Growls, Fangs and Stealth: Revising 4 Leadership Lessons from the Animal World
Animal Music: I like to Move it, Reel to Real, Youtube, Eye of the Tiger Survivor, Youtube
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- Leadership is an extremely hot topic in every walk of life and is frantically searching for the next big metaphor.
- There is a lively little branch of Leadership that seeks Animal-based insights for catalysing Leadership.
- We examine this in light of what we now know about animals via four sub-topics:
- The Composite Animal Leadership Approach
- The Leadership by Animal Lore Approach
- The Leadership via Animal ‘Parenthood’ Approach
- The Leadership via Animal Teams Approach:
- After we finish this, we drill down into an atomic view and generate practical, new propositions courtesy: The Caracal(Air), Honey Badger(Land) and the Mantis Shrimp(Water)
UNABRIDGED VERSION
Family Crests, Escutcheons, National Symbols, Companions to Religious figures, Mythology, Company Logos, etc.. - Animals have been a source of great inspiration, prestige and conspicuous display. Large, loud animals in fearful poses dominate the scene including bears, lions, dragons and bulls.
In the search for exemplars, inspiration and metaphor, Leadership coaching and Training for Individuals and Organisations has naturally looked at the Animal World. These can be divided into these four broad areas, all could do well with a re-look in light of new data, information and understanding from Science.
The Composite Animal Leadership Approach: In this approach, the best features of various animals are appropriated and then with a little deft 'shoe-horning' snap-fitted into an 'UltraLeader' just this side of Hercules+Merlin+Adonis(HMA). So this HMA will have the speed of the Cheetah, the strength of the Elephant, the eyesight of the Eagle, the bravery of the Lion, the recycling abilities of the Hyaena, the jaws of a Great White Shark, the height of a Giraffe, hibernation of a Bear, the colors of a Peacock, the undefinable magic of a DuckBill Platypus (Mammal+Reptile+Milk+Eggs+Poison Gland+DuckBill+Fur+Aquatic+ ….) the killer instinct of King Kong( oops, we are getting carried away...but you get the drift)….
This is indeed very appealing but has some heavy-duty drawbacks and gaps in logic. One of the fundamental rules of nature is balance: in everything. And all features come at a cost. If you are as fast as a Cheetah, you are restricted to lighter prey. If you are huge and strong, you have to eat what cannot run away eg: plants/plankton. If you are tall you are attractive to photographers but will find it difficult to bend down and will need extraordinary plumbing modifications to enable you to drink water. If you live long, you either have long pregnancies and fewer babies(elephants), or lots of eggs, few of which survive to adulthood(Turtles) You cannot have everything, you MUST not have everything – look around, the evidence says so. The Composite Animal Leader is exactly that – a chimera, a mythical, hybrid creature that is not real and not very practical either.
The Leadership by Animal Lore Approach: This draws upon the wealth of Animal-based stories readily available in every culture: Aesop's Fables, The Panchtantra, Russian tales, indeed from every region in the world. The animals change according to the region and each has agency and is of course anthropomorphic. Therefore the "Early bird Catches the Worm" is bird-centric. This can easily be changed to "It is the Early Worm that gets caught" which should definitely be what worm parents advise their children. Since they are written/narrated by humans, there is nothing natural or intrinsic to these 'morals' and can be changed to mean whatever one wishes. Their malleability betrays their human agency and to that extent cannot represent Leadership Lessons from the Animal World.
The Leadership via Animal ‘Parenthood’ Approach: Either or both parents in virtually all species are hardwired to go to extreme lengths to defend and protect their children. It is axiomatic naturalist wisdom, also drilled into anyone venturing into the wild never, ever to come between parent/s and their offspring. In some cases, the mother brings up offspring(eg: bears, tigers) or in some cases the father (Eg: Mouth breeders like Cichlid fish) in many cases both parents (Eg; Hornbills). 'Leadership' in terms of protection, care, training, feeding, weaning, etc varies. In many cases it is absent as well, Turtles that lay eggs on beaches and disappear, fishes that spawn and fertilize and let nature take its course are also part of the narrative. All in all, the parent-child leadership issue is hard-wired and cannot be a paradigm for learning. In Humans, if at all, it is the other way around. Parents have to be coaxed into giving up their 'leadership' of the child's life and independence!!! So this is a weak candidate too for Leadership Lessons from the Animal World.
