In this Harvard Business Review piece, I wrote on how we could learn from ants to become better leaders. I was on a trip to a leadership meeting of IEEE (Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers) as a Chairman of IEEE GOLD. I watched the ants while in the rest area, and right there, I wrote the piece. Here are the key attributes of ants: teamwork, trust, openness, diligence, and tenacity.
As I watched them, the theses project flashed to my mind. Wouldn’t it be good to trust others to help you? Right there, I made the following decisions on the project:
The ants worked as a team: I will form a team, bringing professionals together.
The ants trusted one another: I must do away with the notion that only by working alone can I ensure quality.
The ants were open: I will share the idea with like-minded people. I later got a Boston area professor to lead the design. When ants discovered food, they informed others, who came along and helped.
The ants were partners and of different sizes: I will bring help and make the task our project, not mine. As much as possible, each team member will get assignment based on his capability.
The ants were diligent and focused: The team must keep working, even slowly. Deadlines will give us focus.
The ants regrouped: I will be open to try new ideas if present ones are not working.
Unless you are Open, you cannot delegate. And until you begin to Trust, you cannot expand the business. When you alone is smart [you think], you cannot build a functioning Team. The point is this: that business is not growing because you have not provided systems for others to help you expand it. Learn from the African axiom: the anti-hills are not built by the elephants but by the collective efforts of the little ants. That big vision can only come to pass when you have the highly motivated “ants” executing alongside.
Be like an Ant, by trusting people, opening up, learning to delegate, forming team spirit, etc, and turn that small business into a category-king in the market.
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Some are open and want to trust others, but many of those presenting themselves aren’t trustworthy, either occasioned by ethical blindness or sheer incompetence. We have lots of people who are partners and team players in name only, but they can’t point to their own relevance and unique contributions to the health and growth of the team.
Some missions require a robust blend of different unique talents, but when there is high concentration of wannabes that position themselves as resource persons and thought leaders, bringing them in only sets the grand missions on death spiral.
Yes, there’s always that temptation not to be seen as a loner or ‘know it all’ kind of leader, but delegating for the sake of delegating does not make missions any better, because many of those who front themselves do not inspire either.
We praise and vilify Elon Musk on equal measures, but those who work with him know that sleeping on duty is never an option. Those who value pleasure over work are obviously unfit to be part of a team, let alone being tasked with delivering on something worthwhile.