Leadership lessons from Twelve Angry Men – lesson 7

The washroom scene is somewhat different from the others, juror n°8 is not “in the thick of the action”.

First, he interreacts with juror n°7 and then juror n°6 comes in and after a short exchange, says to juror n°8, “and what if you are wrong; what if you convince all of us that the boy is not guilty – and in fact he is”

The look of self-doubt is important in terms of leadership; if we become too rigid or too fixed in our thoughts and ideas, we can block out other possibilities.

As he said himself early in the film, “I don’t know if he is guilty, but I have some doubts”

My interpretation of his behaviour throughout the film is not that he wants to convince the others that the boy is not guilty, but rather to get them to realise that they also have doubts – and he does this by expressing his doubts.