Book cover There is no shortage of books on (organisational) leadership, especially on the African continent. Indeed, aren’t we home to some of the most iconic, ethical and exemplary leaders in the world? Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, Wangari Maathai, Nelson Mandela and Kofi Annan, among many others.
And yet, if the Russia-Ukraine war, the ongoing conflicts in Sudan, Somalia, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo – not to speak of the Israeli-US war against Iran – are anything to go by, there is, at least, a leadership crisis in the world. That is, if we are not in fact drifting towards a William Butler Yeatsian things-fall-apart moment.
Mpedi’s brilliant book on leadership, From Predator to Prey, could not have been published at a better time. Each of its 20 crisply written chapters is inspired by what the author calls “the habits, strategies and instincts of animals”. Therein lies part of the unique value of the Mpedi’s literary intervention.
Whereas humans have long been fascinated by the habits and instincts of animals, few books have been as carefully focused on the leadership aspects of animal behaviour as Mpedi’s From Predator to Prey. To some extent, his book is reminiscent of Robin Moritz and Robin Crewe’s work on the ways and behaviours of the honeybee, The Dark Side of the Hive. It is also evocative of the intimately written and inimitable classic by Eugène Marais, The Soul of the White Ant.
And yet, the books of Moritz, Crewe and Marais are not as intently focused on the leadership dimension of animal behaviour as Mpedi’s is; nor on a much wider variety of animals. In this way, Mpedi brings a wholesome, fresh angle to the subject of leadership.
Debunking the myth of the super individual leader about whom many books have been churned out, Mpedi’s first chapter dives immediately into how animals create leadership environments and ecosystems that are conducive to collaboration and united action. In particular, he focuses on animals which hunt in packs and those which travel in tightly knit herds. Mpedi is also cognisant of the critical leadership attributes necessary for success in the hunting and survival activities of solitary hunters such as leopards.
The principles of symbiotic relationships in leadership are discussed in the second chapter. Given here are examples of symbiotic relationships between animals such as buffalo and oxpeckers, blue wildebeests and zebras. Mpedi demonstrates how these mutually beneficial partnerships are structured to engender leadership practices of mutuality and symbiosis. And yet, Mpedi is also fully aware of parasitic partnerships between animals, such as those between fleas and dogs, and how these can be replayed in relationships between leaders and followers, employees and employers, and between group general memberships and group leaderships.
The fourth chapter revolves around habituation or the ability of animals “to filter out any non-threatening or irrelevant stimuli from their environment, so that they can focus their attention and energy on more critical information”. Soon enough, birds work out, by conducting a series of daring tests, that scarecrows in the cornfields are inanimate and therefore harmless. Sooner rather than later, squirrels and pigeons work out precise instances when proximity to humans can be more rewarding than dangerous, so they adjust their behaviour accordingly. This way, Mpedi cautions leaders not to spend too much effort and money, warding off scarecrows and imaginary risks, however real they may look.
In chapter five the focus is on the leadership lessons that can be gleaned from the persistence of the honey badger, the resilience of the cockroach, the survival strategies of the octopus, the adaptive endurance of the camel, as well as the fortitude of the salmon as it undertakes one of the longest migration journeys in the animal kingdom, including swimming against the stream. There is a reason that famed Australian rugby player Nick Cummins was nicknamed the “Honey Badger”, and he appreciated the reason behind the nickname.
In chapter six, Mpedi focuses on the future-proofing and mentoring leadership strategies of such animals as elephants and wolves. He also taps into an idea used by many Japanese institutions – Kaizen or continuous improvement. From the howling wolves to the noises and body postures of dolphins, to various calls wild cats make to call their young out of danger, chapter seven marks communication as a critical skill among animal and human leaders alike.
The eighth chapter reviews what human leaders may learn from the ability to adapt to and blend into new environments. In this regard, chameleons and meerkats have a lot to teach human leaders. In chapter nine, the great idea of leading by example is shown to be embedded in the leadership structures of animal herds and packs. Only the best, the most experienced with a proven track record, become leaders of herds and packs.
Chapter 10 delves into leadership presence, and the need for leaders to personally and physically mark and “patrol their territory”, just like lions, leopards and hyenas do. Continuing the discussion on futureproofing and mentorship, chapter 11 focuses on how older animals instil discipline in their young – from nudging to slapping to yanking to rewarding good – thus providing many lessons for human leaders.
Some of the most lucid chapters in the book discuss such animal leadership traits as the cultivation of loyalty, the practice of control, the use of play for learning, the art of gratitude and the exercise of curiosity.
Clearly, for Mpedi, no animal is too great or too little to teach us something about leadership. The cockroach has as much to teach us about resilience as does the elephant; the honey badger has as much to teach us about persistence in leadership as does the lion. The termite colony has as much to teach us about communication as does the beehive. Could it be that, armed with smartphones, emails and social media, humans still have a lot to learn about listening and communication from elephants, dolphins and honeybees?
Regarding what animals may teach human leaders about the need to keep the correct balance between power and control, Mpedi notes how:
“A lioness will gently lift her cub by the scruff of the neck, exerting just enough pressure to hold the cub securely without causing harm. Crocodiles can be seen delicately transporting their hatchlings between their teeth or in their mouths, ensuring their safety. Similarly, cheetahs and leopards often move their young to safer locations by gently grasping them in their jaws. These behaviours are more than just survival mechanisms; they are profound demonstrations of controlled power.”
It is possible to criticise Mpedi for over-humanising animals in the wild. Life in the animal kingdom is not as benevolent and human as Mpedi seems to suggest. Many of the good leadership traits of animals are the result of instinct rather than considered intention. Nor can we, as Africans, innocently return to the supposedly Darwinian notion of “the survival of the fittest” – a maxim which Mpedi invokes a few times in the book – without being cognisant of the calamitous impact of “social Darwinism” on African people. The oppression of Africans – including the late 19th and early 20th century genocide of the Belgian King Leopold in the Congo and the German Holocaust in Namibia – was premised on the idea that Africans, their languages, institutions and cultures had been “proven” unfit for Darwinian survival.
These mild critical points notwithstanding, Mpedi’s From Predator to Prey: Leadership Lessons from the African Wild and Beyond, is a breath of fresh air, amid the growing forest of books and periodicals on leadership, which tend to focus on the leader rather than leadership. DM
Professor Tinyiko Maluleke is vice-chancellor and principal of the Tshwane University of Technology.