Leaders treating others like dogs
We owned a miniature dachshund that joyfully welcomed us home every day. He’s gone now and frankly, we miss the sound of his miniature paws paddling around on our floors.
One day I came home to a “normal” welcome-home from my wife and realized that we acted more excited to see Spunkie than we did to see each other. In that moment I said to my wife Dale, “I wish I was a dog.”
The conversation that followed was both fun and enlightening. Since then, when Dale comes home I go to greet her with appreciation and she does the same for me. Perhaps we are not quite as exuberant as we were with Spunkie. She doesn’t scratch me behind the ears and I don’t walk her into the back yard.
Sometimes, when I come home, I bark to let her know I’m home.
We’re having fun treating each other like dogs.
Leaders would do well to treat their constituents like dogs.
#1. Doggy directions are clear, simple, and direct.
#2. Doggy success is quickly and generously appreciated.
Leaders would do well to act like dogs.
#1. Dogs don’t make unnecessary demands.
#2. Dogs express inordinate enjoyment and appreciation for minor affections.
#3. Dogs are loyal even when we disappoint.
#4. Dogs never play games. You always know exactly how they feel and what they think.
Here’s Tuesday’s leadership challenge. Treat others like dogs.
*****
What dog qualities should leaders exhibit?
What would happen if leaders treated others like dogs?
Good morning Dan..What dog qualities should leaders exhibit? Hmmm…having had two dogs in my life what do I remember most about them? Well “reliable and faithful immediately comes to mind and unconditional loyalty. My golden retriever would lay at my feet as I read or watched TV. Never asking for more than my presence and the occasional pat. The thought of treating others like dogs well if you mean sharing some of the characteristics perhaps. As a leader I would care about them, make sure their environment was a safe place, and help them in their time of need. Lastly I would do my best to make every interaction as fun as possible within the constraints of the work place. A smile is arguably the most under appreciated tool we have and it is free to give and great to receive. I know my Golden always brought a smile to my face. Smile and make someone happy. Have a great week Dan, regards Al
Al,
Great seeing you again. Trust your week is going well.
I’m smiling at your comment! Well said.
Best to you,
Dan
Dr. Diaz is a featured contributor on Leadership Freak. Read his bio at http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/al-diaz
Dear Dan,
Interesting point of view. In French, when you treat somebody like a dog, it’s clearly not positive. It often goes with lack of respect, poor treatment and so on. I suppose it comes from an old vision of dog’s life with rude “owners”: living outside, not eating the best food, having to guard the farm … kind of utilitarian vision of a dog’s presence.
But you bring out exactly the opposite. That’s an interesting perspective that I feel congruent with. I think we all would like being treated like dogs treat us.
All the best,
Cai
Cai,
Thanks so much for your comment and for your.
I enjoy being treated like a dog. 🙂
Best to you,
Dan
Last night, on TV, there was the movie “King Kong” (the last version).Great movie of course. And it reminds me your post.
How powerful is it this ability to enter in empathy with the “monster”.
I put beside the fact that humans tend to put humans feelings on animals behaviours.
I think we are touched by the feelings of the “beast”. We are touched because these feelings simply looks authentic, real and simple:
-anger looks like anger,
-happiness looks like happiness,
-fear looks like fear,
-fondness looks like fondness,
– …
The feeling that appears outside is the same as the inside. There’s no cheating, no faking, no dissimulation. Dr Eric BERNE (Transactional Analysis father) showed how expressed human feelings could be so different from the real inside feeling. He call this racketed emotion. I’m wondering if it’s not a quality that we are expecting from a leader : being able to express the real emotion, the real feeling, on this point being authentic.
Must a leader be authentic regarding his expressed emotions? Which somehow means he worked on himself regarding his conditioning and he’s now able to accept and express his real feelings and emotions. People can follow somebody that he’s not going to emotionally cheat them, what’s shown and said is real.
I think this an interesting question. What’s your opinion?
Cai,
Thanks for continuing the conversation. I love your comment and think it’s on target.
I don’t think leaders should let out all emotion. However, when they do, it should be authentic.
Leaders can let out volatile emotions by talking about them rather than expressing them. I don’t think it’s healthy for the organization if leaders let out all their volatile emotion.
Just some off the cuff thoughts,
Dan
This one’s a keeper. And you didn’t even write anything about our love for treats!
