The Leadership Genius Behind a Hollywood Legend—GLS22 Session Notes

Anyone who has succeeded in the business of Hollywood for as long as Ron Howard would have to be called a legend. Transitioning from a child actor to an Academy Awarding-winning filmmaker, all the while creating a thriving personal and family life, is something to emulate. During his interview, our audience heard about his new film, Thirteen Lives, and listened in as Erwin Raphael McManus drew out the secrets behind Ron Howard’s success. In this interview, they explored the process of telling a great story, building trust that produces long and rewarding partnerships, navigating imposter syndrome, and creating a culture where everyone thrives.

Enjoy these official session notes from Ron Howard’s interview at The Global Leadership Summit on August 4-5, 2022—The Leadership Genius Behind a Hollywood Legend.

The Secret to Identifying a Great Story

• • • Bet on your own curiosity.
    • If something fascinates you about a story, that’s a great jumping off place.
    • You have to believe you have something to contribute.
    • Audiences sense it when something’s a little bit more personal.
    • The goal is to draw people in to create a pathway of empathy for the characters and the situation. If the director doesn’t feel those things and doesn’t know how to convey them in some personal way, audiences tend to fold their arms lean back.
    • There’s still far more that we, the audience, have in common with them than not. I love to find those moments, convey them, and create that connection.
    • I’m looking for what’s relatable, and I always go back to my own curiosity and interest.

The Secret to Lifelong Partnerships

• • • The secret to lifelong partnerships includes compatibility and the ability to grow.
    • There are some relationships where people drift apart during that growth, but we’re all on a journey.
    • It’s about communication and thinking about the other person.
    • If it can’t work, I think you need to own up to that and understand it through communication, real thought, care, and love.

The Secret Art of Leading Teams

• • • I have a team mentality and a team-made mentality.
    • I enjoy trying to create an environment that brings out the best in people. But within that framework, it’s understood that people are going be challenged by me or by the situation.
    • There are going to be difficult, stressful moments, but if we can share and agree upon the outcome goals, we have a good chance of getting there in ways where people really make tremendous contributions.
    • When you’re making a film or television show, it’s much more like an expedition.
      • • During an expedition, people can put up with an awful lot from one another.
        • I may not agree 100%, but they might be really good at this thing that this expedition or this challenge needs. So, that’s a different kind of leadership.

The Secret of Cultivating Genius

• • • My dad told me none of the greats get there and stay there without understanding the process.
    • The greats play to win, and they know what it takes to win. Sometimes that means not getting their way all the time. The greats know it’s not them alone doing a scene.
    • If you make yourself a worthy, available collaborator in these processes, it’s amazing.
    • They are the hardest workers. The greats go further—they care more.

The Secret to Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

• • • In the beginning, as a young director, I was far more dictatorial and controlling.
    • Now I have the confidence to open it up for discussion. I have the confidence to say, I don’t have the answer to that question. Let’s find it. What do you think?
    • I loved creating in a collaborative environment, one where great talent excels.
    • I had to learn that despite all my work, despite some of the great people that I was able to work with and cast, I wasn’t getting to the level I thought the story could go.
    • I began to recognize that I was the problem. I was creating a ceiling. It was my imagination, my sense of what to do. People were following right along, because they wanted the director to lead, but we weren’t getting there.
    • When I began to open it up, I could see that scenes were taking off. They were going somewhere beyond what I had even imagined.
    • The more confidence I gained, the more I could let go.
    • When you open the door, you’re allowing a lot of conversation, and it means you’re going to have to edit people’s ideas.
    • When you communicate enough, their batting average becomes better.
    • If people know you’re willing to listen and say yes and embrace a new idea, they trust that and they’re also much more willing to hear a no. They understand it’s not about ego.

The Secret to a Thriving Culture

• • • It’s about clarity. It’s about understanding what the goal is and being able to share excitement for that.
    • If you can create an environment where people have an opportunity to contribute, they can do their best work.
    • If you can create an environment where it’s not just “Do what I need and that’ll be fine,” and instead, say “Here’s what we need, what can you contribute?” or “How can I help create an environment where you can excel?” and people know you’re open to growing through their contributions, it creates an environment where people feel really invested.

The Secret to Modern-Day Heroism

• • • With technological shifts, cultural change, economic shifts, along with everything else, there’s a tremendous amount of insecurity that creates divisiveness.
    • Thirteen Lives is a story of the rescue of the kids from a cave in northern Thailand. It is a fascinating story of volunteerism and international effort.
    • It’s about creating an environment to welcome people in with their best ideas.
    • In intense situations, where you put a lot of talented, passionate people in a room, the best idea wins.
    • It’s been a couple years of my life spent telling stories and trying to convey the difference people can make, and what modern-day heroism can really look like—it comes in a lot of shapes, sizes, and colors.
    • If we could all work together in collaboration, become community together, we can address some of our world’s problems.

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