I recently read that “effective leadership is not about a set of skills, but a set of practices.” To me, effective leadership is inspired leadership, with the right practices. I have seen enough skilled ‘managers’ who couldn’t lead a herd of anything, if their life depended on it.
A few years ago we called a professional to remove a bee hive that hung precariously from the magnolia tree adjacent to the school. The ominous cloud of buzzing frenzy was intimidating to say the least. The process of removal of the hive was insightful. The professional went to the heart of the hive, with a small cardboard box, looking for the queen bee. Once he had the queen in ‘custody’ the other bees flocked in desperation, with the same fervor with which a thirsty man might try to squeeze water from a cactus in a desert.
I couldn’t help but think about the queen as a leader that provided a life line to the swarm. A few, like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, inspired a generation to follow blindly, because they believed in their vision, and because the leaders cause was larger than themselves.
For the rest of us, time to practice what we preach, and leave those degrees and skills at home. How else will we inspire the next generation? Amazing what we can learn from the bees.
About Hemant Rustogi