Music Monday: Growing Leaders

Meet Aishol-pan. She is 13 years old. She’s strong. She’s brave. And, she’s a total natural. But, when the competition ends, the real test begins. It’s about the courage it takes to soar.

That’s a quote from the movie trailer for The Eagle Huntress. This gorgeously-photographed documentary film is about a young Kazakh girl from Mongolia who attempts to become the first female huntress to compete in the eagle festival in Ulgii, Mongolia, established in 1999. The men in her family have been eagle hunters for seven generations which has been the primary source of warm furs for clothing, meat for food, and other essentials from their sparse and frigid landscape. They have highly-developed ways of training eagles to hunt for fox and other game and release the kill on command. Aishol-pan wants to follow in their footsteps. But, she enters into this training against the long-held traditions of her nomadic community where generations of men have, until now, only handed down this skill and knowledge from father to son.

No doubt this is a story of a brave, determined young girl. But like the movie, The Miracle Worker, where the story is not really about Helen Keller but rather about her teacher, Anne Sullivan… this story is not really about Aishol-pan, at least not solely. It’s really about her father, Nurgaiv, who accepts Aishol-pan’s request to train her against the advice and approval of their community and who, in a short amount of time, must have her not only ready for the competition but more importantly for the test of implementing a successful hunt with her own eagle in the frozen and dangerous wilderness.

Nurgaiv believes in his daughter. He is her champion and her teacher. He gives her access to all his knowledge and resources. But, he does not do any of the work for her. From the moment they begin, her father insists that she must develop her own strength to hold the powerful bird. She must fumble through the learning to blindfold the bird’s face so that it learns to respond to only her voice. She must find the courage to scale down a sheer, rocky cliff into an eagle’s nest and select and capture the eaglet which she will raise and train to hunt by her command only. Her father is a leader and teacher who knows instinctively that the only chance Aishol-pan has to truly compete and thrive as a huntress will lie in his ability to guide her to her own potential and strength. In doing so, he reveals her own power and confidence and develops a leader who can think for herself and make her own choices, decisions, and mistakes.

This is the goal of all leadership… to develop people, ourselves included, who find their voice, access their courage, think for themselves, and step into their full potential. It’s the difference between managers and leaders. The purpose of management is not to show people what to do to get things done, which is important, of course. The purpose of leadership is to show people who they need to become in order to do those things on their own. It’s to show them how to be resourceful, creative, self-directed, resilient, and brave so that they can meet and solve the challenges that will come as we are attempting always to move from the status quo and into the future.

The inspirational speaker and brilliant leader, Nido Quebin, once defined leadership as “a process by which management creates an environment where people voluntarily align their efforts to accomplish a common objective.” Leaders know how to inspire their people to become better versions of themselves. They know how to create an environment where people voluntarily align their efforts toward a common goal. They operate, perform, and speak in a way that inspires their people to follow them and learn from them… and then make things even better. Over the next few weeks, we’ll explore some key concepts in becoming a better leader yourself, whatever your position in life or work, and how you can impact your co-workers, clients, and family members in powerful, positive ways.

But for now, consider this… Leadership is not about actions or transactions. It’s about growth and transformation. It’s not about what to do but about who to become. It’s not about doing things for people but about guiding and growing them. It’s not about a better status quo. It’s about a better future.

Click here to view movie trailer.