived late in the day for training in school. Carter could have dropped this because the first day was hard for him to find the gym but he still had to undergo all the penalties for being late. For everybody, it was justice. Rule-based thinking can be applied in one step when it comes to resolving dilemmas. This is done in accordance with the highest principle. In order to succeed, Carter ensured that his team followed all contract conditions. He always showed respect for everyone within his team, the golden rule based on careful thinking. Although his team had very young students, he spoke to them as a sir. Carter always wanted his team's success in life when it comes to end-based thinking and not like his friends who finished in prison and were dead. This is also referred to as utilitarianism.

Leadership Effectiveness

Carter was very good at managing and achieving all the goals in terms of the coach's effectiveness. He was capable of bringing out more than expected from everyone, he had transformational management skills. He was able to bring forth the unexpected by motivating and making them work harder. In addition, he tried to make changes in society and in the life of the group he succeeded in. He ensured that his team worked well in sports and education. Carter was dominant, even harsh, and he was able to encourage and influence everyone positively. He ensured that his team members had mutual respect. He is highly aim-oriented and ready to give up when his effectiveness has been questioned. Coach Carter has high emotional intelligence. He was capable of understanding his own emotions and responding to them. The film shows a scene in which Mom of Junior Battles visits Carter when he's been left out of the team. Junior’s mom talks about the situation he was experiencing and informs Carter that the brother of Junior was dead. Coach Carter was able to grasp his situation, but only if he accepted the punishment. This shows his interest to the leader, Junior readily accepted. He has faith in values and is prepared to reverse. Fielder’s Contingency Theory is one theory that can be applied for leadership. He emphasized more on the achievement of the goal than on relations. His team did not make him so kind if they had not accomplished the tasks. Only after the tasks were completed was the relationship established. Carter Coach may be regarded as a small leader of LPC. Nevertheless, he enjoyed maintaining excellent contacts with his team. The exchange between the leading members was less, the organization was not well structured. The high school education and the training of the former coach were poor. The leader had little power in the organisation, and the teachers and members of the student's families questioned him.

Conclusion

From the film Coach Carter, we can learn a lot. The coach's vision is the most important thing to enjoy. He wanted his team to succeed in life, not just in basketball. A vision should be made to succeed in life. An organization should have authority for the leader, otherwise a relationship would be difficult to maintain. Coach Carter had a lot of life experiences. When he was playing, he knew everything that happened to his friends and he didn't want his team to go on the same side. His experience contributed to the development of a team focusing on certain goals. The team trained and achieved it hard, even on the tough path to success. It is obvious that hard work is certainly worthwhile. Emotions are important to life, it can also be understood. Emotional intelligence helps us to understand other feelings in order to address the situation accordingly. A relationship between the leader and the member must be established. Understanding each other's efficiency and capacity leads to a successful career. Good intelligence and feature leader will contribute to a successful life and career.