The cardinal rule of management: Why being a lion at work does not mean you get into head-to-head conflicts

When tourists travel halfway around the world to go on safari, what do they want to see? Which animal is at the top of their list? Usually, it’s the lion. When they show pictures of their trip to friends back home, the first question they hear is, “Did you see any lions?” In fact, if you come home without having seen a lion, you’ll almost certainly be disappointed with your entire trip.

Why is that?

Lions are regal. They fear nothing. They’re powerful, yet poised. They don’t back down from a fight. Lions don’t put up with nonsense from anyone or anything. They stand their ground. They have strength, wisdom, prowess, maturity, and total confidence. Yet they also show leadership, tenderness, and compassion toward other members of their pride, especially their cubs.

As a corporate executive or someone who soon will be, you would be well-served to step into the business archetype of the lion. Show a lion’s courage, strength, confidence, and endurance. Think of yourself as a powerful lion, never less. It will be reflected in how you carry yourself and how you act in the office, in meetings, and with clients. It will influence how others perceive you, both in and out of the office. It will help you to overcome challenges and adversity and to keep your head held high. No matter what goes wrong, you will always remain strong, poised, and in control. Modelling the lion is one of the keys to a long and prosperous corporate career.

Many young corporate executives who don’t know any better make a classic and highly avoidable mistake. They may have lion-like traits, but they’re misguided about how to use them. They leverage their power in an unfortunate way—I call it the display of power.

Others have called it being a bulldozer. These terms refer to when an executive uses his office, title, or mandate to demand that they get their way. Often, this results in the use of bullying, job threats, or intimidation to silence resistance, alternate viewpoints, or any other behaviour that is not to their liking. It is a form of head-to-head industrial conflict where the more senior person knows he’s going to prevail solely due to his position above the subordinate.

The reason this is unfortunate is that being a bulldozer doesn’t work in the long term. It may achieve its goal in the short term; but, over time, this tactic doesn’t create loyal team members and subordinates. It alienates them.

Lions never use the bulldozer technique. They know they don’t have to. They understand that the damage it causes is often more detrimental than the benefit.

Let me illustrate with an example. You are perhaps familiar with the Range Rover Sport, a luxury vehicle manufactured by Jaguar Land Rover. However, you may not know that in most developing countries, Toyota sells an inexpensive five-seater station wagon called the Probox. The Range Rover is obviously a super-premium luxury SUV built like a tank. The Probox is sort of the opposite. It’s an inexpensive, cheaply built tin box on wheels. Look it up to see what one looks like.

If a Range Rover were in a head-on collision with a Probox, the Probox would suffer much more visible damage. The Range Rover would likely take out the entire front, including the radiator of the Probox. Meanwhile, the Range Rover would only suffer a fender bender or, at best, a damaged bumper. It would, therefore, appear that the Range Rover was the winner of that frontal encounter, right?

Wrong.

Eventually, the owner of the Range Rover will take it to the dealer to have it repaired. He’ll find out that even though he seemingly suffered less damage in the head-to-head collision, the cost of repair is actually much higher. The repairs to the seemingly minor damage to the Range Rover will be more costly than replacing the radiator and front chassis of the Toyota.

Using this metaphor, I often coach executives, teams, and mentees not to get into a head-to-head conflict. Don’t go frontal into a head-on collision with a colleague or, especially, a subordinate. Even if you win the encounter, the damage you sustain will be far greater because it hurts your reputation and career longevity. The cost of a head-to-head conflict with a colleague is steep, and the self-inflicted damage is hard to overcome.

I know this is hard for type A, hard-charging, aggressive young executives to accept. It was for me too. I made plenty of these mistakes early in my career before I learned to be a lion. Executives who pick fights with secretaries or junior people, lean hard on new hires, speak sharply to interns, use expletives in meetings, throw fits, get angry, slam doors—all those behaviours that show their anger—are doing themselves no favours. Those behaviours end up costing them dearly over time because people are watching. In the corporate environment, people are always watching.

So be a lion. Be powerful. But never abuse that power.

Vishal Agarwal is a senior leader, who has navigated corporate life for the past 24 years. This article draws from his debut bestseller #GiveToGet. Follow him on @VishalsVoice or LinkedIn VishalAgarwalAfrica

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The cardinal rule of management: Why being a lion at work does not mean you get into head-to-head conflicts

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