“You know the results of the latest Gallup Poll? Half the country never
                                even heard of the word Watergate. Nobody (cares). You guys are probably
                                 pretty tired, right? Well, you should be. Go on home, get a nice hot bath. Rest
                                 up... 15 minutes. Then get (back) in gear. We're under a lot of pressure, you
                                 know, and you put us there. Nothing's riding on this except the, uh, first amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press, and maybe the future of the country. Not that any of that matters, but if you guys (mess) up again, I'm going to get mad. Goodnight.”

This gripping film tells the story of how two upstart Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman), uncovered the Watergate scandal that resulted in the resignation of President Richard Nixon.  Jason Robards turns in a stellar performance as the gritty Editor-in-Chief at the Post, Ben Bradlee, and Hal Holbrook is bathed in shadow throughout as Bernstein’s famous “anonymous source,” Deepthroat.

The film outlines the struggles of Woodward and Bernstein as they fight to gather information on the Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP) and their involvement with a burglary at the Democratic Party Headquarters in Washington D.C. (located at the Watergate complex).

Lessons Learned

Leadership is illustrated throughout the film by different entities:
* The leadership of the Nixon administration
* The leadership of Ben Bradlee, Washington Post Editor-In-Chief
* The leadership of Woodward and Bernstein

The Leadership of the Nixon Administration

Throughout the film, the Nixon Administration is deliberately secretive about their involvement with CREEP.  Further, the administration tries repeatedly to discredit the work of Woodward and Bernstein, and attack them as individuals.

As leaders of our nation, the Nixon administration failed to demonstrate several leadership through their illegal actions and their subsequent efforts to cover them up.

These failures highlight the administrations shortcomings in the following competencies:

* Adopting beneficial values for society (social responsibility)
* Providing a good example (social responsibility)
* Knowledge of legal regulations (social responsibility)
* Explaining decisions in a respectful manner (social responsibility)
* Avoiding exploitative mentality (social responsibility)
* Work place ethics (social responsibility)
* Honesty and integrity (social responsibility)
* Being accountable (social responsibility)

The Leadership of Ben Bradlee, Washington Post Editor-In-Chief

Ben Bradlee is in an interesting position throughout the film.  He is under enormous pressure from very powerful individuals to order Woodward and Bernstein off of the story, yet he trusts his employees to do their jobs, and believes them when they say that they wish to continue with the story because of its importance.  As indicated by the above quote, Bradlee continually recognizes what is at stake, and continues to challenge his reporters to do their job in a thorough and “by-the-book” manner.
 

Bradlee’s success as a leader in the film highlights his mastery of several core competencies found in the leadership model.  Some particularly relevant to the story are:

* Task relevant knowledge (task management)
* Delegating (task management)
* Providing feedback (task management)
* Decision making (task management)
* Maintaining quality (task management)
* Personnel decision quality (task management)
* Strategic task management (task management)

The Leadership of Woodward and Bernstein

Perhaps most laudable is the leadership shown by Woodward and Bernstein in the film.  The persistence and creativity they show throughout the completion of their work highlight several core competencies contained in the “Innovation” dimension in the model:

* Generating ideas (innovation)
* Critical thinking (innovation)
* Creative problem solving (innovation)
* Gathering information (innovation)
* Independent thinking (innovation)
* Openness to ideas (innovation)
* Research orientation (innovation)
* Collaborating (innovation)
* Sensitivity to situations (innovation)
* Challenging the status quo (innovation)
* Intelligent risk taking (innovation)

As shown, this is a great film for illustrating the proper (and not so proper) execution of several of the leadership competencies contained in our model.

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