Leadership Lessons from My Dog

admin September 15, 2008 leadership 7 Comments

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I received a link to this nice article “Leadership lessons from my daughter.” It was thoughtful of the author to share how being a parent has helped make him a better leader. Although I have no children, I do have a dog, and so I thought I would share the lessons my dog has taught me.

  1. Yelling can create a powerful and immediate reaction and can achieve positive results, if used sparingly. Otherwise, it’s not yelling–you just seem to talk loudly a lot.
  2. Formal authority totally works! I’m the pack leader and my dog knows it. I feed her and walk her on a set schedule and she trusts me to take care of her.
  3. Shit happens. When my dog has an accident, she doesn’t need me to point it out to her.
  4. Communication is key, but isn’t that easy. Dogs don’t hear things exactly like you do. They barely know English! Use simple words and repeat them often.
  5. Get the basics right. Before I got my dog to walk under control off lead, I had to get her to respond to voice command. Get the basics down, and the rest can follow.
  6. Timing is everything. Some dogs aren’t a good fit for you, though they may not be bad dogs. Understand your expectations, budget, environment, and availability and take the time to choose the dog that meets these criteria. Sometimes, this mean you can’t have a dog.
  7. Create a reward system, not a punishment system. Dogs respond better to rewards than to punishment and are nicer too.
  8. Independence can yield surprising results. I let Lilly off lead in the park and she found Yoshi, our totally cute and extremely evil cat!
  9. Respect their needs. Sometimes dogs get sick and, yes, that’s not on the schedule, but you still need to deal with it. When they wake you up in the middle of the night to go outside, DO NOT IGNORE THE WHINE!
  10. Sometimes, it’s just time to say good bye. You have the ability to end or extend your dog’s life. These decisions combine emotions and economics in the most powerful way. Here’s where leadership is most required. What is the right thing for you to do? Leadership is doing that thing.

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7 Responses to “Leadership Lessons from My Dog”

  1. kdghty said:

    Sep 16, 08 at 9:53 am

    Wise Lilly – and her faithful student, of course. There’s a book in this, you know. In my mind’s eye I see it, right there on the counter at Barnes & Noble.

  2. etselec said:

    Sep 16, 08 at 1:01 pm

    You know, that last item makes me think maybe I’m not fit for management. I have an incontinent cat who has destroyed the wooden floors in my kitchen and makes my place so stinky so that I don’t want to have anyone over. I’ve tried everything I can think of to get her to stop, but she won’t. I’ve had her for 16 years. It’s not health-related, it’s a behavior problem.

    The fact that I can’t put her down says to me maybe I couldn’t fire anyone, even if they really deserved it. That’s odd, because I always thought I’d have little problem with it.

  3. admin said:

    Sep 16, 08 at 4:16 pm

    As I wrote this, I was half joking and half not…

    Actually, etselec, I was in the exact same situation as you. I had a cat which I eventually had to put down at 18 and one of the signs it was “time” was because he used the litter box for the first time in years. At one point he was on Buspar and that did help though it was expensive because he was really fat and needed practically a human-sized dose. I knew I could never be in a successful relationship while I had that cat. But, you know, I still could fire _people_. In that case, the cat was my leader…

  4. Jezebel said:

    Sep 25, 08 at 12:13 pm

    My dog eats poop — it defies logic, it makes her sick, she’d eat it all day if she could. What lesson am I to take from this? I’m unwilling to give up the hope that this is still a world ruled by logic where eating poop is a last (very last) resort, not something you do if you have really, really fancy no-filler food at home!

  5. admin said:

    Sep 26, 08 at 11:28 am

    Jez, here’s the lesson:

    Sometimes we opt for short term happiness even when in the long term we know it’s Bad. Why did I stay up too late to watch the stupid show? Why did I eat the extra 5 slices of pizza? Why did I have two martinis? Why did I get married that second time? Etc.

  6. Filberthockey said:

    Sep 29, 08 at 5:48 am

    Glad you didn’t resort to putting anyone down in your previous location.

  7. admin said:

    Sep 29, 08 at 5:02 pm

    The temptation was there, believe me. 🙂 nah, just kiddin’!

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