Still from Free Angela and All Political Prisoners
Lisa-Marie Napoli, director of IU’s Political and Civic Engagement program, reveals what she hopes their Leadership, Truth, and Justice film series inspires in audiences.
Inspiration for leadership comes in many forms. How often do you allow yourself to stop and consider where you derive your inspiration? For most of us in a fast-paced world it is not very often but luckily, in the most challenging moments, we find ways to “dig deep” and to tap into the source that motivates us at the core to do work that requires courage, conviction, and clarity. The Leadership, Truth, and Justice Creative Collaborations series provides film-viewing opportunities to witness unique individuals and ways they derive their own sense of inspiration, values, and conviction to stand for what they believe in, even in the face of stark adversity, fear, and uncertainty. Whether one can relate to, agree with, or empathize with these leadership approaches or not, viewers have an opportunity to discover and further reflect on leadership stories to develop a deeper sense of personal inspiration and clarity.
The hope is that this clarity can guide us to move toward action to make a positive difference in individual and collective ways. To be fully engaged in productive conversation to make a difference, it requires a slowing down to recognize the values that inspire and drive us to act and to remain open to other perspectives, without losing attunement to our values, so we can broaden our understanding of a situation and make choices to move forward.
How do we learn to trust inner strength and vulnerability for leadership development when there are distractions affronting in most every direction? There are many examples to witness in films that do just that. This series allows us to explore ways that get to the point where we can confidently rely on, believe in, and trust that our values, whatever they might be, are aligned in such a way that it can bring beneficial outcomes. These outcomes may take the form of healing, forgiveness, new understandings, renewed perspectives, cultural revitalization, or otherwise that can potentially move toward healthier democratic practice.
At a crucial moment in society such as now, trusting one’s leadership journey is an opportunity to examine it as a democratic practice, to reflect on it, to examine inner values, and to take a slow deep breath to honor it and to also value fellow community members — both inside and outside of the academy — willing to commit to this form of civic engagement in a renewed manner. Trusting and hoping that the fear of democracy failing alleviates, especially as we approach another significant election cycle. Knowing that each of us has a chance to develop our own democratic practice within our abilities is motivation.
Genuinely, we aim to find another way beyond polarizing gridlock, through deep reflection about political and civic leadership, using film as a source of reflection. The insights gained from reflection can collectively shift how democracy happens. It is imperative that each person tap into what it means to find a respectful, caring sense of democratic practice that benefits the greater good.
Still from The Times of Harvey Milk
Viewing the unfolding stories of Angela Davis, Harvey Milk, and Donald Rumsfeld, documentary-style throughout the series, there are feelings of bewilderment and curiosity, intrigue and shock, delight and perplexity, concern and confusion, clarity, and profound amazement at how the inner worlds of individuals manage to find their path in response to external circumstances. The context allows for their stories to unfold.
We get a chance to observe powerfully different leadership styles and to challenge ourselves to sit, breathe, and reflect on what inspires and what does not, knowing that individual actions derive from a depth of values and, from here, find a way to articulate motivation behind their actions for inner truth to emerge. How do we know if truth moves toward genuine justice? What does it mean to be genuine in our search for justice if that is what we seek?
There is much to learn from remarkable examples. Angela Davis, an activist, academic, and author, navigates her leadership journey with purpose in the face of fear and the search for safety in moving away from adverse situations and speaking about oppressive systems. Harvey Milk, a small business owner and the first openly gay man in public office, faces suspicions and yet develops leadership in the plight to do work to better community and strive toward equality. Donald Rumsfeld, politician, government official, and businessperson, acknowledges the complexity of leadership and nuances of decision-making and gives a reminder that sometimes the things you think you know, you don’t. By viewing how lives and stories of leadership intimately unfold on the screen, we have a chance to reflect, to be moved emotionally, to consider differently, and to allow our own leadership journey in a search for truth, openness, and self-respect guide inspiration to respond with clear intention and positive action. Please join us for this film series and a chance to have meaningful conversations about what we view and how it impacts leadership.
The series Leadership, Truth, and Justice will begin on October 19 with Free Angela and All Political Prisoners, followed by The Times of Harvey Milk on November 2. A third film, The Unknown Known (Errol Morris, 2013), will be screened for free at the Monroe County Public Library on November 16 at 6pm with a post-film conversation.
This series is supported through IU Cinema’s Creative Collaborations program.
Lisa-Marie Napoli, Ph.D., received her M.P.A. in Public Policy and Management from Ohio State University and her doctoral degree in Public Affairs at Indiana University. She currently is director of the Political and Civic Engagement (PACE) program; co-chair of IU’s Big Ten Voting Challenge; and founding director of PACE’s Voices for Democracy and Civility project. Napoli is trained as a mediator, facilitator, researcher, and public engagement consultant and enjoys working with students to bring ‘theory to practice.’