Yum!! A good word is a treat! 🙂
My dogs see every day as a wonderful new experience, not worrying about the mistakes of yesterday or dwelling on possible future problems. They immediately forgive me for my mistakes because they know they are usually honest mistakes and that I mean to do the right thing. I think these are great leadership qualities.
We live on a horse farm so my dogs eat a lot of horse poop but it never seems to upset them. I think this is also a valuable leadership skill.
Laura,
Thanks for adding to the conversation. Love the idea of a dogs focus on “now.” Living in the moment is a challenge.
I’m originally a farm boy so I’ve seen plenty of poop. You’re really pushing that one. 🙂
Have a great day.
Dan
Be excited to see each other is a great relationship advice.
Perhaps you should write a book ‘Everything I needed to know about leadership I learned from my dog’.
Sounds Great! Maybe a whole series…
Puppy Dog Leadership – for new leaders
Hunting Dog Leadership – for entrepreneurs
Lap Dog Leadership – for social media
Guard Dog Leadership –
Then there is
Dog grooming
Dog training
Doggy etiquette
too fun
Dear Dan,
Dog is my favourite animal. I love dogs since my childhood.I usually feed them with biscuits, breads and other eatables. I know all their exhibited traits. Let me explain what are the best quality dogs. Dogs are faithful, content, sensible, sensitive and friend in need. They protect master and do not care about their injury. They truly live at rajor’s edge.
A good leader should have quality of dogs like faithfulness, sensibility, sensitivity and should protect followers in need. I appreciate that you have given dog analogy for good leadership quality. Dogs are not greedy. What ever they get, they are satisfied. Here dog means pet dog.
The best leadership quality that dogs have are- content, ready to protect, absense of greed etc. Today corporations fails mainly due to greeds. Here we can learn lesson from dogs.
I think, When leaders want to treat others like dogs, then they have to become dog first. When you think yourself as master and do not have quality to protect dog in need, they you do not deserve to be master. Similarily, when leader can not empathize with audience, he does not deserve as a leader. So, leaders can treat others like dogs, when they think themselves as dog. I strongly believe that one can not become leader if he does not ready to work as a follower. It is the virtuous circle of follower and leader. Leaders do not come from moon. They are the byproduct of experience, empathy and change.
Ajay,
As always, thank you for adding value.
Here’s the statement that jumps out at me, “become dog first.” Makes me howl! So true and so challenging.
I’m thinking if I’m going to be a dog, I focus on giving not getting. But then I rethink…dogs love getting and show appreciation when they do.
🙂
Best regards,
Dan
Ajay is a featured contributor on Leadership Freak. Read his bio at http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/ajay-gupta
The first thing that comes to mind when discussing what dog qualities leaders should exhibit is Marley in “Marley and Me.” Marley was in it for the long haul. He started off as a playful puppy and evolved with the family over its life cycle. I suppose he had no choice but to stay with them, but having found himself a member of that family, he gave 110% to each and every moment with them. I once saw a fairly high level executive join ranks with one of our previous third party administrators, and she was supposedly going to “revolutionize customer service.” When I had the opportunity to see her resume, I saw that she had been at about 8 (nationally prominent) places in 10 years. What good is a revolution if the foot soldiers are left without a plan? While there are perfectly appropriate times for leaders to change organizations, it seems like far too many leaders today don’t stay with the organization long enough to make a solid imprint.
If leaders treated others like dogs, the others may get more pats on the back and more opportunity to share some genuine affection – that is a dynamic that can bring levity and wellbeing to many organizations that are stressed by the bottom line these days.
Paula,
As always, thanks for adding to the conversation.
You challenge me with your comment. The “long haul” isn’t easy. I think its worthwhile as long as we don’t get stuck. But it’s a challenge. I’ve been leading the same organization for 25 years. Long enough? 😉
Best to you,
Dan
Paula is a featured contributor on Leadership Freak. Read her bio at http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/paula-kiger
Timely article for me too Dan, our lab/chow mix of 15 years moved on recently as well. Have been thinking of all those little things that he did that I appreciated so much…and now even laugh at some I didn’t appreciate in the moment.
Unconditional acceptance and belief of goodwill comes to mind as a couple of traits we could absorb. That unconditional piece carries over. Unconditional enthusiasm, passion and high regard…for even chasing a stick. It goes beyond the stick to the moment(s) of interaction…of connection with two beings. As laura noted, each day is a wonderful new experience waiting to unfold.
