Lessons in Leadership: The Wire - Stringer Bell

The "get things done type" Stringer Bell is both a powerhouse and also a cautionary tale for those who lack self awareness.

#thewire
#stringerbell
#hbo

[mathamatix]

Went down the rabbit hole with these videos. Watched several of these back to back. Keep them coming.

[dezt]

When Stringer tried to get Slim to take out Clay Davis 😂

Slim: “THE Clay Davis?...DOWNTOWN CLAY DAVIS?!”

[Jay-Jones]

People ARE watching these. You should make more

[a.m.m.]

Stringers downfall was playing the fence. He needed to pick between being a businessman or a drug dealer. Couldn't do both at the same time. While both use business concepts and tools, they do not have the same rules. Stringer didn't know enough about white collar business to not get played and he was ignorant of the fact that the the streets could not be led by white collar business rules and culture. Ultimately, being on the fence clouded his judges and led to his death.

[KindredPlagiarist]

Stringer's fundamental mistake was a misunderstanding of power. He believed power came from money and that the Baltimore drug game could be run like a business. What Avon knew and Stringer didn't or would never accept was that, outside the realm of what is permissible, the Barksdale organization operated as a de facto state, i.e. an organization for which acts of violence are an accepted part of the framework of society. The rules of Stringer's game, capitalism, are superceded by 'The Game' in which power grows from the barrel of a gun.

[toby]

Stinger is probably the most misunderstood character I've seen. He's far more intelligent then he gets credit for but he is one of those guys that have a tendency to do to much and take on to much. I've known these guys in real life. They can't just work on one thing. Most have trust issues that's why they do so much. His character really needs more in depth breakdown.

[tallsmile]

"What did I tell you about playing those away games?"

[sertu]

Letting Wallace live would have also been shortsighted. What happens when people realize you can just snithc on the Barksdale organisation? More people start flipping. I hate to say it but from a pragmatic perspective, it was the intelligent move.

[SantomPh]

Stringer tried to go the Cosa Nostra route without the other elements that make their rackets work-union influence, sharing income with management, influence outside their sphere and cooperation with others of similar ilk.

He essentially tried to go it alone without cooperating with other players and his own management, and ignored many of the rules.

[WillNelson]

One of the main issues I see with Stringer was that he was surrounded by guys that were not educated. This gave him in inflated notion of himself and his abilities. All of his subordinates dropped out of school in like the 7th grade and probably could not even read on that grade level. Stringer had gone to a few business classes at the community college, read a few books and in his world he was a genius. It's like the most dominate basketball player at the local gym thinking that he can compete in the NBA.

The other issue was that he was far too eager to become a legitimate businessman. Even Clay Davis seemed to be willing to guide him a bit and even told him that he needs to "crawl", then "walk", then "run" when he offered him the smaller grants that he would get at the moment. But Stinger was impatient, uneducated and (most importantly to Clay) willing to pay to skip line. Clay then saw it as an opportunity to bleed him. The way I see it, Clay would have never bled him of so much money so quickly had Stinger not been so eager to "run right now". Yes, Clay would have still gotten paid, but not so quickly. And perhaps not as much.

[richkid]

Avon was on point when he told Stringer, you aren’t gangster enough for the streets and not smart enough for those downtown folks. He hit the nail on the head. Stringer was playing checkers, while Marlo was playing chess.

[jamaalmoses]

To be fair he had inferior muscle when Avon is in prison..Slim and Cutty were the only capable hitters.He knew he could not war with Marlo..

[AlwonDomz]

2:23 Nah, I’d say Stringer just didn’t understand that legit business and the streets don’t mix.

[AMansWorldPodcast]

Inspired me to start analyzing wire characters. Just passed 1000 subs a few days ago because of it👌🏽 thanks 💯

[bluecheese]

Love this! Cannot think of a better way of teaching leadership skills than breaking down this sort of show!

[Freem-go]

Avon was short sighted and String was the long term thinker .. Avon wanted to stay in the streets, String knew that wasn’t the right play .. as you watch the series, the police usually start cracking down when bodies start dropping, String wanted to be lowkey and so far removed that the cops couldn’t touch them which is the smart move .. Avon’s inability to adapt and change to the game was bringing them down ..String wanted them to be more organized much like the Mafia

[TTFMjock]

The program makes it a point to show that Stringer made more money and took the Barksdale org to new heights while Avon was in jail. He couldn’t go Avon’s route. If he had, the org would have collapsed faster than it did.

Avon was trying to hold territory with no product and no muscle. The show takes pains to show that Bell actually worked his way out of a bad spot and saved a declining organization (for a time). Had Stringer been allowed to run it his way, he would probably have been able to maintain or expand.

The real tragedy of Stringer is that he failed to respect that the game had its own rules. His downfall was hubris. The show treats Stringers reforms as largely positive, but the theme of the show is that individuals are largely powerless in the face of their institutions.

[macalloway]

I couldn’t disagree more with the notion that stringer “wasn’t intelligent enough” or as intelligent as he thought he was. I’ve seen multiple people say this before but I feel a lot of the basis for stringer not being smart enough is influenced by him not being likable. This is more a case of the Peter principle run amuck. He was absolutely “in over his head” but it was mostly because he naively believes that the skills he used up to this point would translate directly to legitimate business. His drug money allowed him to skip steps that normally let people make mistakes in low risk positions as they developed specialized skills. He came in on the top floor like a rapper who gets an acting job without having to endure the bumps and bruises to hone his craft. If he had a mentor that had made the transition to guide him like pretty much everybody needs to succeed at the highest level or if stringer started on a smaller scale to learn he’d probably have been able to adapt eventually . Early on He made a bunch of well planned moves that left veteran detectives flabbergasted when he had time to think. The pressure to complete that prop joe deal caused him to make a couple quick short sited moves that set into motion a domino effect that required him to make even more high stakes hurried decisions until there were too many leaks in his boat for him to plug

[seanward]

I agree with most of this but I do initially believe Stringer was trying to insulate Avon from the streets to protect him. But once Avon went down and went to prison and he was “promoted” that’s when he went rogue.

[TheSuckoShow]

One of the most valuable lessons we get from Stringer I think is that theory and practice are two different things. Not all business principles are universal, and not every good idea is going to work out.