Using Popular Culture Resources to Build Affective Leadership Skills

This paper discusses an autodidactic approach for strengthening one’s leadership skill set, in an informal, lower cost manner through intentional consumption of, and reflection on, popular culture resources. This paper posits that popular culture is rife with learning opportunities for affective skill building to be used alongside more formal leadership trainings and professional development. This paper provides a concrete example of the application of popular culture lessons to strengthen one’s leadership skills, such as empathy, listening, giving feedback, and dismantling biases to create a positive and inclusive work environment. Drawing on books, podcasts, television shows and movies, the paper provides a model for matching engagement with all types of media to intentional reflection to strengthen one’s leadership skills.