The Lessons from A Cat and Kittens on Leadership [video]

What happens when a more experienced worker is trying to solve a problem, and suddenly others come along to assist. Then, they cause problems which must then be fixed. Largely, that cat would have made the jump without the assistance of the kittens. But things happen. So, as the cat jumped and one of the kittens fell off, a problem was created for the cat to fix.

Watching this video, there are many lessons. But one is very noticeable: the cat had to ‘communicate’ up, get the kittens to get out of the way (as they obstructed previous attempts), before it came down to pick the fallen kitten back up.

Please when the supervisor tells you sometimes to get out of the way (we hope with decency and politeness), do not take it as being mean, because there are things which are better done by the experienced hands. If the cat did not get those kittens to get out of the way, it would have struggled to take that fallen one back up.

I see levels of work here: the cat at a time had to go strategic  even as the kittens stayed at the operational level, showing up needlessly to contribute. That strategic level elevation of planning what must happen at the top (and taking care of it, kittens make way) instead of just jumping incessantly to overcome the barrier was the key to victory. Yes, the cat ‘thought” over the assignment, developed a plan and executed it, for success. Indeed, if we have a habit of tasking our mental energy, we can achieve more even when reducing our physical energy.

If you take 2 minutes to play your day the night before or early in the day, you can save 60 mins through efficient time management and productivity! #WorkSmart.

What happens when a more experienced worker is trying to solve a problem, and suddenly others come along to assist. Then, they cause problems which must then be fixed. Largely, that cat would have made the jump without the assistance of the kittens. But things happen. So, as the… pic.twitter.com/w9nNtFpWZw

— Ndubuisi Ekekwe (@ndekekwe) December 14, 2023

Comment on Feed

Comment 1: Lessons I learnt from this video: Having best strategy is not enough, you need to communicate your plan with your team, ensure they understand (effective communication). As seen in the video the mother cat was trying to communicate with the kittens, but they can’t relate, because there is a communication bridge, so the cat has to go to meet them (engaged the right channel) for them to understand. Then be smart in your application. Thanks for sharing this informative clip Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe

Comment 2: Thank God I watched the video before reading your comment. At that key lesson of getting the kittens to get off the way so it could execute the chance of solving the problem got me thinking, ‘this is where AI’ struggles except programmed to view other AIs as obstacles and objects too.

Comment 3: Prof, This is a great, I believe that empathy and firmness helps while we communicate both the strategy and the operational plans to team members – while hand holding them so that they learn on the job more sure footedly.

Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA (Jun 3 - Sep 2, 2024), and join Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe and our global faculty; click here.