Movies can offer important career lessons – I watched 3 Idiots recently which offers lots of career and life lessons, it also gave me the impetus to write about the below from some of my favourite films.

Good Will Hunting – The importance of mentoring

‘It’s not your fault’ (that you dated Minnie Driver) Robin Williams tells Matt Damon in one of their mentoring sessions, whereby he helps Will Hunting  turn his life around and put his life back on track. Having talent and ability is useless unless you know what to do with it. Being able to get career advice and share thoughts and frustrations with a mentor  undoubtedly will help everyone in their work life.

Catch Me If You Can – Don’t burn bridges and second chances

In this film, Tom Hanks spends the whole movie trying to catch Leonardo Di Caprio who is a career con-man. When he finally does catch him – rather than put him in jail he offers him a job within the counterfeiting investigation department. The moral of the story is that we should never burn bridges as you never know who you will end up working with. Keep all work relationships positive – Hank’s character also recognised Leo’s potential and gave him a second chance in his career.

3 Idiots – Pursue your passion 

Growing up, I’m sure you’ve all felt societal and family pressures to get into certain professional careers. One of the central themes of the movie is that we should stand our ground against outside influences and pursue a career in life that we are truly passionate about. ‘Pursue excellence and success will follow’ – i.e. be good at what you do and do it with passion.

The Avengers – Teamwork

The Avengers are superheroes with different strengths and weaknesses, as individuals they cannot defeat Loki and his cockroach-like aliens, but working together as a team they do win. Superstars in their own right; they also recognise that they need to step out of the limelight, leverage off each others strengths and work together for the common good. No matter how good you are, real successes will come from being able to adapt and work collaboratively with others.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – The rise of temporary work 

Mikael Blomqvist hits a road-block in his missing person investigation, until he hires Lisbeth Sander as a short-term contractor. Her expertise in new media and ‘computer programming’ complement his old-school skills of journalism and investigation. They are from different walks of life, but for a short period they work together successfully and the crime gets solved. In 2012 we’re definitely seeing an increasing trend in temporary work and it’s becoming something both employers and job seekers should be comfortable with as an alternative to permanent work.

Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back  – Working with family

Darth Vader to Luke: ‘It is your destiny, join me and together we can rule the galaxy as father and son’. Luke doesn’t turn to the dark side; however in the real world family can work successfully together, but not when you drop a bombshell about your arch-enemy being your father!!

I’m sure I’ve missed a few here –  have any movies taught you lessons which have impacted your career?

3 Idiots, career lessons, Catch Me If You Can, Good Will Hunting, mentoring, Star Wars, teamwork, temporary work, The Avengers, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, work with passion