Leadership and Animal Instincts

Leadership and Animal Instincts

Human beings are social Animals like Lions, Chimps, Elephants, Hyenas, and Crocs. Like Humans - wild Animals have their own social structures, their own hierarchy, their own leaders, some times second in commands and always their own territories. If we think our nation as our territory and our people as our own larger herd OR at a smaller scale, if we think of our town as our territory and our town people as our herd, then like alfa males/females in Animals, there must be the leader of all the people involved here.

In the modern world he is the politician who has been democratically elected to lead us. He/she is your President, Prime Minister, Senator, Minister, Member of the Parliament, Sheriff, and so on.

If leadership is present in both Animals and Humans, it is an Animal instinct. Remember we have discussed that when I tried to define Animal instincts. ‘If it is found in both Humans and Animals it is an Animal instinct’. We are trying to study this Animal instinct in Human leaders.

In modern times, Human societies/cultures, nations follow an evolved social system called Democracy. Democracy may be great but Politics is dirty, no wonder our politician has an image which is not so clean.

Democracy is nothing but a very formal and much evolved system for ‘Human social co-existence’. Human beings, Lions, Elephants, Chimps, Crocs all are social Animals and they have their own ways to manage co-existence for all members of the group. Animals stay in groups for protection, food and reproduction. Animals have unwritten rules and they are imposed by the leaders. Human being’s most accepted and respected system for social coexistence is Democracy. Man wants peace between various members. He wants progress and growth, safety for his near and dear ones and for himself. And he has reached this level, in his journey of evolution, where all acceptable, peaceful co-existence for all, opportunities for all, is possible only in a democratic set up. But the flip side is, democracy means politics and red tape, they can not be separated. And politics is undoubtedly one crazy place while red tape slows down the pace. Let’s concentrate on politics because politics is the vehicle for modern day leaders to reach higher and higher positions.

Politicians [Also Elected Leaders, Public Representatives] may come in different hues and colours but they are all the same. Today’s politics is all about votes and the politicians want your votes.  The politicians know when and where to touch and shake the delicately balanced peace in the society. Now, politicians generally do not work towards maintaining that peaceful balance. That is credited to our tolerant Human nature. Human nature supports ‘live and let live’ to a greater degree. The combined effect of tolerant Human nature of all groups involved, results in peaceful status quo between various communities, racial, linguistic, regional groups. Infact, Politicians rock the boat regularly, they have to, their basic survival, importance and nuisance value depends on that. They got to be in news as ‘saviours’.

Politicians/ Elected Leaders preach ‘Peace’ but want anything but peace. Peace forever means we do not need them. Peace means ‘no business’ for politicians. Peace means the government machinery can be kept on ‘Auto Pilot’ and things function smoothly on their own. That’s bad news for Politicians.

Man, when perfected, is the best of Animals, but when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all.   

Aristotle

Politicians need to raise funds to run their money guzzling political parties. And then again, when one is so closely sitting next to huge funds, it is anybody’s guess, where a part of party fund goes. They live in swanky apartments, bungalows, they drive some of the best vehicles on wheels, they spend holidays at the best holiday destinations, I mean you name the higher life style and they have had a taste of it.

Now how is it possible for a man, who supposedly has come from the streets, masses, as most politicians do, afford this? The answer is clear. The one who guards the wealth of our nation, the one who spends the wealth of our nation, manages to steal a little bit of that wealth of our nation. This is a world phenomenon, politicians have ‘other’ sources of income and the sources may not be legitimate. This is basic knowledge. In short their hands are dirty.

Now, this is another fact, Does dirty hands mean dirty work all the time? No. The same politicians could be doing great stuff for the societies, for their voters. Their personal wealth comes from dubious sources but a few of them could be extremely devoted to serving the society. These are exceptions. Such buggers are good politicians. The word good is extremely relative in politics. They are the kind of politicians who become great leaders.

After enlightening ourselves with our great politician, who is our modern day leader, let’s go back to our basic issue. What is the connection between Leaders and Animal instincts? Let’s see the Animal instincts and how they work when a leader-politician is on a move.

It is unbelievable to know how one of the most primal Animal instincts comes to the fore when one becomes a Leader. Or he is striving to be a leader.

