Advanced Leadership Final Paper
Repair Question 2

Mohamed Khatib 900812
1st of December 2013
Pages: 4
Words: 2000
Supervisors: Markus Plate, Ph.D. & Imran Nazir

2. Pick a theme from the course and connect this to practice by choosing one well-known business leader and apply the theme on the business leader you have chosen 2.1 Introduction
In the year if 1915 D.W. Griffith directed the controversial yet influential motion picture ´The birth of a Nation´. The movie chronicles the events that occurred during the Civil war and was a commercial success however it was criticized for its racist topics (Richard Brody, 2013). Nevertheless it became one of the most influential movies ever made and it would go on to inspire the motion picture industry. Some men who noticed the potential in cinema were the Warner Brothers. Albert, Jack, Harry and Sam Wonskolaser were born in Poland to Jewish parents and immigrated to the United States in 1888 while changing their last name to Warner. The brothers were fascinated with the nickelodeon business and purchased the Cascade Theater in 1905 (Warner & Jennings 1965). The theater turned out to be a wise purchase as it became very successful in terms of profit and even helped them buy other theaters (Bob Thomas, 1990). The success did not last long as the Thomas Edison´s Motion Picture Patents Company charged high fees for the showing of films in theaters (Warner & Jennings 1965). The patent caused the Warner bros to sell their theaters and focus solely on the making of films and distributing (Cass Warner Sperling, 2008). The company grew to become one of the biggest and most influential motion picture studios in the world.
2.2 Introduction to theme
A leader possesses multiple attributes either when dealing with a multinational company or a small managing company however there is one characteristic which described all of the brothers; being goal oriented regardless of the method of getting there. As there are four brothers, this report will discuss the personal attributes, functions and relationships of mainly Jack Warner and Sam Warner as they were the key figures. The reason for these themes is due to the fact that they have encountered a lot of obstacles, such as anti-Semitism, heavy competition and tension among each other, which they have solved in their own very personal aggressive manner which other leaders might have solved differently. Family businesses can either work extremely well or cause a lot of friction, therefore the report will commence with the startup of the company and conclude with their ultimate downfall as a family business and yet extremely successful multinational company.
2.3 Personal Attributes, Function & Relationship linked to The Warner Bros.

2.3.1 Functions
There were three big studios active that had a monopoly in the motion picture industry. These consisted of: First National, Paramount, and MGM (Warner & Jennings 1965). The functions within the company were not equally divided. Jack and Sam participated the most as Harry decided to go live in New York and simply work on the finances of the company while Albert stuck around but not long enough. Jack and Sam Warner were the ones who saw the most potential within the company and were willing to go far to become the largest film studio (Warner & Jennings, 1965). As the entertainment industry is both product and service oriented, the hierarchal pyramid should be slightly different than other companies however it is not. The Warner brothers agreed that they should have all the power and there was a strong distance between the employees. Apart from the directors, screenwriters and actors, employees had no say in the final product whatsoever.
2.3.2 Personal Attributes
Even though Warner Bros was doing well they could not compete with these stronghold companies such as MGM, Paramount and First National. When an organization is not doing as well as its competitors; employees require an example who will lead them. In these quagmires an individual´s personal identity will come out more in specific occurrences even if it’s for the better or worse for the organization, due to the fact that quick decisions have to be made. The intelligence of the brothers played a pivotal role in the coming years as there are several kinds of intelligences a leader needs to have in order to succeed in a multinational company (Riggio et al., 2002).
As the motion picture industry was at the beginning of its bloom there was a significant amount of competition and Sam was convinced that they needed something different than the others. In that specific era movies were still silent. Sam tried to convince the brothers to produce a motion picture with synchronized sound, also known as talking pictures or talkies at that time, called The Jazz singer as it would separate them from other major studios. This decision did not sit well with all the brothers as Jack famously quoted; “who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” (Michael Freedland, 1983, p. 119). It even made Albert leave the company due to his disagreement (Bob Thomas, 1990). When human beings receive feedback they tend to distort it due to the fact that they hold on to their past experiences which have worked out for them (Langer, 2002). The behavior of Jack and Albert was typical for them as their personality was judged by others to be very stubborn and tended to stick within their comfort zone (Fritz, 1989). However as the environment is changing it requires the change of methods and decision-making of leaders as well. According to the book ‘The Clown Prince of Hollywood’ Sam’s personality was formed by his vision and he thought that a leader was nothing without it (Bob Thomas, 1990). Jack and Albert did not believe that the switch was necessary as films were meant to be silent in their opinion and it worked perfectly fine in the past (Michael Freedland, 1983). Sam Warner eventually succeeded in convincing the brothers Jack and Harry to create the Jazz Singer due to his powers of persuasion and it turned out to be a huge success, setting an example for other studios to switch to motion pictures with synchronized sound (Bob Thomas, 1990). Warner Brothers had now become one of the major film studios.
In this day and age it is hard to image a film without sound. Sam Warner was convinced that synchronized sound was the future of motion picture. Even when the idea of hearing actors speak was ludicrous he knew he had to convince everyone of his vision and without vision a leader is nothing (Theodore M. Hesburgh, 2000). He succeeded into transcending his vision to others as leadership deals with the influence on people (Yukl 1998). He made people do things they normally would not do and this is an important personal attribute of a leader such as Sam Warner(Grint, 2010).
In the united states the most effective form of leadership is somehow connected to emotional intelligence (Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, 2002). A leader has to be acquainted with his or her own emotions and have the ability to manage them, as well as those of others. There was a very specific situation where Sam Warner showed this very specific personal attribute where he played on the emotions of those close to him and others in order to reach his goal. As Warner Bros were the pioneers of synchronized sound in movies they had to strike a deal with Western Electric´s Bell laboratories for the use of sound in their future films (Bob Thomas, 1990). However the problem was that there was a lot of anti-Semitism during that time and the owners of Western Electric had a reputation of being anti-sematic (Bob Thomas, 1990). Sam Warner did not care and looked for a way into manipulating the owners of Western Electric by playing on their perceptions and emotions. He made up a plan where he told his wife to wear a gold Christian cross during a dinner with the CEOs of the company in order to convince them, an idea which Jack Warner encouraged (Bob Thomas, 1990). These practices were very typical as manipulation and shady meetings were extremely common in this specific period and the Warner Bros were even tied to the mafia at one point (Bob Thomas, 1990).
‘Emotional intelligence deals with the identifying of the emotions of the consumers and employees’ (Alon & Higgins, 2005). Sam’s emotional intelligence was known to be very high as he could read people and understand them. However this does not mean that he dealt with it in a proper manner as manipulation and deceit were one of his characteristics. His and his brothers’, personal attributions consisted of being goal orientated and getting the job done by any means necessary. Yet the use of manipulating other individuals is not always a bad sign of leadership as it shows that the leader is willing to risk a lot for the benefit of the company (Brown, Mitchell, 2010). The lack of honesty also does not mean that a leader lacks charisma. Sam was a Tiran however he had a strong sense of charisma due to the fact that he could influence people. A leader’s charisma can set up the level of affection of the specific followers (Weber, 1921). Warner Brothers was the heart and soul of Sam and his brothers and they would do anything in their power to be the best.
2.3.3 Relationships
After things were going so well they decided to take the company public on the market however one of the brothers, Jack, had other plans. He secretly bought a majority of the stocks and appointed himself as the new C.E.O without the knowledge of his brothers (Cass Warner Sperling, 2008). This basically ended the partnership of the family in a bitter tradition as Jack Warner had gone behind their back in order to claim full ownership over the company. Sam felt betrayed the most as he had put so much effort and innovative ideas in the company (Cass Warner Sperling, 2008). The relationship the brothers shared was not a healthy one as these practices were very ordinary between them (Bob Thomas, 1990). Everything was focused on business and profits were the only thing that concerned them. The results were the most important thing and their relationship and anything else always came second to that (Bob Thomas, 1990).
3 Conclusion
The Warner Brothers have changed the image of motion pictures, an industry which is called a ‘backstabbing’ industry, rather by implementing revolutionary sound or influential motion pictures (Bob Thomas, 1990). They have applied a lot of manipulation to get there though. When people ask about the personal characteristics or relationships the brothers had with each other and other people it would most likely not be a positive answer however their business has not suffered from it (Bob Thomas, 1990). Quite the contrary; in 2013 Warner Bros was the highest grossing film studio of all time and is widely known as one of the largest motion picture studios in the world (Nash Information Services, 2013). Some leaders lead by love, some by manipulation, some by guidance, others by discipline (Grint, 2010). The manner of leading might not be a right one related to moral principles and human interactions, however they did get the job done and brought a huge amount of innovation in the industry by following their own vision which is what is being a leader is all about (Theodore M. Hesburgh, 2000).

