The Four Oxen and the Lion
For this week’s leadership message, I'm leaning on Aesop’s Fables. The Four Oxen and The Lion is one of my favorite stories and the message is very timely for our businesses, our communities and our country. I continue to be disenchanted with the attention and volume of extremes, the idea that we have to choose sides and the division that seems to be growing wider. This is a time when we need to support one another and remember that we are more alike than we are different. The fable highlights the importance of this very concept.
A Lion used to prowl about a field in which Four Oxen used to dwell. Many a time he tried to attack them; but whenever he came near they turned their tails to one another, so that whichever way he approached them he was met by the horns of one of them. At last, however, they fell a-quarrelling among themselves, and each went off to pasture alone in a separate corner of the field. Then the Lion attacked them one by one and soon made an end of all four.
We are constantly facing threats, obstacles and challenges in our lives. When we are part of a team, it is critical that we have each other’s proverbial back. Knowing we’ve got someone watching out for us and catching things in our blind spots allows us to charge ahead with what we know needs to get done. It allows us to take risks, knowing that we will be supported. It allows us to be brave in the face of adversity. And it makes us stronger as a whole - strong enough to make it through the most difficult and scary situations that would otherwise be impossible to face alone. And for this to occur, we must strengthen the trust within our team. Great leaders do this by helping others find common ground, aligning different positions with the same goals, and infusing purpose into day-to-day responsibilities.
When we come together, it doesn’t have to be at the expense of our personal benefit. The oxen had nothing to gain by separating, it was only their disagreements that led them to venture away from one another. The weight of our challenges and obstacles we face make us all susceptible to stress, a lack of patience, and frustration. We have a responsibility as leaders within our organizations to allow our team members to disagree without it driving them apart. We have to challenge each other with our hearts open and intentions that are good-natured. And we must remind our teams that we are stronger together than alone. For our teams and our communities, it’s never been more true that: “United we stand, divided we fall.”