‘Territorial’, if you do not have this strong Animal instinct in you, and you are aiming to become a leader, you are wasting your time. All strong leaders are territorial. They represent a constituency [territory] which they guard and nurture to consolidate their position. They are like alfa males from the Lion’s pride. Like the alfa males they could have the whole territory for themselves or they could share the power with someone else.

Like two alfa male Lions sharing the pride and the territory, all for themselves. Leaders are sometimes forced to share it with an equally strong leader from the same constituency, from the same political party or from the opposition. It is a compromising situation, like the two Lions. The two Lions share the pride and the territory because their unity was crucial in defeating the last resident male Lion. Only one Lion could not have probably defeated the last resident Lion. United they are stronger and safer. They may squabble with each other but they stand united against an outside attack.

Chimps social structure also compels the leader to become a bit of a manipulator. He must have a few strong allies, called prime males, in the group to retain the territory and to maintain his position.

Cheetah brothers form a life time bond and rule their territory. This helps them make successful kills.  In short Animal leaders do share the territory out of necessity.

Human Leaders too guard their territory. They do it more intelligently than Animals though. Any attempt by other leaders to enter their territory to capture the territory is thwarted with all the might and with cooperation from other supporters who enjoy the fruits, under the present leadership.

This takes us to another Animal instinct in Leaders- The Leadership battles. Leadership is usually snatched and seldom earned.

In Lion prides, the procedure to gain the position that of the leader is bloody and involves many violent fights. When a strong male Lion in his prime, eyes a pride, he selects the pride because he knows that the resident alfa male Lion is getting weak and is way past his prime. He makes repetitive bids for the takeover. He knows that his chances are better because he is getting stronger than the old leader or may be they are two against one. And one day he manages to dislodge the current leader. This takeover is life threatening for both. If the new strong male mauls and hurts the old lion it can prove fatal for the defending Lion and he could die as a result of that fight. Similarly, if the new bidder underestimates the power of the resident male, the new male can get mauled badly by the defending Lion and could loose life. Male Lions are known to give deadly bites on the backs, the bites that break the back bone and cripple the opponent for life. Sometimes, Lionesses too attack the outsider. The new guy is risking his life in taking over the pride. Look at the level of commitment he has to his ‘Need to Lead’.

Leadership can not be connected to male gender only [Ah, feels good]. Take example of the Elephant herd. The herd is lead by an experienced matriarch. Any member who does not follow the rules is quickly reprimanded by the matriarch. The matriarch decides on who will remain a member of the herd, where they go, when they rest.

Hyena clans are controlled by the biggest and the most powerful female. She along with a few other larger females literally calls the shots. Any other Hyena female has to challenge the alfa female to take the leadership. These battles are bloody and life threatening.

Like young Lions, young Human leaders cool their heels under the patronage of senior members of their political party and do not hesitate to attack the same seniors who once trained them and groomed them. Young leaders know that there are not many vacant chairs up there and opportunities do not come often. The old has to go and make way for the young blood. If the old leader gets the hint, it is good for him but if he does not, he is unceremoniously shown the door. We are Humans and we can not get into physical fights [generally] and politics is a higher game where physical fights have no place but the fights do take place and lives too are lost at times, that is very sad, but that is the nature of power struggle. Conspiracies, sabotage, cunningness, and anything that takes to gain power is used. In modern societies, the power struggle and rebellion starts with non agreements on issues. It moves to heated public debates and culminates in pushing the opponent out of public favour. Generally the loser is the man/woman who is way past his/her prime.

Though, I have said that ‘Humans can not fight physically in public life’. That was about law abiding modern societies where power struggle is in the domain of politics. But there are exceptions. Take the mafia world, especially from not so modern societies-the poor and backward countries. Leadership struggle in mafia is not very different from the politics that is practiced in those societies at lower level, especially the town and the city level, the fights are physical. National level politics has some dignity though.

‘Leadership’ in the mafia world is snatched and never earned. Leadership battles in the mafia world are much similar to Animal world leadership battles. They are bloody, brutal, and life threatening.

The rebellion is clearly violent and bloody-almost like Lions, Like Baboons, like Chimps, like Gorillas, it all happens in their societies too.

