Question

How do the other character around Belfort in the movie The Wolfe of Wall Street respond or react to the ethical issues happening in the workplace? Do they ignore it? Do they join in? Do they complain?

Answer 1

"The Wolf of Wall Street was a hit movie. People glorified the movie itself and also Jordon Belfort,the main character. The story, and plot were extravagant,wild and fun. One of the craziest parts about this movie is that the story is true.

There are some key takeaways (for good or bad). These are based on what happened to Belfort and his investment company,Stratton Oakmont. Here are seven lessons that you can take away from his story.

• Being good friends with your employees means they will do anything for your company - In the movie, the people that work for Jordon Belfort are willing to practically sacrifise their lives for him. One of the reasons is that the culture they created in the office was extremely fraternal. There were defintely consequences to this, but one benefit was that people would do anything for him. The company felt like an extremely tight-knit community.Belfort had strong individual relationships with his employees to make sacrifises for the company.

• Do not rule someone out because of past issues -Jordon Belfort took a chance on a handful of employees that were in dire situations. Despite past misconduct or lack of experience, he looked at personality and work ethic when making decisions. As a result, he hired many of the "wrong types" of people. These people did great work for him, and felt indebted for the opportunity. It teaches to look beyond a resume or a few key signals when making hiring choices.

• Social gatherings are great way to buld company culture -The social gatherings occurring in The Wolf of Wall Street were frequently unhealthy. There was an emphasis on misgynistic attitudes and treating people poorly. That theme is not one that should be replicated, the idea of unique and fun social gatherings should. Stratton Oakmont was extremely creative about the events that they had. These activities created a stronger bond between people at the company and offered a fun, social outlet. They were not events that the employees just felt an obligation to attend. Company get-togethers do not have to be as morally wrong as Stratton Oakmont's were to acccomplish the same thing. Rather, it takes extra creativity and effort from a company.

• Be careful about what you are sacrifising for money or sucess- Another big takeaway from the movie was the value of sacrifise. Jordon Belfort became an entirely different person once getting involved in Wall Street. His life might have been appeared more "fun" to the naked eye. That said, he made a lot of sacrifises to get there. He treated people poorly, divorced his first wife and ingested copious amounts of drugs. Ultimately he hurt the very people that he cared about and who cared about him. It can be tempting to make bad decisions for instant gratification. The most sucessful entrepreneurs are the ones that are able to avoid these impulses. The goal is to consistently make thoughful, healthy decisions. Stayimg consistent with your lifetime values, no matter what, is a truer base for sucess abd happiness.

• Sometimes it makes sense to quit while you are ahead - Jordon Belfort had an opportunity to step back and walk from the negative company culture. He had financial stability and he might have been able to get away with a lot of his illegal activity. Instead, he was tempted back into work. He let the comradery and the instant gratification outweigh the right decision to let someone else take over as CEO. This ended up costing him greatly-everything. Outside of illegal situations, the Wolf on Wall Street offers important lessons about being aware of your role in your company. Sometimes, the best choice is to take a step back. This could be due to personality clashes or you not being the right fir for the role any longer. It is difficult to have that self-awareness. Doing so, though, will leave you and your company better off.

• A competitive or intense company culture has pros and cons- On one side, Belfort's employees worked extremely hard due to Stratton Oakmont's culture. This effort led to high output and a high standard of work. On the other hand, people made moral sacrifises for achivement. They did illegal things and acted immorally. Belfort did not realise what was going to emerge from the culture that he was trying to create. This made for a toxic situation. When there is such a higj degree of intensity, especially with money involved,people can make poor decisions. Therefore, when thinking about company culture, there is an important balance to try and strike.

• Take life a little less seriously - The Wolf on Wall Street is a refresher course on how not to take life too seriously. Belfort and Stratton Oakmont made so many crazy decisions. While they paid the consequences for those choices, and this by no means worthwhile, they also had a ton of fun.

Running a company is extremelt challenging. Therefore, it is crucial to enjoy the journey. Constant stress just makes it more difficult.We all know and understand that we donot need illegal activity to put mechanisms in place that allow for more fun and enjoyment at work.

Films at their best, can simultaneously be both art and entertainment. They also have the potential to provide powerful insights into human experience and the nature of soceity. Films set in corporate contexts can provide insights into the nature of organisational life and thus represent a potentially interesting source of data to analyse or can be a catayst to thinking.

Martin Scorcese's film, The Wolf of Wall Street, which examines the rise and fall of Jordon Belfort, a New York financial trader represents one such film. The film is not a documentary based on Belfort's own depiction of his life. Thus the film shoud be regarded as an objective source of factual information. It is one director's interpretation of a person's inevitably subjective and partial description of their experience. Despite this, the film sucessfully and provocatively raises various questions about the corporate world of investment banking.

Firstly it raises questions about the nature of leadership, the behaviour of "followers" as well as issues of ethics. The depiction of Belfort suggests he represents the embodiment of a charismatic leader,someone who is able to articulate a clear vision of his organisation's future and simultaneously motivate his employees to buy into it. Despite this, the depiction of Belfort is ultimately not a positive one.

Firstly the film raises ethical questions about the nature of the goals which Beltfort articulates, as well as the way they are acheived. In Belfort's world, the means justify the ends, with the only objective being to make money for himself and his company, with no concerns for how this is acheived or whwther anyone suffers in the process.

Secondly, the film raises concerns about the type of blind devotion that Belfort seems able to develop in his employees/followers. However, employees are not depicted as passive dupes, but are instead active and complicit in buying into the Belfort vision,driven by the same objective as Belfort, to make themselves financially rich.Ultimately the film leaves viewers feeling uncomfortable about the behaviour of both Belfort and his employees.

The film also raises questions about the male-biased,hyper-masculine and bullying nature of the culture within Belfort's firm. In this domain, men are scared to reveal any signs of "weakness" as doing so provides others with opportunities to castigate them.

Further,Belfort and allthe male characters in the film treat women either as sex objects,trophy wives or both,with the female characters depicted as being knowingly complicit in this process. The disturbing nature of this vision is amplified by the fact that academic and journalistic research suggests that such values and behaviours are not uncommon, for example, wth stories of clients being entertained in lap dancing clubs.

Overall therefore, while the film represents a brilliant piece of entertainment it also raises some serious concerns and the corporate world of investment banking.