Sustainable Leadership Lessons We Can Learn From Animals
Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast
Episode 98
Sustainable Leadership Lessons We Can Learn From Animals
If you focus at all on sustainability then you already know that the 3 pillars of sustainability are economic, environmental, and social, less formally referred to as people, planet, and profits.
But in order for any of this to be feasible, for any of us to have a stainable future we have to work together.
Yet we have forgotten how to do this. We have actually lost a lot of our social skills, and even forgotten how to be effective leaders. But all we really have to do is to look at the animal kingdom in order to learn some important lessons on sustainability and sustainable leadership.
And that is the focus of this episode, sustainable leadership lessons we can learn from animals.
Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is E 98, which is called Sustainable Leadership Lesson We Can Learn From Animals.
But before we get started I want to remind everyone that if you would like to contact me with questions, comments or even suggestions on topic of interest, please feel free to send me a message at [email protected]. Repeat
So, let’s get right down to this weeks topic of sustainable leadership lessons we can learn from animals. There are several things I want to address in this session.
-What is it going to take in order for humanity to have a sustainable future. But I want to talk about this in general terms, sort of a high overview
-Why we have lost the skills in order to accomplish this
-How we can learn some important lessons from the animal kingdom.
-And finally how are we going to put this all together
Now as you have likely heard me discuss before, the three pillars of sustainability are people, planet, and profits. But, considering our present predicament, I think we can all agree that the planet would be just fine without people. The environment would be just fine without people. But the opposite is far from the truth. People will not be okay without the environment or the planet. Without people, an economy would certainly not exist and no one would be making a profit.
So in order for all of this to work, we are actually going to have to work together as both a local community and a global community. But this also means we are going to have to change some of our behaviors and maybe even some of our basic instincts. For example;
Greed may have been a desirable trait in early human history. But we now have economic and social systems that encourage and promote runaway greed. Big oil and pharmaceutical companies are perfect examples. They control politicians who then pass legislation to allow tax evasion and enormous corporate profits. The banking and insurance industries make insane profits from the fees they charge. Then if anything goes wrong they simply discontinue their services. Rampant greed only furthers the destruction of the natural world that we all depend on for our very survival.
Revenge obviously was to our advantage early in our history and in fact this is a perfectly normal part of human behavior. But revenge makes absolutely no sense whatsoever when you have your finger on a nuclear launch command button which results in the destruction of the entire planet.
Tribal loyalty makes no sense when we find it perfectly acceptable to dismiss our moral values and basic honestly just in order to hurt the other tribe. We are all born into a given skin color, nationality, language, and culture simply by accident of birth . Yet this often has a profound affects on our lives that is almost inescapable. In fact such things often determine which side you'll be on in the next war! Now we live in a world with borders that are carefully guarded with guns and military weaponry.
Denial may help us in the short term as we psychologically adjust to unexpected trauma, disaster, or loss. But it makes no sense whatsoever to deny the changes that are occurring in our world almost everyday. An apathetic approach only ensures our ultimate demise.
Procreation. And finally our desire to constantly reproduce and expand our population is only going to ensure that there are fewer and fewer resources to go around. At our present rate, widespread human misery is inevitable. We are truly at a point where we must make a choice between quantity and quality.
But one thing is absolutely certain. Any attempt to control human behavior is going to be met with considerable resistance. This became quite obvious during the pandemic when people became increasingly angry over being denied something they thought they were entitled too.
Be we have to accept the fact that we can no longer throw money and technology at our global problems and expect to produce any long lasting results. We have to control and change the underlying behavior and instincts that got us here in the first place. We have to get rid of the institutionalized greed that pushes an economy to constantly grow because that is simply not sustainable.
But just look at where we are. Now I am not really a politically oriented person but I dare say that in recent years, at least in the United States, we have had some of the worst national leadership than what we’ve had in decades. But it is not just that. Take a look at where we are on a personal level.
We have completely forgotten how to communicate. We rely on social media platforms and 75% of family members text each other while they are even in the same house. People increasingly think it is okay to resort to violence as a means of solving simple conflicts. But does this happen because all our communication is so de-personalized that it becomes easy to look at the next person as a paper cut out instead of a real person.