Can’t forget playfulness, optimism and belief that you can catch that dang squirrel…even when you are 105.
And what would happen if we owned these traits…that’s what these columns are all about!
Hi Doc,
Condolences.
Love the tenderness in your comment today.
When I read unconditional I also think about treating others with goodwill even when I’m having a sucky day.
It’s always a pleasure,
Dan
Doc is a featured contributor on Leadership Freak. Read his bio at http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/doc
I once heard a joke: Lock your wife and your dog in the trunk of your car for an hour, then come back and let them both out and see which one is happy to see you 🙂
On a semi-unrelated note.. the dog in the above picture appears to be being insubordinate to its human leader… notice how the chain is pulled taught? A subordinate dog will walk beside or behind you. Take notice of that next time you see someone walking a dog down the street.
Likewise, that doggy coming to greet you at 100mph when you come in the door is an insubordinate dog.
I’m not sure what the point of all this is….maybe someone else can figure it out 🙂
Hi Matt,
Thanks for jumping in… I’ll choose my pictures more carefully next time.
Maybe it all means that insubordination is a good thing.
Cheers,
Dan
Dan, some time back I saw a column, “If people were more like dogs.” This would hold true of leaders as well. One trait that I can think of is how intuitive many dogs are. They just seem to know what you need and how to make you feel better. A couple of years back I came home from surgery and my older Brittany sensed something was different and as I sat in my chair she wouldn’t let her sister (another Brittany who wanted to play ball) near me. In this case she was not only intuitive, but a great defender! Not bad traits for a leader.
A couple of other traits I love is that they are always glad to see you and always forgiving, no matter how you have treated them. Enthusiasm and forgiveness are also good leader traits, although you may still lose your job even if I forgive you!
I think dogs are likely a little gift from God to help us get through when he isn’t around.
jn,
Nicely said.
Emotional Intelligence has been part of the leadership literature for some time now.
Have a great day,
Dan
Thanks Dan, a new prespective to leadership and dogs 🙂
Best regards,
Huda
Huda,
Thanks for the good word.
Dan
I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Way to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dan, I saw this mini doxie on my Flipboard this morning and had to respond (we have one, 9-yr old Frankie). To add to the conversation, I can think of 2 qualities/interactions with her that I think leaders can benefit from: 1) she has no long term memory; and 2) we always forgive her mistakes because we know she means no harm.
The first point is that every time she sees us she shows the same level of enthusiasm, something for leaders to remember that we need to energize those around us and show our appreciation for what they do. On the second point, most people don’t mean to make mistakes (Frankie doesn’t mess up deliberately) so we should as leaders remember not to punish people for making mistakes, but instead treat them for what they are, learning opportunities.
Great conversation point,
Kim
Kim,
Thanks for adding to the conversation.
Few people mess up deliberately. If they do they should be fired for disloyalty or lack of ability. Bottom line, when people mess up, treat them as if they didn’t mean to make mistakes. Great point.
Best to you,
Dan
There is of course the point that, as managers, we should realize that occasionally our job is to just clean up the poop and not make a big deal out of it!
Jerry,
Good one… just clean up the mess and move on.
Best,
Dan
Enjoying your posts (including this one; started reading your post through twitter.) Just wanted to add: Leadership training is always worth it’s drool! :-).
Thanks for adding your first comment. Keep’em coming.
The dog lover in me could not resist commenting. (I have 3…we refer to them as “earth angels.”) The leadership qualities we can learn from dogs are that they live in the moment — no regrets and are always looking forward to the next adventure with optimism and enthusiasm. Dogs also are often wary of strangers (alert to danger) but treat those who have earned their respect with undying loyalty. Working dogs work hard at their jobs, but even they know that sometimes you just have to have some fun!
Hi Barb,
Thanks for adding your “3” cents worth to this conversation… and thanks for leaving your first comment on Leadership Freak.
Best to you…
Dan
Really a good article. We all forget there are always two parts to a situation. Thanks for the perspective.
I hope it follows us all into the week!
thanks Debbie
Can’t resist . . . this game is fun –
The leadership lessons that can be learned from dogs – The value is in the relationships. It’s positive if there is mutual trust.
Also, you can’t always be the ‘boss’. Sometimes, you need to switch roles to get things done. . . Hunting dogs, therapy dogs, guide dogs – they take the lead and no-one get anywhere without them.
Thanks for the interesting metaphor!