Forget the mafia, what happens in the military coups? The old ruler is arrested, humiliated, sometimes killed. Whenever there is a bloody take over in the Lion pride, the new Lion king chases the defeated king away, many times defeated king succumbs to the injuries suffered during the fight. Lost leaders in the Chimp society live a humiliated life within the group under the new king. The old leader becomes a submissive male under the new leader. In Human societies too, after a military coup, the looser sometimes begs for mercy to the new leader and lives a life of humiliation. He could fly to foreign shores and save his life.

Mind you, there are more such non-modern-less-evolved societies in the world than the modern societies, where mafia and military coups are very common.  All these non modern societies suffer because Animal instincts are not controlled and Human nature is not much refined there. Sophistication is such a beautiful Human virtue. My idea of sophistication is not a fleet of Mercedes cars but a higher level of evolution in Human society. Non modern societies lack sophistication, generally. These societies have a lot of catching up to do. Unfortunately, Most of the world is still very uncivilized.

Man is a political Animal.

Aristotle

Don’t think that you are fully safe if you belong to a modern society. Surprised!! Do not relax if you belong to a so called modern society. It is important to study the Animal instincts in us to avoid some rude surprises ahead, even in civilized societies. If you feel that your place is secure till you die because you are currently wielding decent power and you are sitting on a decent amount of money that can see you through your old age, then you are in for a shock. If you drop your guard, stop controlling and patrolling your territory, then you are attracting predators and intruders. The predators are strangers OR hold your breath, your own folks, eyeing your riches. Nobody likes such rude surprises and you can avoid them. Guard your territory, be watchful.

The key is to study, analyse and gain knowledge, in this book, knowledge comes mostly from the study of behaviour of a few Animals, mostly mammals. Animals never drop their guard, they are alert all the time. Animals are always ready for an attack and to attack. They prepare themselves relentlessly so that they could be ready anytime.

Try to understand that these are all sensible [?] parallals drawn between Human and Animal behaviours. Nowhere, you will see an unreal, senseless parallel drawn between Animal behaviour and Human behaviour. I will give you an example of a far fetched parallel, just to give you an idea that not all Animal actions could be connected to Human actions.

Take this, Just because roosters and hens have stayed with us for thousands of years, I refuse to believe that we copy one particularly rude behaviour of the rooster. Rooster has a particularly aggressive style in mating the hen and courtship is the last thing he keeps in mind. Well, it appears, he rapes them regularly. Unfortunately, for many kids that grow up on farms, this is usually their first lesson on sex education offered by nature. Remember, Nature is the biggest teacher. Humanity has been willingly or unwillingly watching this rape for all these years. Now, it would be wrong to blame the raping rooster for all the rapes that take place in Human societies. It is a far fetched imagination to blame that heinous crime on the rooster who does, what he does for the reasons only known to him. One reason that comes to my mind is reproduction of course, and no marks for guessing that right. But the manner in which he does it, bowls everyone over. It is also because we are seeing it from the Human angle. Human angle for Animal action is a raw deal for all.

Let's not be too quick to blame the Human race for everything. A great many species of Animals became extinct before man ever appeared on earth.  

Will Cuppy

Human Nature brings a lot of sanity in us and protects us from behaving like Animals. Human nature keeps the evolution going. Human nature helps us know our Animal instincts but it stops us from behaving like Animals. It is great to know the Animal inside you, this helps one understand some of our own actions, instincts but it is wrong to take a licence and behave like Animals and blame it on the Animal within us. That is where the Human nature comes in play and stops us doing what is generally termed uncivilized. Animal instincts are fine but Animal like behaviour in Human societies is totally unacceptable in modern societies. It is sad that I have to keep saying modern societies all the time. Wish I could simply say Human society but unfortunately that is not the reality. The reality is there are modern civilized societies in this world and there are not so modern societies in this world. We live in an imperfect world.

That’s thought provoking.

Listen, If Human life is so complex, do not blame me if the writing on life is complex too. I am trying hard to make it sound very simple. After all we are dealing with a society which is not uniform and a world which is imperfect.

All of the Animals except man know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it.

Anonymous

Moving on with the complex personality of the leader…….

Morality is one of the greatest Human virtues. Humanity follows certain unwritten rules and those rules are based on our morality. ‘Do not cheat’, ‘Do not lie’, ‘Do not break law’ are all moralistically correct things to do. Morality is a part of our Human nature. The ‘Morals’ are saluted and the ‘Immorals’ are frowned upon.

