Lead Like a Lion: Leadership Lessons from East-African Animal Stories

Can stories about a lion provide inspiration for leadership? We believe so. In this book, stories about a lion, fox, sheep, cows, and hyenas with occasional giraffes are told to teach us about the behavior of leaders and those who follow the leaders. Leaders may behave badly, indeed very badly, abuse their power and act without any concern for those who depend on the leader. These stories of betrayal of trust, manifestation of greed, and actions in flagrant selfinterest are reminders of the grave responsibilities of leadership. They are warnings of the traps of leadership and the persuasions of naked power. Societies have long worked to develop rules of behavior that prevent such fall-out. Yet as these stories collected in East-Africa remind us, there is still a long way to go before we can trust leaders to behave in a civilized manner. Indeed, perhaps we need to know these stories to prevent our leaders from falling into the destructive temptation of acting out their raw impulses.