The Leadership via Animal Teams Approach: The Staple of Leadership Lessons from Animals, featuring Lions, Chimpanzees, Elephants, Eagles, Ants, and that classic example: Wolves. Very, very rarely will it be Hyenas, Meerkats, Wild Dogs and suchlike for these presumably are not 'Glam' enough. A quick tour to see whether this metaphor qualifies. The choice is all yours.
Wolf packs hunt together, care for their old, train children, etc etc – true. But a wolf pack is parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, offspring and very rarely outsiders. It is a family. The Alpha male and the Alpha female are deferred to because they raised the family. This is a family affair, NOT your usual Multinational organization.
Lions and Lionesses form a pride. The hunting is mainly done by the lionesses. The male comes in occasionally when big prey like cape buffalo are involved. Some part of their prey is also what they steal from the kills of other animals like leopards and hyenas. The Male's main job is to fight other lions. If another lion does take over the pride, the very first thing he does is to kill off all the cubs. The lionesses are equally smart and if pregnant when the new lion takes over can pass off their offspring as the new lion's cubs. All this makes the Pride business a very intricate and tricky affair.
Chimpanzees indulge in organized violence, kill and eat infants from their group, commit murder and have promiscuous sex at random. Chimpanzee society also has politics, clique formation and intimidation as befits our closest relatives. They are not the picture of the ideal, tool-using, emancipated society.
Geese flying in V-formation sounds like an ideal candidate. Unfortunately, there is a fatal flaw – the leader gives way to another goose and so on all the way, so they all assume leadership positions in sequence. Such a proposal can bring any training program to a rather rapid halt. So geese are definitely out.
Elephants live in herds. Well, how? Female elephants spend their entire lives in tightly knit matrilineal groups containing one or more mothers, sisters and their offspring. The matriarch of the female group leads the group in caring for young, babysitting, safety, bringing up young, searching for food and water and generally activities oriented towards safely raising children. When male elephants reach puberty, they have to leave the group and may spend their lives alone or in all-male groups. Herds of bulls, usually unrelated, are peaceable except when searching for mates. We are done here.
Eagles and their 'Change" process in which they bloodily metamorphose by plucking out feathers and talons and the reader's lunch are pure nonsense. No eagle in the world does this or could do this. Utterly untrue.
Chameleons change color, true. But unless an organization is made up entirely of color-coordinated chameleons, this is extremely wishful thinking.
As for Ants and their legendary 'hard work' and team spirit and else, one would need to check two sources: one tongue-in-cheek and the other pure scientific observation. Mark Twain's essay on ants is a must-read. (try https://bit.ly/2Ce9aGj). The other is any amount of new research which points out that up to 40% of 'worker' ants are just lazing around. The researchers are meanwhile working overtime to generate reasons for this like benching, compensating for lost workers, reserve for sudden attacks, etc. Good luck to them. So this entire Animal Teams - Leadership Lessons from the Animal world needs to be revised if facts matter.
The Atomic Approach-Leadership Lessons from Animals
The need for today can be summarised as follows:
A. Leadership has to come down to tiny units of one. After all who is willing to follow more in your footsteps than you?
B. Ability to work, "crafts-person" style from wherever with portable skills; Extreme self-sufficiency under all conditions.
