The sky is gray a lot where I live, the grayness is sometimes buffered or amplified depending on the weather and temperature. Some days you can hear things from above before you can see them. In the last few weeks there have been large numbers of geese flying overhead. Their honk, cackle, bark, “cheering” or whatever you choose to call it can often be heard from a distance before they can be seen overhead. Their seemingly graceful formation and synchronized honking has reminded me of an old leadership thought; especially this week.

The parable of geese in formation has been used a lot in leadership, management and organizations.

When I taught an introductory college level leadership class, we would often end our semester with sharing of the poem and a version of it framed for all the students to take with them as a symbol of the leadership lessons they hopefully learned.

As we embark on a new year with likely unexpected outcomes, and unfortunately, more tumultuous occurrences that rock our foundations, take a moment and turn your head slightly. Twist your perspective for a moment, you never know what you may see and how it may impact your mindset, inspiration or mood. While we may not be able to be together to truly benefit from each others lift or shift from our position when we get tired, lessons we can learn from geese may be able to help us take a beat and consider how we may be able to support each other, our teams and their leaders as we manage our own and the fatigue of others. The uncertainty of what’s next in our path and needing support is greater now more than ever and we must remember to rely on each other if we are to get through this challenging time. #twistyourparadigm