{"id":38070,"date":"2024-09-09T09:38:02","date_gmt":"2024-09-09T16:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=38070"},"modified":"2024-08-30T19:42:45","modified_gmt":"2024-08-31T02:42:45","slug":"what-aesops-fables-teach-us-about-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/what-aesops-fables-teach-us-about-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"What Aesop’s Fables Teach Us About Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout this doctoral program, the famous fable about the tortoise and the hare has reminded me to persevere, tackling one assignment at a time, until the day I stand up on that stage and receive my diploma. To be clear, I imagine myself to be the tortoise, not the hare, as I plug along, slowly but consistently, all the way to the finish line.<\/p>\n

For this reason, I chose to read Aesop\u2019s Fables for the \u201cread a book that has been in continuous print for over 300 years assignment.\u201d I reasoned that if one tale had sustained me through two years of doctoral studies, the collection might offer additional words of wisdom as I approach my final year and prepare to assume a new pastoral leadership position in a different congregation.<\/p>\n

Here is how some of the fables give some encouragement about what we\u2019ve been learning in this doctoral program:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Each of Aesop\u2019s fables contain a moral lesson. Most of the moral lessons can be used to enhance one\u2019s leadership. About Aesop\u2019s fables, G.K. Chesterton writes, \u201cThere is every type and time of fable but there is only one moral to the fable because there is only one moral to everything.\u201d[1]<\/a> What he means by this is that all fables teach the same fundamental moral truths. There is a unifying, ethical core across fables. This has also been true of the books on leadership we have read over the last two years. While different books discuss the various elements of leadership, the unifying ethical core I have discovered is to lead from our attachment and belovedness to God.[2]<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. The fable of, \u201cThe Crow and the Pitcher\u201d offers a lesson in creativity and perseverance. In this tale a thirsty crow finds a pitcher with water too low to reach with her beak. Instead of giving up, this crow ingeniously drops stones into the pitcher, gradually raising the water level until she can drink. Necessity leads to innovation and persistence and together they lead to success. During our workshops last semester we engaged in activities that echoed the crow\u2019s innovative spirit. Through brainstorming sessions, creative games and iterative prototyping, we honed our ability to generate and refine ideas allowing us to develop solutions that were innovative and practical to our NPOs. By encouraging those we lead to be creative, innovative and to persevere through obstacles, we can guide our teams to achieve goals.<\/li>\n
  3. The fable of the North Wind and the Sun teaches that gentleness and slowness leads people to a goal better than sheer force. In this fable the North Wind and the Sun both want a man\u2019s coat. The North Wind blows fiercely causing the man to wrap himself tighter in the coat wheras the sun warms him gently in the morning slowing heating him to the point where he takes off his coat and leaves it for the sun. In this book Leadership, Northouse defines leadership as a \u201c\u201ca process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.\u201d[3]<\/a> Leadership is a process. There is not a shortcut that will get a group of individuals to a common goal. It takes time, planning, and bringing people along, like the sun did with the man with the coat.<\/li>\n
  4. In the book, Canoeing the Mountains, Tom Bolsinger emphasizes the importance of staying calm amidst challenging circumstances, not allowing yourself to be swayed by the anxiety of others. He writes, \u201cTo stay calm is to be so aware of yourself that your response to the situation is not to the anxiety of the people around you but to the actual issue at hand.\u201d[4]<\/a> Edwin Friedman calls this being a \u201cnon-anxious presence.\u201d[5]<\/a> As the winds of change blow through the Church, and we find ourselves leading during a time of declining membership and political upheaval, the fable of, The Oak and the Reeds offers a valuable metaphor for adaptive leadership. In this tale, a mighty oak tree stands rigid against a fierce wind, ultimately succumbing to its force and falling to the ground. Meanwhile, the flexible reeds bend and sway with the wind, maintaining their rootedness while adapting to the changing conditions. This metaphor illustrates the importance of flexibility and resilience in leadership. Leaders must be able to remain firmly rooted in their values and mission while adapt to changing circumstances.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I could continue to describe Aesop\u2019s fables and relate them to lessons I am learning about leadership, but I\u2019ll stop here. What I found in reading these fables is that much like how Jesus would tell a parable about seeds or sheep and suddenly everyone would be nodding along and thinking, \u201cOh, that\u2019s what he meant!\u201d Aesop is doing the same thing but with hares and tortoises instead of lost coins and mustard seeds. These fables take the complicated truths about leading people and make them accessible stories.<\/p>\n

    So, the next time you’re stuck in a leadership conundrum, instead of reaching for the latest New York Times bestseller, maybe open up Aesop\u2019s Fables. Who knows? The answer to your leadership problems might just come from a talking fox, a slow-moving tortoise, or a wise old owl!<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    [1]<\/a> Aesop\u2019s Fables<\/em> translated by V.S. Vernon Jones, Harperperennial Classics, 23-24, Everand.<\/p>\n

    [2]<\/a> Simon Walker, <\/em>Leading Out of Who You Are: Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership,<\/em> Carlisle: Piquant Editions, 2007. 103.<\/em><\/p>\n

    [3]<\/a> Peter G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice (London: Sage Publications, 2010) 3.<\/p>\n

    [4]<\/a> Tod Bolsinger, Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory, InterVarsity Press, December 2015.<\/p>\n

    [5]<\/a> Friedman, Edwin H., and Peter Steinke, \u00a0A Failure of Nerve, Revised Edition: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix<\/em>. 10th Anniversary edition. New York: Church Publishing, 2017, 17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Throughout this doctoral program, the famous fable about the tortoise and the hare has reminded me to persevere, tackling one assignment at a time, until the day I stand up on that stage and receive my diploma. To be clear, I imagine myself to be the tortoise, not the hare, as I plug along, slowly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3243,2489],"class_list":["post-38070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-aesop","tag-dlgp02","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/170"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38070"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38071,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38070\/revisions\/38071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}