After a brief pause to pay respect to the families and victims of the tragedy in Connecticut, I am resuming my study on Gilligan’s Island leadership. In the last several posts, I extracted leadership lessons based on the men of Gilligan’s Island. Today, I’ll start looking at the role the female castaways played, starting with Mary Ann.

Mary Ann: All of the women stranded on the island fit into the mold of a stereotypical 1960s female, including Mary Ann, with her sweet, Midwestern naiveté and misguided meekness in times of fear. Her innocent nature surfaces often throughout the series, but is perhaps no more evident than when she believes she has eaten poisonous mushrooms and only has hours to live in the Season 2 episode: The Postman Cometh. A series of humorous events, beginning when the castaways learn that the farm girls former boyfriend is set to be married, leads to Mary Ann’s grave misunderstanding about her health. While the others are concerned about how the gentle girl will react to the news from civilization, Mary Ann misinterprets their behaviors, assuming that they are worried she is about to die.

Poor Mary Ann has no ability to maintain composure when faced with a challenge, and would be ill-equipped in a leadership position. A leader must be strong, confident, and self-assured in order to elicit those traits from others in the team. She needs to act quickly and boldly in the face of problems, missteps, or setbacks.

While Mary Ann may not be the leadership type, she is a refreshing part of the Gilligan’s Island group and would be welcomed as part of any team where there is a strong leader. She’s a hard worker with a good heart and a solid moral streak. On the show, she does her part in helping the group survive. It’s fairly apparent that she is tasked with cooking for the others, as is clear in Season 3, Episode 2: Gilligan vs. Gilligan, where she is seen doing the baking. And while she’s not the oldest among the ladies on the island, she has the caring, nurturing, and pure qualities of a mother figure.

In contrast, Mrs. Howell is the oldest female on the island, but is far from motherly in her demeanor. In addition, she is probably the least qualified of everyone on the island to step up in a leadership role.

Mrs. Howell:  All three of the female castaways on Gilligan’s Island are portrayed in varying degrees as helpless members of the weaker sex. As was the norm for shows on the air over 40 years ago, the girls were not given leadership roles; they deferred to the men for guidance and protection. But while Mary Ann and Ginger have many endearing and admirable qualities, Mrs. Howell is portrayed as a shallow, self-centered, out-of-touch socialite with little understanding of real world issues.

Although perhaps good underneath the facade of the phony country-club diva, Mrs. Howell is a DUD through and through. As a leader, she would drive any team right into the ground, as her concern is only for herself and for putting on airs and keeping up with appearances.

In Season 2, Episode 1: Gilligan’s Mother-in-Law, Mrs. Howells true colors are displayed when she is more concerned with picking the right outfit for being captured, rather than making a plan to stay safe and avoid trouble. In another example of her cowardly and misguided focus, she encourages Gilligan to “surrender and be home by lunch,” when the group finds itself being attacked by grenades (Season 2, Episode 22: Forward March).

 

Her arrogance and DUD egotism is reiterated frequently by her offhanded remarks throughout the series. In Season 3, Episode 2: Gilligan vs. Gilligan, she comments aloud: “Who can be higher up than the captain?” But then quickly retorts, “Oh, ya, the Howell’s!” While she concedes briefly that the Captain is the positional leader of the island, in her mind she and her husband are the real leaders because of financial wealth.

In business, Mrs. Howell would be a reluctant, albeit dutiful follower, but she would always possess a hidden agenda–putting her own personal success above that of the team. While she isn’t going to do any intentional harm to the group, she is certainly not going to go out of her way to do anything for the benefit of the others.

Just like her husband, who refuses to help plant seeds and harvest vegetables in Season 3, Episode 3: Pass The Vegetables Please, Mrs. Howell won’t get her hands dirty, but admits, “I feel a little guilty,” when she sees all the work the others have done. Her solution for her guilt, however, isn’t to help out in the traditional sense, but to instead host a party, which is more in her comfort zone. While Mrs. Howell won’t undermine any of the group’s goals or tasks, she also won’t rise above her own pettiness to take the group to the next level.

Mrs. Howell never demonstrates any favorable leadership skills, acting merely as a member of the group, and not always as a team player. Mrs. Howell’s attitude of privileged entitlement is a humorous addition to the show, especially given her fish-out-of-water presence in the rustic environment of the deserted island. But she’s really the only character who contributes nothing to the group in terms of providing help, encouraging others, or rallying the team. Likewise, in the real world, she would add little to no value in a business setting.

Be sure to read tomorrow’s conclusion to the Gilligan’s Island leadership series, when everyone’s favorite glamour girl, Ginger, is described.

–Sheri Staak