Putting The Spotlight On Spotlight

3 Lessons We Can Learn From The Film

Spotlight, based on a true story, charts the journey taken by a team of journalist from The Boston Globe newspaper to uncover a child sex abuse scandal involving Catholic priest in Boston.

Leaders Introduce New Perspectives With Courtesy & Respect
The idea to pursue a story about the Roman Catholic Church was actually mooted by Martin Baron, a newcomer to The Boston Globe who was hired to lead the newspaper as its editor. As the outsider, he brought in a fresh pair of eyes to news that had been circulated for years but were not followed-up on. The existing writers and editors were capable but they were complacent and did not want to rock the boat too much.

As the new leader, Martin was not afraid to propose new ideas but he did this in a calm and diplomatic manner. Rather than tell his team to do as they were told – Martin instead made a polite request: would you consider taking this case? Martin was always civil and courteous to the members of his team, even in the most stressful situations. He never raised his voice and never spoke without carefully considering the impact of his words. This was Martin’s way of respecting his colleagues, even though they were also his subordinates.

Leaders Lead With Courage
Martin’s courage to pursue a sensitive and potentially explosive issue rubbed off on his colleagues. His team was encouraged and Martin praised them when they were persistent and dauntless, he understood that courage is not innate but needs to be fostered and appreciated. As a result, the team excelled at their job and refused to be hampered by setbacks, regardless of how serious the situation could be. So yes, courage is infectious. When more people become brave, they then become emboldened by their mission and are indefatigable.

Leaders often want such passionate and dedicated employees, but the former forget that they need to be the first to lead the charge.

Leaders Foster Team Spirit By Occasionally Doing The Grunt Work
One of the best moments in the film was when Martin joined the rest of his team to sift through years of the Church’s annual directories to locate and identify priest suspected of child sexual abuse. The task of spending weeks going through old and dusty stacks of directories, spending long hours poring over thousands of pages of names in tiny print, collating the information and then keying them into spreadsheets, is nothing but pure tedium. But Martin never pushed the boring and mundane tasks to his subordinates only to reap the glory of their results for himself.

Teamwork involves every member of the team and a leader never forgets that he or she is as much a part of the team as everyone else. By sharing the grunt work, Martin was able to not only better appreciate what his team did on a daily basis but he was also able to propose solutions to problems based on the kind of details he discovered during the process. Martin may not have regarded his subordinates as his equal in rank, but he valued their contributions as being equal to his. He knew that the story could only be told with everyone on board, working hard as a cohesive team.