Leadership Articles > Dog Whispering way
Maybe you have seen the show on TV called the Dog Whisperer? So what does this have to do with leadership you might ask. Everything would be a correct answer. In the show the host Caesar Millan refers to leadership in many different ways even though in this context it is adressed as rehabilitation for dogs and training for the human owners.
Key concepts in leadership
This article will look at some of the key concepts that Caesar conveys and how they apply to leadership in the workplace, at home and in the rest of life. Please note that this is not to official viewpoint of the show, if you want that go to their excellent web site.
On of the things mentioned is pack leadership, leading a pack of followers and how you can achieve that. Leadership equals influence, if you have great influence with people, i.e they have given that to you, you are able to lead them.
It is about influence
With dogs off course the way of creating influence is often psychical by holding down or by interpreting signals and responding with the correct non-verbal actions. In dog training as with humans there is a language to be learned. Caesar Millan is a master at interpreting the language of dogs, you as a leader need to become an expert in the language of human communication and leadership.
The calm and assertive leadership
Another key concept is the words calm and assertive. It is so that if you loose your temper, loose you center, your dog will not follow you as effectively. It might even disobey you. The same goes for people. You need to become a master of your emotions so that you can create trust in the group you are supposed to lead. People might fear you if you become upset and angry repeteadly, but they will not trust and respect you.
Assertive also it equally important. You can be all centered and able to master your emotions, but if you are not able to communicate clearly your wishes, your rules, your boundaries and your vision, you might get trust, but not respect. And you need both.
More to follow
We will continue this parallell between Caesar Millans dog whispering approach and human leadership in a later article.
Written by Markus Amanto