C. To understand that virtues like being a team player are irrelevant if one has nothing to bring to the team? !!!
D. And most importantly finely honed planet-class skills differentiated maximally.
To have Animal Inspiration let’s look at three which do just this:
The Caracal: As a metaphor for extreme skills within the cat family which already is extremely specialized. A cat that super-specializes in hunting birds in flight. Utterly flexible with extraordinary senses, this exceptionally handsome animal looks like it is flying when hunting. Its prominent ear tufts also make it look like a router on the move!!!Check these videos which are hard to believe...
The Honey Badger: Hands down the most fearless animal in the world. Barely the size of a medium-sized dog, the Honeybadger will take on an elephant or even a pride of lions! Immune to snake venom, incredible digging power and thick-skinned this is one hell of a package. Watch this unapologetic, irreverent, remorseless deal in action: https://bit.ly/3h5RImm
The Mantis Shrimp: The best vision of all. Unimaginable power and aggression. The Mantis Shrimp's punch is fast and powerful enough to cause a shock wave that collapses and creates heat and light! Impossible to stock in an aquarium (cubicle!!!) because it would crack the glass! Hard to decide whether this one is an example or a warning. You decide: https://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp
And if all this is difficult to believe here's someone who is all three: Agile, Fearless and packs a heavy-duty punch !!! A super bad-ass of the past, good enough to be an exemplar of Leadership Lessons from the Animal world forever!!!!
Illustrations by Lloyd Lawrence Lobo. https://www.instagram.com/meterchai.
Contact Ram Kumar at : [email protected]
SBC Advisor Global Nutrition Cluster, Action Against Hunger -USA
4 年Brilliantly written!! Loved the bonus links in between too! Agree with the first comment - or question - do we really need leaders? Also wonder - are leaders actually leaders or just those who got pushed forward by the others/grabbed the front slot? So glad you've written about the followers in the next article :)
IT Asset Economics Expert || Global Program Manager @ HPE Financial Services, APJ
4 年Few of provocative questions coming your way. a. Do Humans still need a leader? Have we not evolved enough to make leadership redundant? b. What does a community/society look like without a leader? Corona Virus dont seem to have any leader per se and they seem do be doing their business very well c. Should we look at technology to take the 'lead'? Can AI be a world-leader who is programmed with all the 'desirable' leadership traits? d. If everybody is a leader, then there is nobody a leader. If everybody understands their purpose, skilled enough to deliver on time, then there is no role for a leader. Most of the educational institutions proclaims to make every student a future leader. Obviously, they have failed. A universal solution would be to 'program' individuals to 'extreme self-sufficiency under all conditions'. e. They will soon identify Leadership Gene. Then, the levee breaks (Led Zep)
Author. Academician. Dream Maker @ The Hive
4 年Atomic leadership calls for a cultural shift. In oriental cultures, we are taught to confirm, belong to a group, and so on. Singular standing nails are hammered down, as opposed to the West where individualism is celebrated. Of course, ‘packing a punch’ is a lot more than merely being different; it requires trusting one’s own abilities, and honing one’s unique skills – whatever they are. What’s important is to find your distinctive fatal fang, rather than relying on best practices. Thought-provoking read as always!
Brilliantly written! "Leadership has to come down to tiny units of one. After all who is willing to follow more in your footsteps than you?". This is what Personal Leadership is all about "Ability to work,?"crafts-person" style?from wherever with portable skills; Extreme self-sufficiency under all conditions. Self sufficiency is important.". Only truly independent people can become interdependent. "To understand that virtues like being a?team player are irrelevant?if one has nothing to bring to the team? !!!". You have nothing to offer to the team means you are being dependent on others and are vulnerable to being exploited, you are a drag. D. And most importantly finely honed?planet-class skills differentiated maximally.". This gives you a sense of power, so important when you are dealing with this world.
Medical and pharmaceutical Physician l Pharmacovigilance l Medical Monitoring l Clinical Trials l Regulatory Strategy l Medical writing l Project Management l New Product Development l NCE l NBE l NDDS l Training
4 年This is amazing....I love to read you Sir....Always a source of courage....