Last week my family took a trip to Zoobic, the zoo near Manila. It was a fun experience to get up close and personal with some of nature’s wild animals like lions, tigers, crocodiles, camels, and yes….even ostriches.
I learned something new about ostriches – that their kick can be three times as strong as a horse’s kick. I was actually surprised to learn that.
It also made me think of the common myth that ostriches bury their heads in the sand. It’s not true. They look like they do because they bury their eggs with their heads and dig holes in the grounds. But they don’t. But because it’s part of the folklore surrounding ostriches I’ll continue on!
It made me think of how many leaders can function like ostriches in that the very same leaders prone to burying their heads in the sand also tend to have three times the kick of a horse.
Insecure leaders function like ostriches under threat – they bury their heads and shut out all potentially threatening or challenging information. And then if the heat gets turned up hotter they turn loose their mighty hind legs to really send the message home.
We can all have our ostrich moments. But some people remain insecure in their person and have a vested interest in keeping others at a distance to maintain control. They have a vested interested in being right. They may start by passive aggressively blocking out new or challenging information. But they can also really stick it to other people if they get too close to home.
Ostriches now serve as a good reminder to me that we are called to be secure, open leaders who stay open to new truths and who choose the pain of accepting new truths rather than the darkness of lashing out at those who serve as its messengers.
How are you growing more secure so you’re minimizing or eliminating altogether the ostrich moments?
