Are you an animal lover? If so, have you noticed the lessons your dog, cat, or other critter can teach you about life, just by they way they approach each day?
As a joke, someone recently offered me their copy of Leadership Secrets of Attila The Hun, which is a light-hearted look at how an obscure barbarian leader might sum up his approach to managing an unruly horde.
However, I have a better leadership model to work with – our two golden retrievers, Arnold and Ginger. Even though they passed away last year, within six weeks of each other, I still think of them all the time. I miss them now because of their sharp instincts and insights.
At the SLA conference in June, candidates will be asked to speak about their leadership philosophy, and key traits that make good leaders. So I boiled down some of the dog widsom that I witnessed and tried to translate them into positive leadership skills.
| Dog Wisdom | Leadership Skill |
| Head down, tail up | Dogs are always on the lookout for new information that will inform their world and help them make the right decisions. A happy dog has their nose to the ground, seeking out new data, and their tail is usually up, indicating they are in a good mood. |
| Join the pack | Dogs are pack animals and so are we. If you join the pack, the pack will be stronger for it. A good healthy pack has a wide variety of individuals, all pulling in the same general direction. Good leaders inspire others to share the load for the good of the entire group. Good packs have a nice balance, and the members seem to have more fun. |
| Wag more, bark less | A good leader should have a pleasant demeanor and welcome meeting new people. Keep wagging your tail as you sniff out a new friend and everyone benefits. A good leader doesn’t dominate the conversation with a lot of barking. In fact, a good leader often doesn’t have to do a lot of barking – if you’ve watched Caesar Milan on The Dog Whisperer, you know that a subtle nip is all that a good leader needs to keep everyone’s tail wagging. |
| Some bone need to be chewed thoroughly | Have you ever seen a dog leave a bone when it still has meat on it? Neither have I. Dogs will relentlessly work a bone until the job is completed. |
We all wish we could be the person our dog thinks we are. Your SLA leadership team is the same way – we want to do right by our members. We put high expectations on ourselves and try hard to do good things, but we need your feedback – a kind word, a pat on the head – to keep us on the right trail and make for a doggone good pack.
Cute and insightful. You’ll do a great job with your speech.
Thanks for the support!
Dogs indeed have it dialed in!
I would add: there is always hope. No matter how many times we refuse our Golden Retriever, Carmine, a biscuit or treat or pretzel or whatever the kids are eating, he is always right back under the table at the next meal because you never know when it might start raining food. Same goes for leaders: stay hopeful and engender hope in your team because hope is often rewarding.
LOL–raining food, ha!
Great metaphor to get us thinking Cindy R.
And then there are cats as leaders. Their ability to sleep through it all can be interpreted as thinking through all the options before deciding. I’ve decided that the cats are not really sleeping but “considering their options” before opening their eyes.
I agree–cats are deep thinkers and very strategic!
Hey Cindy,
Being a dog lover, I enjoyed the metaphor….sorry to hear about your loss of Arnold and Ginger – what cuties!
We’ll have to swap doggie stories.
Great insight! I love it when people pick out leadership behaviors that can be easily observed and learned. I’ll have to work on something like this that embraces the “have fun” side of leadership for myself. Thanks for the idea!
I’d guess, from your email address, that you could probably write a post on the leadership attributes of cats!