5 Leadership Insights I Learned From My New Puppy

“Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.”

— Joyce Meyer, American author, speaker, and minister

This past week has been quite an adventure. We’ve welcomed a golden retriever puppy into our home, and it’s been a mix of joy, chaos, and some sleepless nights. But amidst all the fun and challenges, I’ve been reminded of 5 valuable lessons about leadership.

1. Patience is Essential

One of the first things you learn with a new puppy is the importance of patience. Puppies don’t learn overnight, neither do we and neither do teams. It’s easy to want quick results, but real progress takes time, consistent effort, and understanding. As a leaders, you need to recognise that growth doesn’t happen instantly. Your role is to guide, support, and sometimes let others find their own way at their own pace.

2. Clear Communication Builds Trust

Training a puppy requires simple, clear commands. They don’t understand ambiguity, and the same is true for your teams. Clear, consistent communication is key to earning trust. Whether it’s setting expectations, giving feedback or offering praise: being direct and transparent helps create a sense of security and confidence in your team—just as it does for a puppy learning their environment.

3. Consistency Drives Performance

Every time I reinforce good behaviour or discourage bad habits with the puppy, I’m reminded how vital consistency is. The same goes for leadership. Leaders who show up consistently in how they lead, communicate, and make decisions foster more trust and better performance and accountability in their teams.

4. Adapt to the Unexpected

Having a puppy means things don’t always go to plan (I usually like to keep a tight schedule at home, but I’ve had to let go of any hope of managing my time down to the minute as I normally would!). Similarly, leadership often involves handling unexpected challenges. It’s how you respond to those moments that could define you as a leader. Adaptability, flexibility, and staying calm under pressure are important skills, both with a puppy and at work.

5. Empathy Creates Loyalty

It’s hard to stay frustrated when you see your new fluff ball puppy staring up at you, no matter what mess they have made. That’s the power of empathy. As a leader, it’s crucial to see things from the perspective of those you lead. Understanding their challenges, recognising their efforts, and offering support when things go wrong builds loyalty. When people feel seen and valued, they become more engaged and motivated.

Bringing a new puppy into the home may seem unrelated to leadership at first glance, but it’s been a powerful reminder of the fundamentals. Patience, clear communication, consistency, adaptability, and empathy—these are qualities that matter in both training a puppy and leading a team.

What unexpected situations have taught you about leadership? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

Till next week

Alice