Leadership Lessons From A Sea Turtle And A Shark

Click Here To Read Part 1.

Click Here To Read Part 2.

If you have been following this series, we've been going through the story of a Shark that saves a Sea Turtle that is dying from a rope wrapped around its neck.

We have looked at lessons that we can learn from this story.

We also established that even though this has been found to not be a "factual story" that occurred, this doesn't mean that the lessons aren't "true".

As we look at this story, we can take away completely different, yet truly needed, lessons depending on the context you give it.

Let's add a different context to this story.

Say that you are the Shark - you're a visionary Leader who is trying to make a needed change in the world.

You might be doing this as a C-Suite executive or as an entrepreneur.

When you have an innovation or invention that will be beneficial but hasn't been adopted yet, it will always have people challenge it.

They will not accept it in a variety of ways.

They may be passive, they may verbally disagree with you, they may tell you that your ideas are worthless or won't work, or they may attempt to sabotage your efforts.

However, you know if the change isn't adopted, the organization or people you are trying to impact will slowly die or fail to achieve what they desire.

In this scenario, the people are the Sea Turtle with the rope around their neck that's slowly killing them.

They may believe that defying the change benefits them in some way, but the more they do this, the more the rope tightens and the more likely infection develops.

As the Shark, you have an option - you could easily eat the Sea Turtle.

You could yell at them, demand that they do what you say, threaten them, even fire them, or attack them publically.

All are well within your power as the Shark.

But what does that accomplish?

The problem - the rope and the probable infection - is still in the environment.

If you do any of these actions, it is like if the Shark eats the Sea Turtle.

You may "win" the battle, but you will still lose.

You will simply be ingesting the rope and infection.

Your team will start to trust you less, you will lose buy-in for your ideas, you will get only the minimum out of your team, you may end up pushing them to purposefully work against you, and those outside your organization will learn to distrust you.

Your ideas will slowly start to die, much like a rope and infection destroying you from the inside out.

Due to the fear that exists, you will find that there are fewer people around you.

However, you have another option.

Instead of fear and destruction, you can bring hope and salvation.

You can choose to lift those working against you and show them that there is a way for them to have the rope removed and that they can recover from the infection killing them.

You may need outside help - outside ideas, outside contractors, outside teachers, or outside coaches.

These are like the fishermen in the story - who have the power to cut the rope from the neck of the Sea Turtle.

With this action, everyone wins.

The rope is removed from the environment, plus the infections and damage can be healed.

The Sea Turtle continues to live, and your team or the clients you wish to impact end up having a much better life.

The Shark is allowed to continue to be the top predator of the environment, but instead of attacking your team, you can go attack "the market".

The fisherman learns to respect you at a new level that wasn't possible before, where the fisherman represents all of those aspects and people "outside" your environment.

The choice is yours about how to approach the situation.