Characters from books and movies can teach us a lot about management and leadership styles. For example, the famous character of “Miranda Priestly” in “Devil wears Prada” is the personification of the term “workaholic”. A tough task master, she is the Editor in Chief of “Runway” magazine. The whole of Runway shudders at the thought of her. She is shown to be someone for whom the rules can be bent and she expects everyone to be at her call. For those of you who have neither read the book or watched the movie, spoiler alert.
The film begins with Andy who is looking for a job and lands at the Runway office and is greeted by Emily who was the second assistant of Miranda and had just been promoted as the first assistant. Andy comes for the interview for the role of second assistant to Miranda. Going by her physical appearance, Miranda does not seem impressed with Andy since Andy does not fit into the conventional look of a high-end fashion magazine employee. However, Miranda appoints Andy thinking that Andy might be a welcome change from her previous assistants. The film shows the transformation of Andy from someone who joins the company just to make ends meet and for the work experience to someone who seems extremely passionate about her job. Andy transforms into the stereotypical employee of the fashion industry and learns things fast so that she can prove herself. Miranda seems upset with Andy initially but when Andy fights all odds and does exceptionally well as time progresses, Miranda indirectly considers Andy as her first assistant and asks her to accompany Miranda on a trip to Paris for the fashion show for which Emily was working hard for. Though hesitant at first, Andy agrees to go for the fashion show and realizes there that Miranda’s arch rival Jacqueline from the French Runway had conspired to take up the role of Miranda as Editor in chief of Runway. Andy tries to inform Miranda the same but before she could, Miranda makes an announcement at a meeting that it would be Jacqueline instead of Nigel (who is a passionate and loyal employee of Runway and helps Andy in the beginning) who will leave Runway for Holt (a rising fashion star for whom Nigel planned to be the creative director as per Miranda’s recommendation). Later in the day, Miranda tells Andy that she knew thatAndy wanted to share the news she got to know about Miranda but that Miranda already knew it. At that point Andy realizes that Miranda made a decision to save herself as she did not want to leave the fame and money her job offers and she doesn’t mind being unethical at times and Andy says that she would never do something like that to which Miranda replies to Andy “you already did when you agreed to come for the fashion show despite knowing how hard Emily worked for it” Andy suddenly realizes that this was not the kind of life she wanted and leaves Miranda to reunite with her boyfriend with whom she had split ways. The film ends with Andy at a new job and has a chance encounter with Miranda, who ignores her and is seen to be her usual self.
Miranda’s statements in the movie, say a lot about her approach:
“That’s All.”
Truth Is, There’s No One Who Can Do What I Do.”
And This Layout For The Winter Wonderland Spread. Not Wonderful Yet.”
On this episode of Beyond Biases, we will discuss the leadership style of Miranda Priestly and how one we can handle a difficult boss like her. Tune in.
KEY QUESTIONS:
- What type of leadership or management style is reflected here?
- How can employees deal with such a boss?
- What can organizations do to deal with these type of leaders?
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