Should you LEAD or FOLLOW: What cranes and geese teach us about leadership...
"He who can not be a good follower, cannot be a good leader" - Aristotle.
Capturing on lens these Cranes flying in formation in the sky, following each other, I wondered if there was a designated leader among them. I also wondered about what the rest of the flock thought when they chose to be followers.
In life, should one choose to be a leader or a follower?
There are myriad quotes about leaders that are hammered into our brains from the beginning. Some examples are:
Leaders are creators of their life, followers let life happen to them...
Leaders talk about solutions, followers talk about problems ... And so on and so on!
It is almost as if there is a deliberate attempt to glorify leadership and vilify followers.
While the importance of being a leader and visionary can not be diminished, in my view, it is counter productive to try to be a leader at all times. Being in a 'Leader' frame of mind tends to get a person stuck in an endless cycle of lead, achieve, grow team, be a bigger leader, achieve more things and grow the team even more....
Being successful becomes a mirage that moves farther and farther away, the more successful one gets. Life becomes an endless race. That takes its toll. Believe me, being stuck in the rut of being a successful Executive leader has suppressed all other aspects of my personality and with that, the ability to enjoy life. I had to give up leadership and break free!
An answer to the question "should you be a leader or follower" can surprisingly be, BOTH !
I did a lot of reading on how the flocks of cranes and geese, who fly for thousands of miles in formation, treat leadership. I learnt something amazing. The following video summarizes how the geese do it (along with some other aspects of great teamwork). It is a 2 minute video but speaks a lot on the wisdom of the geese.
So - Leader or Follower, finally ? My answer is - Lead, but with a willingness to give up leadership and Follow, with potential to take up Lead . Let the team goal or your goal at a given point in life decide what your role will be!
Please comment and share your views below. Your views will enrich my knowledge and experience on the subject.
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Yes! I share this fact all the time. One thing it didn't point out is that those following formation are in a kind of sleep state, that's how they can fly for thousands of miles without stopping. Besides "support" the flanking birds are squawking to keep the leader awake.
Good points there Beth. Yes. The honking of followers to keep the leader motivated is also very important. Thanks for pointing out.
I request you to take a look at my other blogs too - your comments will be valuable. Thanks
"He who can not be a good follower, cannot be a good leader" - Aristotle
If you want to be a leader, I'll follow you, but only if you are aware of where your are heading to.
True. A leader does have to inspire confidence and a follower has to have the correct potential to take lead as needed.
Nice words. I think we all become leaders and followers in different points in our lives. The important thing to remember is that through cooperation we achieve things bigger than ourselves. Once this is understood, we realize that a leader needs his followers as much as they need him for things to work.
Thank you for the comment. Nice point about leaders needing followers and cooperation.
I think it is good to be some of both depends on the situation.
Thanks for your comment. If possible, please share some of your own experience if possible where you felt the need to be a leader or follower. Thanks
nature is amazing we take it for granted sometimes
True. So much to learn from animals !
Great post! Resteemed :) I didn't know about the uplift and how the leaders change. Good symbolism to learn from.
Thanks. I had never thought about that aspect either. Strange how much the animals can teach us
leadership is overrated. it is more or less exemplified tribalism. it creates sheeple.
A profound observation. I also like your way of stating maximum in minimal words. I frankly had to go look up 'sheeple'. There is something new I learnt today. :)
:)