John Lewis joins Learning from Dogs

On September 3rd, a Post was published about John.  Anyone who read that Post will understand the pleasure that both John and I got from being re-connected.  Subsequent chats since that Post have shown that there are many parallels in the way that we think, see the world, and speculate as to what, really, is going on!  It was inevitable that I would ask John to join Learning from Dogs and, when I did, John’s immediate ‘yes’ was proof indeed that this was the right thing for us.  A strong desire to do something is always important.

John’s first Post shows that he will be welcomed by all who read this Blog.

Paul

“I don’t know what to say, really.”

My opening sentence on this, my first “Learning from Dogs” post, is the opening line of an inspirational speech delivered by Tony D’Amato to rouse his team from being well behind to winning the game. The part of D’Amato is played by Al Pacino in the film “Any Given Sunday”, directed by Oliver Stone.

His theme is about succeeding as a team, rather than failing as individuals. In describing life as a combination of small steps, measured in inches, the speech includes some great lines, such as:

• “life is this game of inches”,
• “we can fight our way back into the light … one inch at a time”,
• “the inches we need are everywhere around us”.

You can watch the speech below or, if you have the film, from 1:55:25; it is less than 5 minutes long, and it is a great speech!

What he says is important, and it bears listening to and thinking about. But, just as important is what he does not say.

He does not tell them what to do.

I accept that this is arguable, and that he does come very close. But I think that, if I was on that team, I would not feel that I was being told what to do; and this is one of the most important aspects of the speech.

Maybe you often find yourself telling other people what to do, well so do I; and it is endemic in many aspects of our society. Unsurprisingly, it turns out that none of us like being told what to do. Guess what? Neither do dogs!

“Breaking the Mould”

Of all the things that I have run across in the field of training and personal management, nothing has blown my socks off quite like “Breaking the Mould“. Peter Hunter worked in the oil business, which is not renowned for having a “touchy feely” management style! Yet he learned something from dogs, and applied it to people with the most amazing results.

His secret: do not tell anyone what to do!

His difficulty: telling someone not to tell others what to do is telling that person what to do!

I look forward to your comments on what you think of his flash of insight and an example of the results. There are many other articles contained many gems of knowledge on the same website.  That insight is so revealing that an extract is reproduced below:

Peter Hunter’s ‘eureka’ moment could not have been any further from his bath.

It came as he balanced on a dog sled, racing through the icy expanse of the Canadian Rockies.

Just minutes before, the team of reluctant and disinterested dogs had refused to budge. Now they were flying — and Peter knew why.

…..

Standing on a sled runner in the snow, he suddenly saw the solution.

“I noticed the guide was being very vocal with the dogs,” recalls Peter. “She was talking to them all the time, praising them, continually giving feedback and they were flying.

The team behind us was the exact opposite, the driver was shouting instructions at them and the team was just not working.
We had to keep stopping our team to let them catch up.

I asked if I could change sleds and have a go at driving the team behind.

“I got on the sled and began to do exactly what our guide was doing, continually praising each dog individually and collectively as a team.
I saw their ears prick up and they just took off.
The feedback I was giving the dogs was like rocket fuel.

Those eight dogs were the engine and the words I was using were the fuel that made the engine work.”

The lesson was as stark as that.

“Standing there on the runners, I realised that the same lesson applied to the human team.

It was a revelation.”

(Read this in full on Peter’s web site.)

I still don’t know what to say, really.

But I am paying attention to not saying things that it is important not to say … and I have a five year old son to practise on!

By John Lewis

(John may be contacted at john.lewis (at) holosoft(dot)com – PH)

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