^{[Image credit: Nat. Geo.]}

You might be wondering, what part of being a better human, and a more effective leader relates to being a goose. I promise to explain later on in the article. I intend to keep this article short because my creative juices aren't exactly flowing right now.

First off, let's talk a bit about why leadership exist. The first and obvious reason is that leaders are the first in line as regards organizational directions and ambitions. They set the pace. Leaders make the decisions and help provide the necessary motivation for the team. In essence, they help keep things together and prevent them from drifting, this can be seen in most birds, go birding on to discover these. I might do a follow-up post for this topic later on.

So, Geese. What do we make of them?

Today's leaders can become even better leaders if they learn a thing or two from our fluffy, winged friends. It's about the V in an old joke! Do you remember it?:

Why do geese fly in a V? Because it would be too hard to fly in an S!

Okay, forget the joke. This blog post is much more about the V than it is about an old trite joke.

Geese and ducks, much like a lot of bugs and birds, have to migrate over hundreds of kilometres each year to find warmer places for shelter during the winter. They have to fly south because it's always colder in regions closer to the north pole in comparison to the south and they're unique and unmistakable in the sky when they fly in their famous V formation.

At the arrowhead of the 'V' formation is the flight leader. every other bird in the group follows his lead. Each bird in the flight formation has to fly slightly above the bird in front of it. This is because It makes it easier to see where the ones ahead are going so they don't end up missing from the group.

There are of course additional benefits of flying the V formation. According to research findings published on National Geographic, the V formation helps the birds conserve energy by gaining free lifts off the wind flow created by the birds in front of them.

As a bird flaps, a rotating vortex of air rolls off each of its wingtips. These vortices mean that the air immediately behind the bird gets constantly pushed downwards (downwash), and the air behind it and off to the sides gets pushed upwards (upwash). If another bird flies in either of these upwash zones, it gets free lift. It can save energy by mooching off the air flow created by its flock-mate. Thus leading to a lower heart rate because they don't have to flap as much as the bird in front do.

Should a duck leave the formation, it immediately feels the resistance of the air and it realizes the difficulty of doing it alone. Naturally, it quickly goes back to training to benefit from the partner who is ahead.

Intelligent, don't you think? And even more impressive, considering the hours of research humans had to give in to discover that the V formation was more than just a group of birds kidding around. Today, The Airforce in different countries employ the V formation during flight time.

What's even more amazing? Since the leader of the group had to do most of the work against air resistance, it gets tired along the way. But the flight doesn't stop for one goose. So, it simply falls back into the V formation where it recovers strength and allows a different goose take over as the new flight lead. This role change occurs as frequently as possible until they need to feed or reach their destination. It is remarkable, and more proposition was made by Sam Caird about this.

Reflections, anyone?

I am sure there is a lot of takeaways from a topic like this one. The spirit of teamwork and astute leadership. An environment where the leader makes sure to look after the wellbeing of the people behind him. An environment where work is made conducive for everyone. An organization where the right principles are upheld and people are trained not to be followers but to be leaders themselves.

How about life? Surely there are great points here as well to help us lead more decorated lives. For one, it's not always about us. We don't have to things alone. When brought together, people have always shown that they could accomplish more.

Also, we aren't just helping others when we help others. A part of that goodness reaches back to support us someday when we might need it.

You're Not Always Competing!

Armed with this knowledge, we can make even better leaders of ourselves when we learn to work with people and to step back and let others do the work at times, especially when they have the skills and experience to pull it off. After all, it's all for the good of the team/organization.

Well, what do you know, it's over 700 words already :-o. I'll finish off with a timeless quote by Mother Theresa that further supports the truths and tenets of teamwork and esprit de corps.

^Pan.