Animals do not understand the difference between what is morally right and wrong- they need not. Morality is a Human thing. Animals just follow their instincts. I am repeating, when I say ‘Animals’ it is ‘Animals from the wild’, unless specifically mentioned.

Hyenas, Lions would be starving if they stop snatching food from Leopards and Cheetahs. Crocs will starve and die if they do not hide and attack an unsuspecting prey, that comes to quench his thirst at the water hole.  Opportunistic Chimp, Baboon, Hippo males will never get a chance to mate if they do not cheat.

It is survival for the fittest out there and for the opportunist, definitely not survival for the nicest and the moral. It is very important to view their actions from their psyche and not from Human brain. Human brain would search for morality and other Human nature virtues that Animals lack.

This reminds me of a saying used by magicians everywhere, ‘When logic fails magic begins’. If Animals could speak, they would definitely urge us Humans, not to gauge Animal actions using Human logic, they would say ‘When your logic fails use Animal instincts.’

Going back to our famed leaders, Do you need an expert to tell you that Leaders/Politicians lack morality? You don’t. If you have doubts, you are not from this planet.

Do you think that these important pillars of democracy are very autocratic in their functioning? Frankly Yes but few of them hide that fact remarkably well.

Men! The only Animal in the world to fear.

D.H. Lawrence   

They are chameleons [ See, the incidental Animal connection ] Whatever, their behavior is  fishy [here I go again]. Great, Hope you noticed here that Animals are a part of our everyday language. We use them in sayings, proverbs, and examples all the time.

Animals are quite clearly undemocratic and immoral in their actions [Human interpretation]. Does that make them bad? From Human perspective may be but these are simple Animal instincts much needed for basic survival. A Human leader is hugely undemocratic in implementing social rules too. He resorts to immoral ways many times.  He is overtly moral but covertly exactly the opposite. We can understand the ‘Immoral’ part [help], We should know one more thing about Human leaders. ‘Leaders are undemocratic’. Yes, leaders are largely ‘Undemocratic in Democracies’ because they need to be autocratic for their survival and to demand respect from their submissive followers. Don’t worry, they disguise the ‘Autocratic face’ very well with a ‘Democratic mask’, you never ever get to see the real face.

Look at the alfa male from Lion’s pride, where his wish is everyone’s command. All grown up males are forced to leave the pride. Females bear only his cubs and first right over food is his. Dominant male Crocs, Hippos, Chimps guard their harem and lord over them. They set their own rules which clearly favor them. It is always ‘My way or highway’. For the Human mind, they are biased rules and for Animals they are just instincts. Basically these alfa males are all licensed to kill to own their females, take or snatch food and own the territory, no questions asked ‘how’ and ‘why’. They do it, what they do. And it sounds so gross, because my Human brain is at work and my brain is asking way too many questions. I am asking my brain to shut up.

It all looks pretty undemocratic- plain bullying. There are no ‘second in commands’ waiting in the wings, under the watch full eyes of the present king. Matriarch in the Elephant herd decides which way to go, whom to attack and whom to protect, she does not need a ‘Consensus’ from the fellow members. She is the leader and everybody just follows her.

Human Leaders behave to a great extent like predators. This is a complement because predators rank much higher in the food chain than the prey Animals. I could not find many examples from Prey social Animals that would fit Human leaders. Some ‘Prey Animal leaders’ are at best, great defenders. All the Animals considered here are predators like Lions, Cheetahs, Hyenas and yes Elephants too. The Elephant is an exception, Elephant is not a predator. It is a loving giant. Elephants do not kill to eat. But if any Animal messes with Elephant calves and that Animal is clearly risking his own life.

Human Leaders are predators, they are guided by Animal instincts and they hide the Animal instincts smartly, which is a great quality. Leaders appear as ‘protectors of morality’, some of them do remain moral, few practice democratic working style too, but very few, only in cases where the Human nature is way too strong, otherwise most leaders succumb to the Animal instincts. The same Animal instincts, that force alfa males to become undemocratic and immoral.

The leaders may show that all their decisions are based on consensus and morality, but that may not be the truth. When a leader announces a decision and seeks support from his deputies or juniors, watch closely, in reality all the deputies/juniors are given suggestive messages, which are like veiled threats to follow the leader’s path or else….so much for democracy.

