By the time this article is published, the Kentucky Derby in all its pageantry will be complete.
It is fun to make a bet, order a mint julep, and watch horse racing at its best. But can we also learn from our equine friends? Beyond the spectacle and sport, there are profound leadership lessons embedded in the natural behaviors of these magnificent animals.
Business owners might be surprised by how well concepts of horse leadership can translate into the business environment. The principles of trust-based hierarchy, situational leadership, and collective awareness could offer fresh perspectives for managing teams and nurturing organizational culture in today's complex workplace.
Horse Leadership Overview
Horse leadership is based on trust, empathy, and the common good. In a herd, you will typically find two leadership positions: the alpha stallion and the head mare. The head mare is usually an older female horse that leads with wisdom and experience gained over many seasons. She will determine the direction the herd travels in. She will also help set the pace, carefully balancing the needs of young foals with the urgency of potential threats.
The stallion, meanwhile, "herds" the other horses. He will run alongside the group keeping all of the other horses on task and also looking for subtle changes in the environment that might signal danger. The goal is to create cohesion and establish optimal situational awareness. This dual leadership creates a comprehensive safety system that has evolved over thousands of years.
The positions—a female that sets the pace, and a male that keeps everyone moving in the same direction—are pretty much fixed. This pattern is observable in wild herds all over the world, from the mustangs of North America to the brumbies of Australia.
What horses fill those positions can change dramatically throughout the day based on circumstance. The head mare that leads in the morning may be different from the one that leads in the afternoon.
The Value Of Dynamic Leadership In Business
Horses are willing to sacrifice personal power for better group results. Is that a lesson that could apply well to your business? Company hierarchies certainly make sense—to an extent. Certain roles are simply very niche. More complicated, say, than the head mare's job of walking in a certain direction at a certain pace. However, there are benefits to fostering an environment in which more people feel able to contribute.
For one thing, introducing aspects of dynamic leadership into your business will give employees a more invested interest in what they are doing. It is the old wisdom that a person on an assembly line will do better if they can work on the entire car—not just a few bolts. It is in watching something come together that many employees will take their greatest satisfaction—particularly when they are given the chance to contribute at a high level.
As an owner, you are also benefiting from a greater diversity of ideas. When team members from different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives are empowered to lead in their areas of strength, they bring innovative solutions that might never emerge in a rigid hierarchy. This cognitive diversity improves problem-solving capabilities and helps organizations adapt more quickly to changing market conditions.
Empathy And Communication In Leadership
The lead horses also maintain constant awareness of all of the other animals in their herd. This emphasis on empathy has several purposes. For one thing, it reflects the fact that all of the horses contribute at a high level to the herd. To lose one would be to lose a tangible asset. The interconnectedness of the group means each member represents both physical security and collective intelligence that strengthens the entire herd.
It is also an extension of the lead horses' need to communicate. A herd can include 20 or more animals, each making their own observations. By constantly circling back, lead horses can acquire information from the herd. Shifts in behavior might indicate a nearby predator or environmental hazard that warrants attention. This distributed awareness system allows the herd to process far more environmental data than any single horse could manage alone.
In a business environment, fluctuations in behavior have different meanings. An unhappy employee could indicate internal policy problems. An ineffective employee could indicate poor hiring practices, or possibly internal environmental issues that could be getting in the way of success.
By listening to individual perspectives, business leaders can develop a stronger understanding of company-wide problems. Horses, of course, live different lives than CEOs. At the end of the day, though, they have a common goal: Get everyone where they need to be as safely and efficiently as possible.
