It takes a long time to choose the lead Husky for a sled-team, not unlike choosing any leader.
The skill is to seek the dog that seems to be more aware of both the environment and the others in the pack and, as a result, is often the first to seek and find food or provoke the others to follow in an activity or play.
This story tells the tale of a musical husky called Refried, selected for performing well at all the above – but who became famous during her time as leader, for ritually howling whenever the thoroughfare ahead got tough.
The moment the sled was challenged by an uphill climb or particularly deep snow, the leader’s melodic howling began. This focused the pack, quelled any instinctive fears of the dangers ahead and united the team in a coordinated forward acceleration. So effective was this approach, that
the driver commented that these were moments when she had to hold on tightly to avoid being thrown off.
This performance continued over many seasons until, as happens in life to all of us, this older dog was retired. The remaining dogs were duly re-positioned, with a new leader promoted to the front harness.
On their first outing, all appeared to be going well, until they hit a particularly harsh stretch of uphill ice.
The team measurably slowed, now feeling the pressure and then decelerated further as conditions worsened. All fell quiet.
Then a melodic howl broke the silence, then another and another. Soon the whole pack was energetically howling, not necessarily as tunefully as each other, but the collective song lurched the sled forward with the necessary acceleration to continue the journey ahead.
From that emotional moment whenever the team experienced any form of challenge, the howling reliably began. Their previous leader may have left them physically, but her legacy remained. On ‘her watch’, she’d successfully introduced and established something that could be understood, recalled, and adopted, to continue benefitting the whole team.
Legacy leaves us with valuable lessons. Things that are useful now and that can be passed on for the benefit of others in the future.
It’s sometimes healthy to pause and remember that none of us are here forever. It’s good to make the most of today’s moments, do our best in the time we have and think about the longer-term impact of our actions and behaviours for those that follow.
Leaders are the visible sponsors of who we are and what we do in organisations. They set the direction and pace, establishing a legacy that we learn from and become part of. It’s never too early to start.
The reality of the world we live in will continue to shift and change, but if we have seen, heard or been a part of something that has created a useful legacy, we can take the strengths, skills, knowledge and experiences - the lessons learned - and keep them in our toolkits until we need them again or see an opportunity to use them in different ways.
The dog-sled team were quite literally harnessed together as part of their leader’s legacy.
The shared understanding and experiences, the collective knowledge that became the sled-team DNA, helping them know what to do to keep moving forward.
Legacy is an important part of creating balance with the leaders and the organisations we work with. It is anchored in a shared clarity of who they are, what they do and why they do it. It’s part of the framework that is passed on from one generation to another, sharing and extending the learnings, so they can keep things moving forward – whatever the weather, whatever the terrain, with whoever is harnessed together.
Whatever roles we play in life, someone was there before us and someone will follow. It makes sense to invest in legacy – to apply the lessons we’ve learned, to continue to pass them to others and to identify our own strengths and put them to good use, so we can establish and leave our legacies as lessons for others. Source: See the original story on Instagram and thank you to Blair Braverman for the inspiration.
If what we do today can create both current and lasting benefits, then legacy is an investment that we can establish now and leave for others.
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