Last month, a group of friends and I had the opportunity to watch the movie "The Internship" which featured Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as two mid-career traveling watch salesmen who land an internship at Google after finding themselves out of work because of their company closing down.  Shockingly this movie was better than I thought it would be.  It provided real life lessons for job seekers and members of the younger generation who desire career leadership success in the 21st Century.  Moreover, as a national speaker with a passion to empower the next generation of leaders in America, I was able to discover some key leadership and career skills that every individual must consider if they are going to obtain career and leadership success in the 21st Century.  

Although many of the interns featured in the movie were smarter, more tech savvy, more intelligent, and more equipped to succeed as an intern than Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson's characters, it was those characters who actually succeeded more than all the others.  Vaughn and Wilson's characters possessed a certain set of skills that these other interns failed to fully develop in school.  My goal for this month's newsletter is to provide you with four specific questions that you must ask yourself if you desire to obtain the career and leadership success that these two characters in the featured film experienced as interns with Google.

Are You A Socially Competent Leader?

Leadership and Career Skill #1

The first leadership and career skill that enabled Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson's characters to obtain great success in the movie was their ability to serve as social competent leaders.  In essence, although both characters had their share of communication mishaps, by the end of the movie, it was clear that these two characters were the most socially competent leaders of the group.  They were both most effective at communicating, negotiating, decreasing conflict, developing strong bonds, and achieving personal goals in various social interactions while maintaining positive relationships with others.

Lesson: Individuals searching for career and leadership success in the 21st Century must be socially competent leaders who know how to build quality relationships with others, attain social goals in specific social contexts, achieve desired outcomes and adaptability in different social settings, perform well socially in different cultural social settings, and maintain positive relationships with others in various social settings.

Do you have a Positive Attitude?

Leadership and Career Skill #2

The second leadership and career skill that enabled Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson's characters to obtain great success in the movie was their optimistic attitude and strong desire to have fun on the job.  Both characters had to deal with several different challenges and extremely boring situations throughout the movie.  By the end of the movie, it was clear that these two characters were able to enjoy themselves more than others and overcome many of these unique challenges throughout the featured film because they maintained an optimistic attitude and had fun regardless of the negative situations that transpired in the movie.

Lesson: Individuals searching for career and leadership success in the 21st Century must have fun doing what they desire to do professionally and they must bring a positive attitude to their desired profession every day regardless of the situation.  Life has taught many well-known individuals of our past and present that your attitude or positive mindset can have a huge impact on your success in life. 

Are You An Exceptional Team Player?

Leadership and Career Skill #3

The third leadership and career skill that enabled Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson's characters to obtain great success in the movie was their ability to serve effectively as an exceptional team player.  Both characters had their share of flaws when it came to technology, by the end of the movie, it was clear that these two characters were able to overcome many of these flaws because they knew how to lead, serve, and work effectively with the members of their team.

Lesson: Individuals searching for career and leadership success in the 21st Century must be exceptional team players which consist of individuals who respect everyone, treat everyone well on the team, communicate and deal with conflict effectively, listen to all the different concerns from each of the members, are honest with one another, work with others to obtain a common purpose established by the group, inspire and motivate others in the group, and make sure that you win and lose as a group verses individually. 

Are You Resilient?

Leadership and Career Skill #4

The fourth leadership and career skill that enabled Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson's characters to obtain great success in the movie was their resilience as leaders.  Both characters were fired from their previous jobs, portrayed as irrelevant workers in the internship program at Google, and complete failures at certain moments in the film.  By the end of the movie, it was clear that these two characters were able to succeed because they had a strong ability to cope, adapt, endure, persevere, and overcome challenges, obstacles, failures, rejection, uncertainties, and fears that stood between them and their desired goal.

Lesson: Individuals searching for career and leadership success in the 21st Century must have a strong ability to cope with adversity and adapt to challenges or changing circumstances because it's a requirement of obtaining personal, career, and leadership success.  Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, and Oprah Winfrey are great examples of this leadership concept.