If we were able to learn a few, but really interesting qualities from the Octopus I can assure you that there are yet more intriguing lessons on leadership skills that we can extract from a crocodile.
This is a creature that has withstood and endured the test of time. Though they generate tremendous fear and anxiety in the other creatures around it, I still believe that there are certain qualities in it which, if observed and practiced, can help us become better managers and leaders in our professional as well as our personal life. Let us try and explore a some extremely positive and amazing qualities of the crocodile!
The grip
IT has been found that the crocodile’s grip is one of the strongest among all the different creatures in the animal kingdom. The crocodile never let’s go of the opportunity and grips its prey in its jaws extremely hard. I have seen a situation where even a fully grown antelope has been unable to release its leg from the crocodile’s jaw despite trying its best.
The grip is so strong that most of the creatures once caught in its jaws find it almost impossible to get out of it.
What can we learn from this feature of the crocodile? Well it is the grip! Yes, for us as aspiring leaders and managers in the professional world what we need to learn is that when an opportunity arises for us in the form of learning opportunity, a ‘presentation’ opportunity. A new challenge, a tough situation at work, an unexpected development or even a change in your ‘work profile or change in department’; it is important that you catch or grab hold of it or may I say grip it extremely hard. Let me explain this with an example.
John was a very ambitious young graduate. He was aspiring to get a job in a very big and reputed bank and hence when the opportunity arose for an officer’s position in that bank, he immediately applied for it. Well! He not just applied for the position, but also simultaneously began preparing for the interview.
He started reading more about financial accounting and banking loan financing. He knew that this was an opportunity that he did not want to let go off. He basically had gripped it hard and was willing to put in all his time and effort at doing the best in the interview. Hence it was not at all surprising that he was able to confidently appear in front of a panel of five interviewers and answer almost of their questions accurately. To me this was what I call gripping the opportunity. Today John is holding a senior management position in the same bank. All he did was make the most of the opportunity that he got. I am sure that when you come across an opportunity and a golden one at that, you will not look at it, but grip at it hard until the opportunity turns into eventual success.
Patience (willingness to wait for the right opportunity)
One of the most interesting qualities of the crocodile is its ability to wait and that too for hours and on. I have seen this in real life where the crocodile has been near the river bank and almost submerged under the river water with only its snout popping out. While in this position a baby antelope comes extremely close to its mouth. Even when the baby antelope is just a foot away from the crocodile’s mouth, the crocodile still remains calm and patient. Realising that there is no danger there, the baby antelope acquires more courage and gets more deeper into the water and in the process gets just a few inches away from the crocodile’s mouth. That is when the crocodile makes its swift attack and grabs the baby antelope with no chance of its escape. Remember we must that the time difference between the time the baby antelope came towards the crocodile the first time and the second or final time was three hours. Yes! three hours. The crocodile wanted to be sure of attacking its prey at the right time and not fail in its attempt. I guess, there is something for us to learn from this too. As they say, haste makes waste and hurry creates worry. We too need to be patient and calm and not make decisions in a hurry or in an impulsive manner. At times I have seen an organisation making decisions in haste and repenting about it later. I am sure we can learn as well as apply this quality of sensible patience from the crocodile.
Protective and caring
Oh yes! However, ferocious and feisty the crocodile may be, it has another side to it. You will be pleasurably surprised to know that the aggressive – sometimes assertive – crocodile is very calm and cautious when it carries its young ones quite literally in its mouth.
The same jaws that could easily crush the bones of a large deer can carry its babies with extreme gentleness and care. Is there something to learn from this quality of the crocodile? Well for sure there is something we can learn. As leaders and passionate managers I believe the crocodile teaches the sensibility of being aggressive – assertive would be a more appropriate word for leaders and managers – and then to be calm or caring or positively passive depending upon situations and circumstances. At times a manager has been known to tell off his juniors or colleagues in situations where there was need to. And at times when it was required for the manager to be aggressive or assertive he remains calm and passive. What the crocodile teaches us is the maturity to understand a situation and accordingly behave in the respective manner.
The way we treat the newly joined employees must be with care and concern and with a sensible touch of assertiveness.
There would and could be more useful and inspiring qualities that we could enjoyably extract from the crocodile, but then, I leave that to your imagination and effort.
The next column will be something more adventurous and I say this because we will be riding along with the wild dogs and learning from them something more about team building and leadership.
- MAYUR KALBAG is a leadership coach, corporate trainer and author. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this newspaper.
