The media that I decided to use for the leadership analysis is the Lost TV series (Wagner, 2021). It depicts the life of people who found themselves on the seemingly uninhabited island after the plane crash. While they wait for help from the ‘outside world,’ everyday challenges require some form of organization. As a result, two men of different ages and backgrounds, namely Jack Shephard and John Locke, establish themselves as informal leaders.
Overall, the narrative describes how individuals build their lives on the island far from civilization seeking to escape it or sabotage any attempt to do that. As such, this piece resonates with me because it had a major impact on my personality. It showed me that the right decisions are usually not the easy ones, taught me to be understanding towards people who may not seem good at first, and taught me how to encounter life’s difficulties.
Jack Shephard is the first one in the series to reveal one’s leadership abilities. Although his position as the main decision-maker remained until the end of the series, it never was formalized. Jack has several positive leadership qualities, such as openness and truthfulness in communications, being the first to embrace the unknown and risks instead of exposing his followers, responsibility, and desire to serve others. For instance, at the end of the plot, he volunteers to sacrifice his life to save other people on the island (Rudoy, 2020).
Being a spinal surgeon, Jack adopts a scientific worldview based on facts which can be regarded as an advantage and shortcoming at the same time. On the one hand, this principle guides his practice as a doctor and often leads to success. Yet, on the other hand, it prevents him from believing in one’s intuition which sometimes fails. For example, ignoring one’s ‘gut feeling,’ Jack leaves the island, which he subsequently regrets.
John Locke is the second prominent character in Lost with strong leadership abilities. His management style is often considered the opposite of Jack Shephard’s. The fact that Locke experienced the miracle on the island made him a strong believer in destiny. He is convinced that the plane crash is not a coincidence and that all that has happened to him and other passengers has some greater purpose. Therefore, John devotes his time primarily to discovering the secrets of the place and interpreting the signs. Additionally, he can attract and unite some people under his vision. In this regard, John Locke can be viewed as a transformational leader (Collins et al., 2019).
In contrast to Jack, John is quite reserved, which, however, does not negatively affect his authority. Indeed, one of his first followers – Boone Carlyle – rarely questioned any order of the latter when they were trying to open the hatch that they found in the ground. Although John’s reliance on intuition proves to be true many times, it also does not save him from making mistakes. For instance, his belief in the island made him a subject of manipulation by Man in Black – the series’ main antagonist – who skillfully used John’s lack of critical thinking and reliance on intuition.
In my opinion, the traits of both fictional leaders discussed above can be adapted by nursing professionals. Similar to Jack Shephard, most of the decisions that medical workers make must be based on scientific evidence. Moreover, making serving others one of life’s purposes and being able to embrace responsibility should be at the core of the profession, which enables us to provide the best healthcare service possible. Still, at the same time, the example of John Locke reminds us about the importance of trusting one’s intuition. Additionally, what many nursing leaders can learn from this character is the importance of creating a vision that would unite all the employees. For example, that can be the desire to ensure that “the voice of each patient is heard and respected” (Cedars-Sinai, n.d.).
References
Cedars-Sinai. (n.d.). Mission, vision, values and philosophy.
Collins, E., Owen, P., Digan, J., & Dunn, F. (2019). Applying transformational leadership in nursing practice. Nursing Standard, 35(5), 59-65.
Rudoy, M. (2020). Lost: 5 times Jack was the better leader (and 5 times it was Locke). Screen Rant.
Wagner, H. P. (2021). A history of British, Irish and American literature (3rd ed.). Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier.