Rudy, 1993

The true-life story of Rudy Ruettiger, a small town boy who has dreams of joining the Notre Dame football team. After graduating high school, Rudy works in the local steel mill with the rest of his family as expected, but his boyhood dreams of playing Notre Dame football resurface when a mill accident claims a friend's life. Rudy leaves home to pursue his dream, and although he struggles with a learning disability, he gains admission to Notre Dame. Despite his small build, his display of undying motivation and determination during football tryouts and practices earns him a spot on the team and, ultimately, a chance to run out of the famed tunnel and into the hearts of dreamers everywhere. An inspiration for achieving the impossible, the movie Rudy is a great illustration of how self-confidence, hard work, and persistence will help you achieve any goal.

Lessons Learned

Goal Setting and its Influence on Behavior

At the heart of the story, is Rudy's drive and determination to achieve his ultimate goal of playing football for Notre Dame. His high degree of self-confidence, termed self-efficacy in psychology literature, coupled with his strategy of setting a series of small goals enable him to achieve a life long dream.

Theories of motivation and goal setting are very relevant to the movie's theme. Researchers have suggested that self-efficacy (an individual's belief that he or she can perform a task) and goals interact to describe the main features of task-specific motivation and are thought to be the most direct predictors of performance.¹ Research on the interaction of self-efficacy, self-set goals, and motivation has found that high self-efficacy leads to setting challenging goals and enhanced performance.² Goals influence behavior by focusing attention and effort. Difficult but achievable goals stimulate behavior and motivate individuals to persist over time.

Goal orientation has often been used to describe individual differences in achievement motivation, and has been described as a mental framework for how individuals respond to and interpret achievement situations.³ Furthermore, goal orientation is thought to have an influence on activity choice and how ability and effort are interpreted in situations of achievement.⁴ Rudy is a prime example of these theories in practice. His high level of optimism and self-efficacy lead him to set high goals and ultimately achieve them.

Past Experiences and Role Models' Influence on Goal Directed Behavior

Research on adult development and the role that significant life events have in one's subsequent planning of adaptive responses⁵ also can be seen in the movie. Rudy looses his friend Pete, a key motivating person in his life, to a freak accident at work. A turning point event such as this, one that leads to a salient modification of goals and plans⁶, is the catalyst that motivates Rudy to change the course of his life and pursue his boyhood dream.

Feedback through encounters with mentors provide people with information about themselves and helps them calibrate their self-image and formulate goals.⁷ Various men take on a mentorship role and influence Rudy throughout this period of his youth. Rudy finds support for achieving his dreams through the following mentors: former Notre Dame President, Father John Cavanaugh, legendary head coach, Ara Parseghian, his friend D-Bob, and the stadium custodian. Each man plays a significant role in helping Rudy to realize the steps needed to achieve his goals.

Discussion Questions

* Did Rudy have a strategy for achieving his goal of becoming a Notre Dame football player? What specific steps did he take to get from working in the factory to ultimately running out onto the field for the Georgia Tech game?

* How was the strategy of setting smaller goals to achieve larger ones demonstrated in this movie?

* What key life events and individuals played a part in Rudy's determination, goal setting, and goal achievement and how did these key events and individuals influence him?

* How did Rudy's persistence affect those around him, including his family, his high school girlfriend Sherry, his college friend D-Bob, and his Notre Dame teammates?

 

Competencies Addressed

 References

¹ Locke, E. A. (1991). The motivation sequence, the motivation hub, and the motivation core. Organizational Behavior & Human Decision Processes, 50, 288-299.

² Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. (1990). A Theory of Goal Setting and Task Performance. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

³ Brett, J. F., & VandeWalle, D. (1999). Goal orientation and specific goal content as predictors of performance outcomes in a training program. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84, 863-873.

⁴ Dweck, C. S. (1986). Motivational processes affecting learning. American Psychologist, 41, 1040-1048.

⁵ McAdams, D. P. (2001). The psychology of life stories. Review of General Psychology, 5, 100-123.

⁶ Mumford, M. D., & Manley, G. G. (2003). Putting the development in leadership development: Implications for theory and practice. In S. E. Murphy & R. E. Riggio (Eds.), The Future of Leadership Development (pp. 237-260). Mahwah, NJ: USum Associates.

⁷ London, M. (2002). Self Regulation: Processes for maintaining motivation and resilience. In M. London (Ed.), Leadership Development (pp. 59-78). Mahwah, NJ: LEA.

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