Creative Leadership
Spring 2022
Project Objective: Review nature’s leadership styles.
Within a herd there is typically a lead stallion and a lead mare. It is their role to keep the herd safe and moving. With the lead mare at the front of the herd, and the stallion pushing from behind, they lead the community to food and water. In wild horse herd dynamics, the stallion also has a second role of resolving any conflicts between other horses. From an observational point of view, it is very interesting to note that in certain situations the stallion chooses to intervene, but in others he does not. For minor disputes, if he considers that it is in the best interests of the horses concerned fight it out alone in order to learn a particular lesson, he will let a conflict go ahead, all the while keeping a watchful eye on the proceedings. (Happy Horse)
The lion leader is merciless and unreliable. His rule is based on divide and rule, on exhaustion strategies and sneak attacks. He prefers to attack weak animal species because he is also rather lazy than tired. He enjoys tearing up his prey and prefers to let others do the dirty work. The lion leader is thrown out of place when another male defeats the old leader in battle. (Verchroeven)
Males and females have separate dominance hierarchies, with the latter usually being led by the oldest female. Males may be led by the oldest male, but these can be supplanted by younger specimens; thus, some packs may contain elderly male former pack eaders. The dominant pair typically monopolizes breeding (Wikipedia)