Leadership 2000 and Beyond Fitting Leadership and Followership: The Blind Calf, by Dr. R. Glenn Ray

In the summer of 1997, I visited an archeological dig north of Springfield, MO, where my brother Jack, was supervising a crew who were excavating the site. The area was being eroded by the Sac River with the aid of the periodic release of water from a hydroelectric dam upstream. Six feet of water were flushed down this stream within moments several times a week to meet the electric power needs of Kansas City, MO. Ten thousand years of data were being destroyed every week. This dramatic erosion had created a twenty foot cliff from the top of the terrace to the stream bed.

One day during my visit, Jack and I took a canoe trip on the upper Sac River, putting in just below the dam. Carl, one of Jack‚s staff members, stayed behind to hinder local arrowhead hunters from looting the site. While we were gone, an interesting event occurred. Adjoining the fenced-off site was a cattle farm. A three hundred and fifty pound calf that was blind in both eyes had accidentally fallen off the cliff into the stream bed.

Carl realized that he could not help the calf by himself. The calf would be in jeopardy if an unscheduled flood occurred. After a while, a couple of fishermen floated down the river and sighted the calf. Carl and the two fishermen gave of their time and energy to save the calf. Carl pulled on a rope tied around the calf‚s neck. The fishermen pushed and lifted the calf up this steep bank. Once they reached the top of the cliff,

Carl suggested that they leave the rope on the calf and lead him through the gate. Carl left to open the gate, and the fishermen decided that leading the calf was more difficult than shooing him through the gate. They took the rope off the calf and started yelling and waving their arms. The blind calf, scared by the sounds, ran in the other direction, right back over the cliff again.

The moral of the story is that you have to fit your leadership style to your followers. The approach of the fishermen would have worked well with a sighted calf. It was unsuccessful with a blind calf. The fishermen did not consider the unique characteristics of this calf. Leaders have to be flexible with their leadership styles. The leadership style has to fit the skills, abilities, and characteristics of the followers. The next day, the calf‚s mother led him up the river to a spot where he could make it back up the bank, and he was saved. She knew the leadership style that would work given the calf‚s disability.

© Dr. R. Glenn Ray, All Rights Reserved.