Lessons are best learned when we don’t expect them. When someone proselytizes us or pontificates, our defenses go up. Therefore, the best time to influence someone is when their guard is down. That’s why good ads can have a profound impact — we expect them to be mindless at best, annoying at worst, and most of them are either or both. But some are transformational and enduring.
Perhaps television commercials — not social media campaigns or viral videos — best convey the most powerful lessons in leadership. They are worth showing to aspiring leaders; the ads may even serve as templates for your own leadership messages and media. Here, in descending order, I’ll list numbers 10 through six of the TV ads that best exemplify principles of leadership in my opinion. (In my next column, I’ll share the remaining list.)