To join family business or not: Teaching Script and Intrinsic Motivation through the Godfather trilogy

•One's career choices are often made under perceived pressure and ineffective influences when they are best made autonomously.•Before plunging into a business, if entrepreneurs could examine if their choices are made autonomously and spontaneously without real or perceived pressures that prevent full exploration of options, their choices could be more effective.•This paper discusses how to discuss Autonomy, Script and other related concepts to help explore choices along the process of development of self, through the movie trilogy Godfather.

This paper discusses the influence of Script and Intrinsic Motivation on entrepreneurial activity in a family business. The discussion is based on the Godfather film trilogy in a workshop format, which weaves rich insights into other themes related to the process of development of self, namely Games, Compliance, Identification and Internalization. The participants get an opportunity to examine their own choices of joining family business. To accomplish this effectively, a workshop parallel to the regular course is suggested, prior to which the participants should view the three films. License to screen the films for noncommercial purpose can be purchased for an affordable fee if a screening is organized for the group. Predefined clusters of clips from the trilogy are used for anchoring the discussion. The paper discusses the use of film clips with the help of theoretical background of the relevant concepts, a brief overview of the film trilogy, questions for discussion to accompany each of the six clusters of clips, additional assignment, challenges and bright spots of conducting this workshop, conclusions, and learning.