We find that traditionally the study of leadership
has been rooted in a behavioral soil.
We’ve looked at what our leaders have done,
what military strategies they’ve employed,
what alliances they’ve made ;
but about 25 years ago, I decided to uproot my interest in leadership
from the soil of behavior, and place it into a linguistic soil.
Not surprisingly, I found
that the great leaders tend to employ the very same stylistic devices.
They all use metaphor, for example, and parallelism, repetition,
and certainly self-deprecation.
In fact, Abraham Lincon was once accused of being two-faced.
And he said to his critic,
“Do you really think if I had two faces, I’d be using this one?”
(Laugher)
Very recently I came accross an article about Mother Nature.
And it inspired me to once again uproot my study of leadership
from a linguistic soil and to place it into Mother Nature’s soil.
Today I would like to share with you three creatures from that world,
tell you a bit about my interest in them,
and the leadership lessons that can be derived.
Jean-Henri Fabre was a French botanist who was fascinated by caterpillars,
in particular, processionary caterpillars.
He would line them up and watch to see how long they would follow their leader.
And one day, in a mischievieous sense, he put them in a circle,
put food in the center of the circle,
and then watched to see if any of them would break rank to get at the food
or would they follow their leader to their collective death.
And that’s exactly what they did.
Initially I thought, “Well, human beings would never do that.”
And then I remembered Jonestown.
And so, the lessons I derived are these:
to stand up, speak up,
to certainly be respectully disobedient.
There’s a need to become the authority yourself
if you are challenging authority.
And finally, it’s important to be a non-conforming conformist.
I think sometimes of Roger Boisjoly
who was a junior engineer working for NASA,
who warned his superiors about a problem with the O-ring.
But they didn’t listen to him and we know the consequences of that.
The second animal that I thought would be of interest to you
is a Bull Terrier named “Sergeant Stubby”.
Stubby was smuggled into the trenches by his owner during World War I,
and he had that remarkable ability to hear things
before the event actually occurred.
When the soldiers saw him put his paws over his ears,
they immediately took cover.
And Sergeant Stubby is credited with saving a great many American lives.
In fact, after the war, he was invited to the White House on three occasions.
His owner tried to take him into a hotel once,
and the concierge said, “We don’t allow dogs.”
Mr. Conroy was indignant.
“This ain’t no dog,” he said, “This is a war hero!”
We’ve learned from animals
who have that preternatural ability to do certain things.
While we don’t have their hearing,
we certainly have a mind that can look beyond the present circumstances
and begin to connect the dots,
to notice the emergence of trends.
Our federal government has a list of 25 traits for leaders,
and at the top of that list is that variability of external awareness.
I often cite the chemical company
that, year after year, had its contract renewed with a fast-food chain.
But one year, they lost the contract.
When they inquired why, they were told the competitor had developed
a container for the Fast Food that was biodegradable.
That chemical company had failed to think about the external environment.
They just neglected the fact
that we, as Americans, are becoming more and more concerned about the environment
and what we can do to protect it, such as the biodegradable container.
Sometimes we are so busy fighting fires
that we are really not paying attention to alarm bells
that may be going off in the distance.
So, I encourage those of you who would like to hone your leadership skills,
ask yourselves “what if” questions sometimes.
And also, learn to read outside your field.
About 25% of what you read should have nothing to do with what you do.
It’s a great way to develop that ability to look beyond.
My final example is the chameleon,
who is noted for having eyes on either side of its head,
allowing it to have a 360 degree view of the world.
The chameleon, as you probably know,
can change its coloration within 20 seconds
if it notices a threat is imminent.
We also find that this remarkable creature,
when it is exposed to the sun’s ultraviolet rays,
can actually become more friendly, amorous even.
So the lessons that I’ve derived are these:
to widen your view of the world
and to improve your verbal fluidity.
It’s true we cannot as human beings, change our appearance in 20 seconds.
But what we can do is this.
We can hear where our words and thoughts might be going, and we can pivot.
Perhaps the best example of this comes from Liz Carpenter,
who was Press Secretary during the LBJ administration.
She found time to write a book.
One day, the historian Arthur Schlesinger approached her and said,
“Liz, I got a copy of your book. It’s pretty good. Who wrote it for you?”
(Laughter)
Without skipping a beat, she looked right at him and said,
“I’m glad you enjoyed it, Arthur. Who read it to you?”
(Laughter)
Initially, she was probably programming her words and her thoughts
to say a simple “Thank you”, but she had to pivot.
And we can do this like the chameleon in a linguistic way.
Another wonderful example comes from a stewardess in First Class,
who had the remarkable Muhammad Ali as a passenger.
He had just won the heavy weight championship of the world
and was feeling pretty feisty.
When she approached him and said, “Sir, we’re about to take off.
Would you fasten your seatbelt?”
he replied, “Superman don’t need no seatbelts.”
She looked at him right in the eye and said,
“Really? Well, Superman don’t need no airplane either.
Now, buckle up!”
(Laughter)
So she had to pivot
to change her intended polite patter
and to turn into a humorous situation that avoided any sense of conflict.
My final recommendation is this.
We so often become engrossed and immersed in our leadership projects
that we forget to take time for ourselves.
So determine your ideal circumstances
and break away from leadership for a while.
Spend more time with friends and family.
Benjamin Hoff, as you may know, wrote about Winnie the Pooh, and he said,
“Lots of people talk to animals but not very many listen.”
I hope that today I’ve encouraged you to listen to Mother Nature
a bit more that you might have otherwise.
I also encourage you to uproot your ideas on occasion
and to transplant them into new soil.
May you and your ideas grow and flourish.
Thank you.
(Applause)
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