Fishy Leaders

There is a mostly untouched island that's supposed to be 'impossible' to reach without a boat . It took me around 2 exhausting hours to snorkel my way there. At the end, those splendid turquoise waters just made my suffering that much worth it.

It was there I observed a school of fish with a most intriguing swimming pattern. Although of different sizes, the whole group of fish would swim the same direction. Led by a single fish that swam in front. Every couple of seconds, a new fish from the group would take the lead. The remaining fish would then jolt in excitement, so as to cheer the new lead fish to swim even faster. All in-sync, all engaged, all totally loyal to the direction. All fully committed that the whole group reach their collective destination together.

I found that to be an intriguing form of leadership methodology. Traditionally, leadership is viewed as a single person rallying a group towards a cause. In the case of those fish, it was the group motivating a revolving leader to swim faster towards a common intended target. They all knew where they need to reach, and the path they need to take to reach there. Hence, the name/title of the leader is irrelevant. It was truly remarkable to see. That boundary between leadership and followership slowly turning invisible.

Similarly, an organization's success is essentially dependent on two things:

1. The commonality of its stated vision.

2. Faith in the direction to achieve that vision

With strong faith in a common vision, comes efficiency, excitement, perseverance, and loyalty. Here is to leadership lessons from a school of fish!