The greatest book about #leadership I ever read is about training #horses.

I picked it up because of #MarkRashid practices #Aikido & because I like horses. It is totally worth it just for those reasons.

My workplace then was super-toxic. What I learned from the herds mirrored my work.

1) #Alphas & people who aspire to that role are assholes. Some people mean well, but the label fits.
2) The real leader is the one who’s followed.
3) Kind strength gets followed.

🧵

https://www.markrashid.com/product-page/horses-never-lie

Horses Never Lie | Mark Rashid

In “Horses Never Lie,” acclaimed horse trainer Mark Rashid breaks new ground by challenging the longstanding belief that a person must become the “alpha leader” in order to work with horses.Instead, “Horses Never Lie” teaches you how to become a “passive leader”—a reflection of the kind of horse other members of a herd choose to be around and to follow. It’s a must-read for all horse owners who care about their horses and the kind of relationship they have with them.

Mark Rashid

Mentioning this because of all the nonsense about how “toxic” #empathy is.

An alpha asshole can bully individuals to comply. They may obey out of fear or just to avoid fighting.

But Mark Rashid watched & saw which horse the other horses followed, who they gravitated to, who they wanted to be around. No surprise if you think about it: It’s the horses that make others feel safe, respected, & maybe even protected.

@PrinceOfDenmark sounds like a universal common sense.

mutually constructive behaviours alone form social systems. bullying is therefore parasitism, and a bully is a social parasite.

societies do not want parasites under any circumstances.

be the system horse, human, or fungus, or multiple organism types, the host system wants the parasite gone unconditionally. regardless of what its component parts do or do not do about it.

Who would you want to be around? Be that. Protect the frightened. Look around after doing that for a while, and you might notice you’ve gathered a crowd.
PS: I think “Passive Leadership” in the subtitle scares off wannabe alphas, so this can remain our secret. 😂🐴