I am an avid fan of UK mysteries. Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot are the classic of UK mysteries. I feel very secured when I watch these classi UK mysteries, but I also enjoy watching more recent dramas: Inspector Barnaby, Inspector Morse, A touch of Frost, Georges Gently and so on. One of the things which attract me is the leadership style of the main character.
For instance, Foyle’s War is a UK drama written by Anthony Horowitz. The story takes place in the 1940’s when UK was threatened by the growing power of Nazis. Foyle sets a highest standard to his conduct and always behaves with integrity. In one of the episodes, a bomb by a German bomber devastated the city where Foyle lives. Anemosity against German rises and a German lady gets killed. Foyle says that it does not matter whether a killed person is British or German. It is a murder. If we behaved differently simply because the victim is German, we would be similar Nazis, Foyle says.
I think this is the leadership quality that is really difficult to demonstrate because this is a matter of human quality and human quality is not something you can acquire quickly. You may be able to think ahead and form a powerful vision in 2 - 3 years; you may be able to learn to influence people through your passion in 2 - 3 years; however, this quality will take at least 10 years of conscoius and unconscious behaviours over integrity.
Inspector Barnaby is also interesting in that the hero, Mr. Barnaby, behaves with respect and uses his intelligence as a weapon rather than power or intimidation. Detectives tend to speak loud or aggressively and intimidates suspects so that hopefully they start to tell the truth. In other words, old fashioned detectives use physical power as persuasion. However, Mr. Barnaby speaks gently and shows respect to suspects. When suspects see Mr. Barnaby getting to the truth with just a glimpse of sign or a fragment of facts, suspects feel unable to resist and tell the truth. He pushes suspects to the corner and compels them to tell the truth by using his developed ability to deduce a integrated story from the isolated pieces of facts. Is this also an interesting leadership quality?
I know that it may be absurd to discuss characters in a fiction, but it makes sense because I am talking about the value the author cares and promotes.
