The ‘Plight of the Wildebeest’

(Aka the toughest leadership lesson I ever learnt)

One of the reasons that I now do leadership work is that I experienced crap leaders in the workforce. I felt that I could make just that little difference out there in the world, by helping leaders be better with people and build higher performing teams. ?

? The tipping point was one GM that I worked for. My role was as Superintendent. My Manager pulled me aside one day, and gave me some advice (in case I ever had to attend the daily management team meeting):

“Led by the GM, our leadership team are crap – they will scream and shout at you if you look weak (and they did). Just don’t say anything (and I did). If you don’t sound confident (and I didn’t), you will appear to be like a weak wildebeest, and you will be out on your own, and all of the lions come in for the kill (and they did).”

It was the single most crappiest experience of my working life – it was a personal attack, insulting and just so wrong on so many levels. ?‍♂️

So, I will never forget the plight of the wildebeest. ?

The saddest part of this story was that it did not just happen once, or at manager’s meetings. This was a regular thing. I certainly didn’t have the monopoly on the abuse of staff. It was something that was quite common, it became normalised.

What I really took away from that workplace was:

1. It is not ok to abuse people at work

2. If the GM does something, that seems to become OK to do in the business (if you are the CEO or GM this is an important message)

3. Just take a caring approach, people respect this a lot more than the screaming and shouting – seriously …

So, I will never forget the plight of the wildebeest. ?

And, I will never use this in my leadership coaching.

Just be a good leader, and care about people!!! Please don’t scream and shout. It hurts people … for a long time!

#carefactorleadership  ? 

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About Anton

Anton has dedicated his working life to helping leaders to upgrade their mindset, upskill their leadership, and uplift their teams! With a focus on helps leaders to better lead under pressure. Anton is an entrepreneur, speaker, consultant, bestselling author and founder of The Guinea Group. Over the past 19 years, Anton has worked with over 175+ global organisations, he has inspired workplace leadership, safety, and cultural change. He’s achieved this by combining his corporate expertise, education (Bachelor of HR and Psychology), and infectious energy levels.

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