Leadership in the Movies "Wall Street"

This film deals with corporate America and the ethical behavior in the workplace. Bud Fox, as a young account executive, has the desire to become the highest salesperson in his company, and also the desire to become very rich. His focus is centered on getting a big account, mainly Gordon Gekko's. Gordon Gekko appears as a leader because of his charisma and his power to reward and by being an expert in his field as an investor. Gekko uses his power as a leader for personal gain. He uses his leadership negatively. He uses persuasion with reward –making Bud a "very rich" man—to get him to get inside trading information. This knowledge is against the law. By forcing Bud to make a quick decision to be on "his team", Bud spies on Laurence Wildman. That information secures Anacott Steel. This is similar to Monfrienz' persuasion over the crewmembers in Courage Under Fire. Their actions were guilty of courts-martial. He used fear of death while Gordon uses fear of loss of his account with Bud. Gordon is similar to Jack in Lord of the Flies in persuading followers to pick sides. Gordon persuades stockholders of the paper company to vote for selling instead of liquidating some of their assets. He bragged about his abilities to make the stockholders money like Jack bragged about being a hunter. Gordon is an autocratic leader. His high-rolling life style and need to become richer is a driving force. He admits to being greedy to Bud. He wants everyone that is a part of "his team" to follow his directives. In order to remain a team member, all members will do as he says. He gave no thought to his actions and their effect upon others. Gordon easily influences Bud Fox. Gordon is everything that Bud wants to be. When Gordon wants information that no one else knows, Bud is confronted with making the decision to provide the inside information. Since Gordon is aggressive unlike Bud's father or Lou Manheim, Gordon is the influence. This is very similar