We are loosing our ability to effectively communicate face to face. We have forgotten how to listen to others. We have forgotten how to be humble and we have forgotten how to make eye-to-eye contact. Our digital world has had a profound affect on our lives and a lot of that has been positive. But, it has to be coupled with face-to-face contact with people. Otherwise we are all just a bunch of paper cut outs. We all have to remember that you simply cannot underestimate the power of a good conversation, a conversation that is face to face and eye to eye.
But what this truly means is that we have lost many of the important skills that are necessary for us to develop a sustainable future. It shouldn’t be a big surprise that we no longer have any idea of where to start. But I think if we are indeed going to salvage people, planet, and profits then we have some important lessons to learn, or re-learn if you will.
Despite all the bad things you hear in the news these days, our future on this planet has not yet been decided. But, we do have a hard road a head of us. We are past the point of being able to make simple, easy decisions in order to alter our future. We are going to have to make substantial changes to how and where we live, what we eat, how we travel, how much we travel, how much water we use, what leisure activities we engage in. But how is this going to happen?
People in general are resistant to change. An entire culture make take several generations to change, possibly much longer. But one thing is certain, we cannot wait several generations in order to change our lifestyles. And one thing is obvious from my observations during the height of the pandemic, is that when changes are forced on people and they are denied what they are accustomed to having in their life, people get really angry. But then what’s the answer? Changes are going to have to take place in order to ensure a happy, healthy, sustainable future. The answer is that we need strong leadership.
We have to once again learn to be good leaders. This means on an individual level, a community level, and a national level. One of the most vital things we need in order to build and nurture a sustainable future is strong, effective leadership. This is needed in order to make the necessary changes required to develop a more sustainable society. That said, what are the traits that a good leader possesses?
First of all people become strong leaders through hard work, commitment, and experience. Some people are natural leaders while others seem to grow into that role. Good leaders influence, constantly offer guidance, and are always communicating with their followers. Good leaders are also responsible for the safety of those that follow them.
But the best part is that we don’t have to look very far to find examples of great leadership and team work. All we have to do is to look at the animal kingdom. So what I want to do is give a number of examples of leadership and team work in the animal kingdom and simply compare that to have people tend to do things.
One big difference between animals and people is that animals tend to have a rather black and white understanding of leadership. Once a leader has earned that position they are typically there until they die. The remainder of the pack or the herd tend to follow without question because this is often what is needed for survival. At least these day, this is something we rarely see in human social networks. None the less, let’s look at a few examples of leadership and social organization in the animal world.
Ants
My first example is ants. Now you wouldn’t think that we could learn anything about sustainability from ants. But we can actually learn a lot. For example:
Ant are not intimidated by the size of their workload. If you have ever watched them, they are incredibly strong and can carry something that is many times their own body weight. Ants are obvious well organized and work as a team in order to accomplish some incredible things.
Now what can we learn form this as humans? As I said before, our future on this planet has not yet been decided. Yet in order to make sure that is a positive and healthy future for all, we do have some hard work to do and some difficult choices to make. But many people are intimated by what needs to happen and most of us tend to live in denial. So we are intimidated by the size of our workload. As humans, we also tend to be highly disorganized and in many ways can no longer truly work as a team. Yet these are the things that are vital for us to secure a sustainable future.
Wolves
Wolf packs are my next example. Wolves actually have a highly organized and sometimes complicated social structure. But this social organization is the key to survival in tough environments. Obviously the pack has to work together and good communication is key. Additionally, members of the pack have to respect the system and the social order because this is key to survival.
Now obviously humans have a highly organized and complicated social structure. However, in my opinion, there are so many layers of government it becomes overwhelming and confusing. It is often difficult to tell who is actually in charge and if we are actually accomplishing anything. Not only that, many people in positions of authority often have their own agenda and are highly influenced by personal, business, and financial connections. Again, I am not a strongly politically oriented person but I do have to say that it seems rare theses days that we actually see government action that is truly “for the people and by the people”. Yet this is so much of what we need in order to secure a sustainable future.
Elephants
My next example is elephants. These creatures are well known for their intelligence, problem solving skills, patience, and compassion. The alpha female leads the herd. Elephants have a fantastic long-term memory which helps for locating water and food sources. The alpha female keep ties with other members of the herd and communication is vital. All of these traits are essential for the survival of the herd.
