Horse Sense for Leaders

It was the seminal day in a week long leadership retreat I was conducting and nearly everyone in the class had tears in their eyes. These seasoned C-suite executives who’d seen it all, emitted a collective gasp as they watched Jeremy open up his energy and beckon the 1200-pound snorting beast to walk toward him. Mulata, a beautiful Lusitano mare, was the master instructor from whom Jeremy had been struggling to learn for the better part of an hour. She was there to teach him about the power of leadership intent and wasn’t letting up on the lesson.

Jeremy was working to get the horse to walk, trot and canter, using only his thoughts and body language as tools. The class watched him try and fail repeatedly, understanding after a time where Jeremy was going wrong. He was dutifully going through the motions, mimicking what he’d seen in a demonstration by my workshop co-facilitator, but his energy and his intent wasn’t evident to the horse–or to anyone else for that matter.

With quiet dignity and regal authority, Mulata was parsing out the leadership lessons one after another. Jeremy would ask her to move toward him and she’d walk away. He’d ask her to move away and she’d stand completely still, looking at him with deep knowing eyes. Finally, the horse did as Jeremy asked, but only when she felt he had given clear and unambiguous direction—when the horse could feel Jeremy’s intent was authentic. The ten corporate mavericks gathered around the paddock were in the presence of an influential mentor and instinctively knew there was no one from whom they could learn more.

The Energy of Leadership

The class had spent the morning discussing the importance of setting intent to achieve results within their organizations. After all, nothing significant is achieved in business unless leaders are clear about the outcomes they want to realize and can communicate the desired goals to everyone in the workforce. The conversation that day expanded further as the group explored the “energy of leadership”, that elusive power encased in a thought or within an intent. The horse happens to provide an excellent model for learning about how one’s intent is perceived by others. Horses have spent centuries as flight animals, depending on their ability to read the energy of predators so they could survive–knowing when to run or when it was safe to graze or sleep in the sun.

Despite evolution, burgeoning technology, opposable thumbs and a sophisticated language for communication, the people we work with have retained the same ability as horses to read our energy. If we’re not authentic as leaders, if we don’t really believe what we’re saying, others will realize it. If we tell partial truths or withhold vital information, people will instinctively know we’re not leveling with them. As a result, we’ll find it difficult if not impossible to motivate others to work towards a common goal – largely because that goal has not been well defined by us. So the next time you’re not achieving desired results with your team, examine the authenticity of your intent.

Alaina Love, President of Purpose Linked Consulting (PLC) is an internationally recognized leadership development consultant and speaker. She is co-author of The Purpose Linked Organization: How Passionate Leaders Inspire Winning Teams and Great Results (McGraw-Hill, 2009) http://amzn.to/ijBJaX 

The book identifies and explores the impact of the ‘Passion Archetypes’ of great leaders, provides a process for leaders to maximize the individual passions on their teams, and offers free access to The Passion Profiler™ online tool, where readers can discover their own passions and how to apply them to their roles at work.

To find out more about Alaina’s work on leadership and employee purpose and passion check out Purpose Linked Consulting’s website.