Studio releases through the lens of the Dave Alexander Center for Social Capital

It’s summertime, and there’s no guilty pleasure that beckons more than an afternoon in an air-conditioned cinema or binge-watching your favorite movies from the comfort of your sofa. With that in mind, we’ve assembled our Top 10 Social Capital movies. Some are classics and some are new releases, but all embody the people-centric spirit that drives many Social Capital leaders. Watch them and get inspired.

Business & Corporate Leadership

Air (2023) — Directed by Ben Affleck, Air is based on the true story of Nike’s basketball division facing extinction as it trailed far behind Converse and Adidas until Nike talent scout Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) put all his hopes, and Nike’s fortune, on rookie Michael Jordan, a top draft pick most of the executives considered out of reach because he was too expensive and too loyal to Adidas. But, ultimately, it’s a story of true family devotion and respect, and business leaders who recognize and value those qualities, as Jordan’s mother, Deloris Jordan (Viola Davis), personally negotiates the final terms, insisting Michael receive a percentage of every shoe sold bearing his name — an unprecedented deal structure at the time. The result: one of the most successful athlete-brand partnerships in history.

 

American Factory (2019, documentary) — When a Chinese company reopens a shuttered GM plant in Dayton, Ohio, the collision in leadership philosophies between Chinese management and American workers in Dayton exposes the human and economic costs when a company fails to operationalize people-centric values.

The Oscar-winning documentary serves as a powerful, cautionary case study that illustrates the ten core principles of the Dave Alexander Center for Social Capital — essentially by their absence. The film vividly demonstrates that when a company pursues profit by stripping away authenticity, safety and mutual respect, it creates an unsustainable environment filled with cultural friction, high turnover and human suffering.

 

Chef (2014, indie) — The 2014 film Chef, written, directed by and starring Jon Favreau, follows Carl Casper, a talented chef who loses his prestigious restaurant job after a clash with an authoritarian owner and a public meltdown, only to rebuild his life, career and relationships through a grassroots food truck. Having left a rigid, profit-first restaurant environment, he treats his small crew like family as he rebuilds his career on his own values — and finds true commercial success through empathy, human connection and authenticity.

 

Erin Brockovich (2000) — The residents of Hinkley felt powerless against a multi-billion-dollar utility company. Legal investigator Erin Brockovich (played by Julia Roberts) spends countless hours sitting at kitchen tables, drinking coffee, and listening to the residents’ stories. By connecting individual families who thought they were isolated cases, she builds a unified community capable of taking on a corporate giant, empowering them by arming them with data, truth and legal backing. Her relentless pursuit of fairness ensures that the victims are not quietly bought out for fractions of what they deserve, resulting in the largest direct-action lawsuit settlement in U.S. history.

 

Big Night (1996, indie) — Two Italian immigrant brothers, Primo (Tony Shalhoub) and Secundo (Stanley Tucci), choose integrity and craft over compromising their food or their people as they struggle to keep their restaurant afloat. By contrasting their passion with their hyper-commercial competitor, Pascal, the movie vividly demonstrates that business thrives best when it prioritizes humanity, relationships and purpose over cold profits.

 

Crisis Leadership

Sully (2016) — A veteran airline captain, Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger powerfully played by Tom Hanks, is suddenly thrust into an emergency landing, with only moments to make life-and-death decisions affecting the lives of hundreds of passengers and his crew. He must marshal every ounce of his training, experience and, most especially, his devotion to the people whose lives have been entrusted to him in this compelling profile in courage directed by Clint Eastwood.

 

Documentaries on Caring Leadership

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2018) — Fred Rogers was so much more than the host of a children’s program; he saw himself as a social support and leader to children everywhere looking for a supportive, guiding and caring presence in their lives — sometimes when they had none. This stirring documentary built from real archival footage of Fred Rogers himself, along with interviews with people who knew him (family, colleagues, cast members from the show) is not just a true case study in gentle, people-centered leadership but a portrait of turning your job and your passion into social responsibility.

 

Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011) — Jiro Ono is an 85-year-old sushi master and owner of a tiny but world-renowned sushi-only restaurant in a Tokyo subway station that owes its success to his relentless pursuit of culinary perfection, decades of disciplined apprenticeship and his unyielding work ethic and devotion to his customers. Despite three Michelin stars and global fame, Jiro simply loves his craft and shows up every day to do it well. He is determined to pass not only the restaurant but his values along to his two sons, both also sushi chefs — his elder son Yoshikazu, expected to eventually inherit and succeed him at the flagship restaurant, and his younger son, who has forged his own path with a restaurant of his own. But Jiro must figure out how to succeed while also empowering, honoring and respecting his sons’ own personalities and passions.

 

Crisis & Healthcare Leadership

Worth (2020) — Michael Keaton plays Kenneth Feinberg, the congressionally appointed attorney and renowned mediator tasked with determining financial payouts to the families of 9/11 victims. Though the statistically minded Feinberg initially approaches the job as a data-driven formula problem, calculating payouts largely based on victims’ income — which alienates grieving families who feel reduced to numbers — he is transformed from a “tone-deaf,” numbers-first bureaucrat to someone who learns to see the human cost behind every case. It is both a powerful warning of the dangers of leading with formulas instead of people and a hopeful inspiration in the power and real value found in listening, as his transformation comes not from better data but from actually sitting with grieving families and letting their stories change his approach — a strong case study in humility and course-correction.

 

Family-Friendly

The Intern (2015) — Company founder Jules (Anne Hathaway) is being pressured by external venture capitalists to step down as CEO so a more “experienced” executive can run the company, assuming a working mother cannot sustain a startup. Ben (Robert De Niro), modeling quiet, service-oriented leadership as her intern, fiercely defends Jules’ role as both a brilliant founder and a dedicated mother. By the film’s climax, Jules decides to remain CEO on her own terms.

Writer/director Nancy Meyers intended her movie to show that wisdom, patience and human connection matter just as much as digital speed in the modern workplace. But it also reinforces another Social Capital principle that a truly successful business must accommodate and honor family life.