Does your business need more wolf-type managers to be successful?
Until I read a delightful New York Times essay by Carl Safina, I would have said heck no! Business get in trouble when those at the helm are “alpha wolves”—overly aggressive, dominant and liable to fight rather than listen. That stereotype may apply to humans but not to wolves, as Safina, author of the forthcoming book Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel, explains.
Safina, a naturalist who has studied wolves at Yellowstone National Park, says “alpha wolves” are just the opposite. According to Rick McIntyre, a wolf research quoted by Safina, “The main characteristic of an alpha male wolf is quiet confidence, quiet self-assurance.” McIntyre says such wolves “lead by example” because they know how to lead the pack. They project calmness rather than aggression.
Such alpha wolves, according to Safina, are good hunters and providers, but once the hunt is over they may hang back so that other wolves can eat first. They also tend to play with pups, including sickly ones. They share parenting duties in other words. Alpha males are protectors. Female wolves run the pack. Dean Smith, a biologist that Safina cites, notes that female wolves do most of the “decision making” as it relates to travel, resting and hunting.
At the risk of falling victim to the over-humanizing animals, I like Safina’s conclusions about wolves and see a parallel to our management culture. True enough there are more than enough male dominant bosses (fewer than in decades past) but they are still there. At the same time, what I notice in my work as an executive coach for both veteran and emerging leaders, are questions about personal dominance in the workplace.
Many men are comfortable nurturing but sometimes wonder if they are being tough enough. And some women feel when they assert themselves they are provoking offense. For this reason I think we need to shift to a more gender neutral middle ground where dominance and nurturing are regarded as not as male or female traits. That’s why I like the wolf analogy.
In wolf packs it seems male and female share the leadership roles. Male aggression is channeled toward rival packs; female nurturing is focused on managing the pack. At the same time, male wolves take care of pups; female wolves set direction. It is shared leadership that runs counter to our stereotypical views of male-female roles.
In well-run companies, managers – male and female – know their roles and responsibilities. While male managers may sometimes be more comfortable than women managers in asserting their points of view, women managers more than make up for it by listening and ensuring that people are heard. Both types of managers are not shy about asserting authority in order to get things done in a timely fashion. Both value collaboration as a means of collectivizing the talents of others.
Key to collaboration is when people in authority are willing to divest authority to others so that everyone can share in the bounty. It is something that male and females wolves do to survive, and indeed thrive. So too can managers.
So perhaps we can learn something from wolves and it might be more “arh-wooo” and much less “grrrrr.”
