Before business school begins, prepare your mind with twelve essential films and three must-watch TV series. From The Wolf of Wall Street’s sales psychology to Succession’s boardroom battles and Enron’s cautionary tale, each viewing offers invaluable lessons in leadership, ethics, and strategy. Your unofficial pre-master’s curriculum starts now.
Before you dive into case studies, financial models, and endless PowerPoint presentations, there’s a more entertaining way to prepare your brain for business school: movie night. The silver screen has captured everything from Wall Street’s ruthless ambition to Silicon Valley’s disruptive innovation, offering future master’s degree students invaluable lessons wrapped in compelling narratives.
These films and shows don’t just entertain; they illustrate leadership principles, ethical dilemmas, strategic thinking, and organizational behavior in ways no classroom lecture can match. Grab your popcorn and prepare to learn from Hollywood’s best business storytellers.
Martin Scorsese’s wild ride through Jordan Belfort’s empire of excess delivers a masterclass in sales psychology, persuasion tactics, and the catastrophic consequences of unchecked greed. Beyond the debauchery, you’ll witness how charismatic leadership can motivate teams while simultaneously destroying them. It’s a cautionary tale about corporate culture gone wrong and the importance of ethics in business.
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This brilliantly accessible film demystifies the 2008 financial crisis through the eyes of outsiders who bet against the housing market. Future business students will grasp complex financial instruments, understand systemic risk, and learn that questioning conventional wisdom isn’t just smart; it’s sometimes necessary for survival. The film teaches critical thinking and the courage to stand against groupthink when the data tells a different story.
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Gordon Gekko’s infamous “greed is good” speech has echoed through business schools for decades, making this Oliver Stone classic essential viewing. The film explores insider trading, corporate raiding, and the moral compromises ambitious professionals face. It perfectly captures the 1980s financial landscape while asking timeless questions about success, mentorship, and where to draw ethical lines in pursuit of wealth.
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Michael Keaton delivers a masterful performance as Ray Kroc, the ambitious salesman who transformed early-day McDonald’s from a single California burger stand into a global empire. The film explores franchise systems, aggressive business expansion, and the ethical complexities of partnership disputes. Future entrepreneurs will learn about scaling operations, brand standardization, real estate strategy, and how ruthless determination can build empires while leaving moral questions in its wake.
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This intense drama pulls back the curtain on high-pressure sales environments and pump-and-dump stock schemes. It showcases aggressive sales training, questionable business ethics, and how young professionals rationalize morally ambiguous decisions. The film serves as a powerful reminder that not all that glitters is gold, teaching future business leaders to scrutinize opportunities and understand the real cost of compromising values.
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Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece is essentially an MBA program in family business succession, strategic thinking, and negotiation. Watch how Vito and Michael Corleone build alliances, eliminate competition, and manage complex organizations. The film illustrates leadership transitions, the importance of loyalty, strategic patience, and how businesses respond to market disruptions, even when the “market” is organized crime in 1940s New York.
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David Fincher’s account of Facebook’s founding captures entrepreneurial ambition, partnership conflicts, and explosive growth management. It illustrates how billion-dollar companies emerge from dorm rooms, the legal complexities of equity and ownership, and how personal relationships complicate business decisions. Future entrepreneurs will recognize the challenges of scaling startups, protecting intellectual property, and navigating the tension between friendship and business interests.
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This 1988 film follows an ambitious secretary climbing the corporate ladder through intelligence and determination in male-dominated Manhattan finance. It tackles workplace discrimination, the importance of networking, and creative problem-solving when resources are limited. The story demonstrates that good ideas can come from anywhere in an organization and that perseverance and strategic thinking often matter more than pedigree or connections.
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Based on Michael Lewis’s book, this film shows how Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane revolutionized baseball through data analytics and innovative thinking. It’s a perfect case study in disrupting traditional industries, making data-driven decisions against conventional wisdom, and maximizing limited resources. Business students will appreciate how competitive advantage emerges from questioning assumptions and leveraging information others ignore or undervalue.
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Clint Eastwood’s film about Nelson Mandela using rugby to unite post-apartheid South Africa demonstrates transformational leadership at its finest. It showcases strategic vision, change management, and how leaders inspire teams toward seemingly impossible goals. The true story illustrates that business isn’t just about profit; it’s about purpose, and the most effective leaders understand how to align organizational goals with deeper human values and aspirations.
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Danny Boyle’s biographical drama, written by Aaron Sorkin, captures three pivotal product launches in Steve Jobs’s career, revealing the perfectionism, vision, and interpersonal challenges behind Apple’s success. The film explores product development, brand building, and the difficult balance between innovation and collaboration. Future business leaders will see the importance of emotional intelligence, how visionary thinking drives market disruption, but also how leadership style impacts teams.
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This devastating documentary chronicles one of corporate America’s most spectacular collapses, exposing accounting fraud, corporate malfeasance, and the human cost of unchecked ambition. It provides essential lessons in corporate governance, financial transparency, and regulatory oversight. Every master’s student should understand how Enron’s culture of greed and deception led to billions in losses, teaching the critical importance of ethical leadership and accountability.
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Mike Judge’s HBO comedy offers a hilarious yet accurate portrayal of startup culture, venture capital dynamics, and the absurdities of the tech industry. Beyond the comedy, it showcases fundraising challenges, struggles with product-market fit, competitive pressures, and the chaos of scaling new companies. The show captures the real tensions between technical innovation and business viability that every tech entrepreneur faces.
This prestige drama about the Roy family’s media empire is a masterclass in corporate succession planning, family business dynamics, and boardroom politics. Watch as siblings battle for control while navigating mergers, acquisitions, and shareholder demands. It brilliantly illustrates power struggles, strategic alliances, corporate governance issues, and how personal relationships complicate business decisions at the highest levels.
Apple TV+’s psychological thriller explores corporate culture taken to dystopian extremes through a surgical procedure that separates work and personal memories. While speculative, it raises profound questions about work-life balance, employee autonomy, corporate control, and organizational ethics. The show serves as a thought-provoking examination of how far companies might go in pursuit of productivity and loyalty.
These films and TV shows offer valuable lessons that go beyond entertainment. They provide a crash course in leadership, ethics, strategy, innovation, and the human dynamics that drive every successful organization.
From cautionary tales of greed and corporate fraud to inspiring stories of innovation and impactful leadership, each viewing experience presents scenarios you’ll be likely to analyze in business school classrooms. The difference? Here, you’ll see consequences play out in real time, emotions run high, and decisions carry weight beyond theoretical frameworks.
Whether you’re watching Steve Jobs navigate product launches, the Roy family battle for corporate control in Succession, or understanding how Enron’s collapse changed corporate governance forever, you’re building a mental library of business case studies.
Before you crack open your first finance textbook or attend orientation, invest evenings and weekends with these films and series. Consider them your unofficial pre-program curriculum, where the lessons stick because they come to life through stories that matter. When those case studies arrive, you’ll recognize the patterns because you’ve already watched how they unfold on screen.
Thinking about pursuing a master’s? Read inspiring stories from graduates and see if it’s the right next step for you.