References question 2:

Books:
Bob Thomas, 1990.
You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more Clown Prince of Hollywood: The Antic Life and Times of Jack L. Warner. Mcgraw-Hill; First Edition ~1st Printing edition

Cass Warner Sperling, 2008. The Brothers Warner Paperback. Warner Sisters.

Grint, K. 2010. Leadership, a very short introduction. Oxford University Press
Hesburgh, T.M. 2000, God, Country, Notre Dame: The Autobiography of Theodore M. Hesburgh. University of Notre Dame Press.

Jack Warner & Dean Jennings, 1965. My first hundred years in Hollywood. Random House; First Edition edition

Michael Freedland, (1983). The Warner Brothers. St. Martin's Press. St Martins Press; 1st Ed. edition

Articles:
Alon I., & Higgins J.M., 2005. Global leadership success through emotional and cultural intelligences.
Fritz, R. (1998). The Path of Least Resistance: Learning to Become the Creative Force in Your Own Life. New York: Fawcett.
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, D., & McKee, A. (2002).Primal leadership: Realizing the power of emotional intelligence (pp. 17 – 18). Cambridge, MA7 HBR Press.
Langer, E. 2002. Well Being: Mindfulness Verses Positive Evaluation. In Snyder, C.R., & Lopez, S.J. (Eds.), Handbook of Positive Psychology (pp. 214-243). New York: Oxford University Press.
Riggio, R. E., Murphy, S. E., & Pirozzolo, F. J. (Eds.). (2002). Multiple intelligences and leadership. Mahwah, NJ7 Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Weber, M. (1921). The sociology of charismatic authority Republished in translation (1946). H. H. Gerth, & C. W. Milles (Eds.), (1921). Max Weber: Essays in sociology (pp. 245 – 252). New York7 Oxford University Press
Yukl, G. A. (1998). Leadership in Organizations (4th Ed). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

Websites:
Nash Information Services, 2013. Domestic Movie Theatrical Market Summary 1995 to 2013. Retrieved 1st of October from http://www.the-numbers.com/market/

Richard Brody, 2013. The Worst Thing about “Birth of a Nation” Is How Good It Is. Retrieved 16th of September 2013 from http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/movies/2013/02/birth-of-a-nation-revisited.html