If only humanity as a whole had the compassion that is inherent in the elephant. If this were true, we would always respect the needs of our neighbors, friends, other cultures, other nations. It would alleviate many of the conflicts that are so common in human culture. Yet, the resolution of these conflicts are what is needed in order to us to work together as a global community.
Bees
Let’s take bees as another example. The queen bee lays eggs and protects them which ensures the survival of the colony. Authority and work load in a bee hive is actually decentralized. The queen bee delegates authority to leaders of smaller groups. These smaller groups of worker bees focus on a given task. This organization leads to a highly efficient hive.
Now imagine what would happen in our society if we did the same thing. Imagine what would happen if we had a strong central leader, such as our president, that delegated authority to smaller groups, such as governors of states. Each state was task with one responsibility, one goal, one important piece of the puzzle to make sure as a nation we developed energy independence, expansion of renewable energy, developed alternative food sources, a national plan for water usage. And in each state very specific industries were developed to accomplish their given task which of course guaranteed employment.
Then under such an organized system we would have 50 states working on 50 vital pieces of the puzzle to ensure a sustainable future. Imagine what we could accomplish as a nation under such a system. In my opinion, if a simple creature such as a bee can accomplish that why can we not do the same thing?
Now there are many other examples that I could give. If you look at the social structure of herds of horses, lion prides, geese, giraffes, baboons, chimpanzees, you will see similar examples of a highly organized and cooperative social structure that ensures the survival of the group. Not only that, if someone steps out of line, often the consequences are severe.
The thing I like most about the animal kingdom is that they keep things rather simple. There is strong leadership with very simple rules. They are not worried about wars, famines, globalization, the price gasoline, or building walls in order to protect their territory. They simple focus on the basics of survival.
Yet as humans I wonder if we will ever be able to set aside our greed so that we can manage and equally distribute our vital natural resources so that everyone has a guaranteed quality of life. Will we be able to set aside our need for revenge when it makes no sense whatsoever because it brings us to the brink of the destruction of humanity. Will we be able to forget about our tribal loyalty when such loyalties justify dismissal of our moral values and basic honestly just in order to hurt the other tribe. When will we stop living in denial that we are headed for a very grim future if we do not change our ways. And finally, are we actually willing to accept the fact that as a race if we continue our rate of population growth we are only going to ensure widespread human misery.
So often we easily forget that what we need for our continued survival is directly connected to the natural world. And yet we continue to squander our resources. I truly believe that despite all the bad news about climate change that we hear almost daily, we are not yet at the point of no return. However, we are at the point to where there are no easy answers. Throwing money and technology at our problems is not the answer to lasting change.
What we need is a highly organized, focused social structure with strong leadership that is so often seen in the animal kingdom. Much like the ants, we cannot be intimidated by the work ahead of us. We must work together with lots of good communication much like a pack of wolves. Yet in our quest for a sustainable future we must also keep the compassion of the elephant if we are going to resolve conflict, respects the needs of our neighbors, friends, other cultures, and other nations. And because we have an enormous amount of work ahead of us, we have to delegate and be highly organized similar to bees.
As you can see there are a lot of leadership skills that we can take from the animal kingdom and use to our advantage. Truly it is going to take some strong, positive, compassionate leadership, and global cooperation in order to change our future to something that is sustainable, fair, equitable, and that balances the needs of every nation and every global citizen.
At any rate, we do have a long way to go and a lot to accomplish that is going to required some strong leadership and mutual cooperation. And the closet place we can look to learn some valuable skills is our friends in the animal kingdom.
Now I want to end this episode with a quote from Alexander the Great. He said, “Remember, upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all.” This is so true when you think about the one basic concept of sustainability is what kind of future we are leaving the next generation. And that future is dependent on each and every one of us. And the simple fact is that each and every one of us has the ability to be a strong leader in our community. Remember that we should never underestimate the power of a small group of committed citizens.
Well folks, that is it for this week. I hope you have enjoyed this episode. If you did, then please take the time to leave me with a review. And also, take the time to subscribe to the Adventures in Sustainable Living podcast as well as my companion blog Off Grid Living News.
That’s it for now folks. I will see you all next week. This is your host Patrick signing off. Always remember to live sustainably because this is how we build a better future.
Patrick