When a leader/politician generates donations for his party, it is ostensibly for the party. But nobody is supposed to ask a question on how he manages to maintain a fleet of those swanky cars, a country estate that only top businessmen can afford. Well, that is about what you get to see-the ostensible show of his wealth. What one never gets to see is transfer of money in his secret bank accounts for favoring businessmen, earn big contracts. Bank Accounts are smartly opened in Switzerland, much away from the murky politics of his home country and spying eyes of opponents. So much for morality.

Morality is not only restricted to illegal ways to amass wealth, it continues with secret affairs with some of the best looking women from show business, weakening the political opponents using muscle and money, sometimes blackmailing. It is all a part of the game. All is fair in ‘War and Love’. It is definitely war and not love for sure. Few other regular vices are nepotism, favors to relatives and donations to their cult organizations.

Human nature helps man maintain his sanity. It takes us few notches above the Animals, remember the earlier chapter where we discussed that “Human Nature is something Humans have and Animals lack, while Animal instincts are common in Humans and Animals”. Politicians do require Human nature to camouflage their Animal instincts. They need to sound ‘Human’ but act ‘Animal’, sometimes. Smart politicians are the ones who flaunt the finer points of their Human nature. They need to fool a lot of people. And some times an outsourced help to do that is not a bad idea. That is why you have those spin doctors who study minutely to build ‘right’ images for the leaders. They come up with smart suggestions that cover your Animal instincts and give an all accepted Humane face to you.

Animal instinct of having ‘strategic alliance’ is very important for survival and continuance of leadership. Cheetahs, Tigers, Chimps and Elephants they all keep alliances with their own kind to maintain the status quo. Tigresses allow other tigresses to share their big kill. Though they do not share the territories. Dominant Chimps, Crocs allow submissive males to remain in the group, they come handy during the hunt. Bull elephants are not a part of elephant herd, they are solitary but could come and help if the bull hears some distress calls from any elephant herd.

Like these Animals, leaders/politicians need to remain popular and they need strategic alliances to attract voters. Democracy is all about getting maximum votes. It is very important to attract the smaller ethnic groups, racial groups, linguistic groups for votes and a politician can not openly do that, for the fear of being labeled racist or playing to the gallery, so it is smartly staged. They send the right message to the target groups. For example our politician hugs an elderly woman of a particular community before his major public appearance. He lifts a child from a particular community and gives a peck. Certain districts are carefully selected to make certain statements and declare sops. The names of national heroes, in public meetings change as per the demography of that region. So on and so forth. This is smartly managed to please the target groups and win their votes. No wonder ‘Spin Doctors’ have become a must in elections. They help you cover Animal instincts, they wrap them up because Human hypocrisy will never accept Animal instincts in it’s barest form.

This is interesting, Politicians enjoy a much higher degree of tolerance from the common public when it comes to hypocrisy. It is like how we ‘expect’ birds to fly, fish to swim. We ‘expect’ the politician to be hypocritical.

Oops! You talk more about politicians and the Human nature is in dire situation of being branded negatively because all these Politicians are Human beings. Make no mistake, our biggest defense against everything is our compassionate Human nature. When saints use Human nature they use it for Forgiveness, Pity, and Kindness. They genuinely help Humanity by helping spread these Human virtues.

Why do most of the successful politicians, who become national leaders come from ordinary backgrounds and not from best business schools? Because they follow the Animal instinct ‘To lead’, the instinct to become alfa male, everything is secondary. The guys from top schools may have the urge to create wealth but not necessarily the compulsive urge to lead. Leader-Politicians simply keep pushing, because the instinct will not allow them to stop. Once they reach a powerful position they meet the right advisors, consultants and colleagues who help them move further up the ladder. All these consultants, colleagues, spin doctors, advisors are helpful but they are no substitute to our dear leader’s Animal instinct to rule his territory and be the alfa male.

Go own a harem! My dear leader [alfa male], ……………….I think I am jealous. I think I definitely need a drink after this chapter. I suggest you fix one for you too.

It is a sobering [?] thought that Animals could do without man, yet man would find it almost impossible to do without Animals.

Ruth Harrison