Leadership Lessons From My Dog, Diesel

By Doug Franklin February 13, 2014

My dog Diesel has a new obedience trainer. He just started the other day. The first thing he
said to me was, “This is about leadership training.” My first thought was, “Awesome! This I
know something about.” My second thought was, “Hey, why I am paying this guy $100 an hour for this?” Then I realized he was talking about dog leadership and to be honest I don’t know that much about dog leadership. When this trainer talks about dog leadership he is talking about the leader of the pack and how the leader goes first in everything. He walks in front, he eats first and he sets the agenda. The other dogs go where he goes and they do what he does. I love dog leadership; the only problem is the leader dog has to be able to beat everyone else up. OK, maybe not the best idea for leadership.

Ever feel like some of us humans lead like dogs? We put ourselves in front and we take first and we beat people up who don’t do exactly what we tell them. Check yourself: ask a friend to evaluate your leadership, maybe even ask other people for you. Do people feel uplifted by your leadership or beat up? Have them give you people’s honest feedback and be humble; listen and make changes if needed.