The print and digital pages of Fast Company are bursting with inspirational stories and actionable insights from leaders from every sector–the real business bosses who move industries forward while inspiring underlings to ever greater feats of productivity and innovation.
But there’s no reason the learning has to stop just because you’ve clocked off work and you’re at home soaking in hours of streamed entertainment or time-shifted/on-demand TV. In fact, the lessons from the fictional leaders in our favorite films and episodic shows are magnified through the power of narrative. Even if their often extreme management techniques wouldn’t fly in our everyday business lives, these imagined leaders still set enduring examples, and provide lessons we can draw from when the going gets tough, or we’re facing a career decision point.
And so, as part of Fast Company‘s New Rules of Work Week, we wanted to salute these fictional bosses by choosing one supreme leader. We’ve created a Boss Bracket (see below) and we’re putting it to you to choose what TV/movie boss you’d follow to the gates of hell/Monday status meeting.
A note about methodology: Not all the bosses here are corporate leaders who work in offices. Some of them are crime bosses. Some rule kingdoms (and dragons). We included all the leaders of people (and other beings) who had relevant management lessons to teach, whether they were applied on the streets, in the boardroom, or in space.
And note also: not all of these bosses were loved. Some were feared. We’ll leave the eternal question of which is the more effective leadership strategy to Sonny from A Bronx Tale and to you, dear bracket voter.
Here’s how it works: We’ll open the voting for 24 hours per round, starting at 6 a.m. each day, until we’ve eliminated all but the best boss.
That means, today is the day to vote for your round 1 picks.
Remember: don’t vote for the nicest person, or your favorite show–vote for the baddest-ass boss. Sound off in the comments. And then get back to work!