Jordan Belfraud: The Wolf of Fraud Street
by: Roberto H. Reynoso II
In this blog post, I will be giving a movie review on the film entitled “The Wolf of Wall Street” which was directed by Martin Scorsese way back in 2013 and was starred by Leonardo DiCaprio. But before that, allow me to give you a short background and some insights regarding the film.
First of all, the film was actually based off a memoir of the same name which was written by the actual Jordan Belfort himself. Yes, you read that right. This means that most of the events that were shown in the film have actually happened in real life. So, let’s begin.
Wall Street
The film starts with Jordan Belfort starting off his career as a stockbroker in L.F. Rothschild under Mark Hanna, who orients him on how business works in Wall Street. Initially, he thinks that it is possible for both the client and the business to make money at the same. This was disagreed by Mark, saying that all they have to do is “move your client’s money into your pocket.”
Long Island
Unfortunately, things didn’t go well for him in Wall Street and he takes up a job in a small brokerage firm in Long Island which specializes in penny stocks. After learning that he gets to earn 50% commission, he then starts to sell penny stocks to clients at a much higher price. This was made possible through a bunch of lies that fooled the clients into investing.
Stratton Oakmont
His fraud continued on and started to grow. He, together with his other friends, then founded Stratton Oakmont as a way of making it sound more trustworthy to the clients. It didn’t take long until the firm has grown large enough to catch the attention of the FBI.
F.B.I.
Years later, the FBI finally arrest Jordan through the confession of his accomplice, Saurel. At this point, Jordan was offered leniency by the FBI if he agrees to cooperate in ratting out his colleagues, which he does.
Post-Imprisonment
After spending a shorter than expected time in jail, Jordan Belfort is now a changed man who helps other people reach success by giving talks on how to sell effectively.
Now that we have summarized everything that happened in the film, the question is: How was Jordan Belfort as a business leader?
In my opinion, he was both a good and a bad leader for different reasons.
Let’s start with the good traits. I believe that these are some good traits that can be seen in Jordan Belfort but somehow was used in the wrong way.
Passion - Since the start of the film, we can see how passionate Jordan is with what he is doing. Despite being in very challenging situations, he was very eager to learn and he used everything that he learned in order to continue what he loves doing. This is very important in a business because when you love what you’re doing, it’s going to serve as your drive in achieving more.
Compassion - Even though Jordan wasn’t as compassionate towards his clients because all he cares about is their money, we can still see that he shows much compassion towards his employees. This can be proven by that time where one of his employees asked for $5,000 in advance for the tuition fee of her son and Jordan gave him $25,000. Compassion leads to better and deeper relationship with one another.
Persuasion - We can also observe that Jordan is very skilled when it comes to persuasion. He can make you believe everything he says and you’ll think it’s the truth. That’s what happened to most of his clients which led to him being rich. Even though he used his persuasion skills in the wrong way, persuasion is very important in a business because it leads to partnerships and better negotiations within and between businesses.
Influential - We can also consider Jordan as very influential because his beliefs and actions has inspired a lot of people to do the same. This is proven the huge number of applicants trying to earn a spot in his company. Despite being influential, I don’t think that he is a good kind of influence to the people because of the many wrong things that he does.
Innovative - Throughout the film, we can see how Jordan is able to work his way to the top. He was an an employee in a small brokerage firm before yet he managed to become a millionaire. In every business, a leader must be innovative because a business without progress will not lead to success.
Second, here are some of the traits that I believe are not good in nature and have led to the mistakes that Jordan committed.
Greed - I strongly believe that all of Jordan’s mistakes are rooted from his greed. He has been blinded by his extreme desire to become rich and successful that he forgot about his principles. He forgot to think about the consequences of his actions and all he thought about was how to get more money from his clients and to put it into his and the company’s own pockets.
Dishonesty - Because of the extreme greed that Jordan possessed, it has led him to become desperate which is why he became dishonest both to himself and to the people around him. He started telling lies in order to sell more stocks. Everyone did the same thing as him.
Drug Abuse - First of all, the drugs that were mentioned in the film were all illegal. Second, he was abusing all the drugs while believing it is helpful for him. In reality, it has deteriorated his health in all aspects.
Sex Addiction - I think that there is a right time and place for everything but to have sex while in the workplace is not one of them. There was even a scene where prostitutes were invited in their workplace which I believe is very unethical because that is not part of their work as stockbrokers and it is also not good for those prostitutes for the respect is being lost.
All in all, there are really a lot of lessons to learn from watching “The Wolf of Wall Street”. Here is a summary of everything that I’ve realized:
“Easy come, easy go.”
When you work hard for something, it will also be hard to take away from you. However, if you cheat your way to something, it will have a lot of consequences and it won’t lead to the same feeling of success and happinesss.
“Fairness and Justice”
In every business, fairness is need because it promotes good communication and it also entails justice. We need a proper perspective at all times and we should always strive to get the right thing done.
“Equality and Equity”
We aren’t always equal and we have different needs. Therefore, must recognize these so that we can promote fairness among each other.
“Accountability”
We should always be accountable for everything that we do. This involves owning up to our mistakes and doing our best to correct and make amends for them.
“Transparency”
Transparency is not a violation of privacy. What it does is it promotes an avenue for open communication and constructive criticism.
APPLICATION:
“If I were to become a business leader in the future, I would establish my own Code of Conduct and I will strive my best to set a good example not only to my employees but to the rest of the world as well.”