Saturday February 16, 2013
By DIVYA CHANDY
divya.chandy@leaderonomics.com
What leadership lessons can we pick up from Disney's The Lion King?
It all begins with the epic scene of the big ball of sun rising on the horizon of the savannah to the legendary Zulu prelude of Elton John’s masterpiece, the Circle of Life. Immediately one is clouded with childhood memories of majesty and colours, song and drama, innocence and awe. This 1994 Walt Disney Feature Animation production succeeded to become an all-time favourite wholesome family hit and as of 2012, ranked as the 17th highest-grossing film worldwide.
The story follows the life of Simba, a lion cub, equivalent of an average eight to 10-year-old boy whose great dreams of becoming the King of Pride Rock came to a complete halt with the death of his beloved father King Mufasa. Being fed the idea that it was due to his own fault, Simba ran away from the Pride land at the command of his uncle Scar, who plotted Mufasa’s death in anticipation of ascending the throne himself. As the story goes, the guilt-ridden Simba was later found scorched almost to death by melancholia in the middle of a desert by meerkat Timon and warthog Pumbaa, who later adopted and taught him a life of “no worries.”
Simba grew into a carefree red-maned insect-eating lion until his beautiful cub-hood friend Nala stumbled upon him by chance as she was escaping what had become of Pride Rock during the reign of Scar. Finally forced to face his past after some soul searching (and divine intervention), Simba turned back, challenged his uncle and took his rightful place as King of Pride Rock. So besides being a fuzzy heart-warming musical that managed to capture an audience spanning three generations, this is a tale heavily doused with leadership lessons. Each character had an interesting leadership role in nurturing Simba into the King that he was meant to be.
Mufasa and the Great Circle of Life
As the King of Pride Rock as well as a father figure, Mufasa’s role was pinnacle as he was the first visible model of leadership to the young Simba. King Mufasa displayed the role of a typical transformational leader early on in Simba’s life. In the midst of governing his kingdom, Mufasa ensured that he had time to spend with his son, teaching and coaching him. His enthusiastic and mischievous son had no experience but was very eager to be King like his Father, fearless and free to do all things his way. But in order to acquire the traits of a king, Mufasa had to show personal support and affection to his son. He gave Simba a sense of identity and self towards his role, not only for himself, but to the entire ecosystem they lived in where each living thing played a part in the great circle of life.
For example, Simba learned the lesson of mutual respect through understanding that even though he could eat an antelope, it did not mean that he would become a far superior being to the antelope. “When we die, our bodies become the grass. The antelope eats the grass and so we are all connected,” were Mufasa’s words while challenging his son to think of the wellbeing of the creatures that will be under his leadership.
Mufasa modeled his role well to ensure that his son would gain the mindset and attitude of a true leader. He not only played the role as an authority, but allowed Simba to see parts of his struggles and fears whenever he felt it was needed to develop the learning process for his mentee. Mufasa took great interest in the learning progression of his son, allowing him some amount of freedom to make his own choices, and therefore mistakes.
These lessons imparted stayed on with Simba. Although things made a turn for the worse when he was burdened with the guilt of causing his father’s death and regressed from his leadership role, deep down Simba knew what it took to be King. After finally being healed from the shackles of guilt that held him back, all of the things Mufasa taught him came into memory as he went on to take his throne.
Scar the transactional leader
Scar was the complete opposite of his brother Mufasa as he displayed the traits of a transactional leader. He gained his power as the leader of the hyenas by providing them with benefits, like food and protection, as well as invoking fear. It was a “transaction.” His end goal was to achieve and maintain a position of absolute power. To achieve this goal, he worked to employ and influence Simba and the hyenas by providing them with treats and “surprises” to not only maintain their loyalty to him, but to ensure that they played their part in his plan for success. Failure to do so resulted in some forms of punishment for the hyenas, although not strong enough to turn them away from his authority over them.
In the case of Simba who was a threat to his position, Scar schemed to eradicate any obstacles that stood in his process of achieving his goal. His leadership style was responsive, unlike his brother’s who was proactive. His game was to ensure that his subordinates achieve objectives outlined for them through rewards and penalties set by him.
He also worked to maintain status quo in his position of power by working within the parameters of his dominion. This is seen in the story when Scar refused to relocate the Pride when they ran out of food and water, causing the Pride to go hungry. At this point, his course of action was to blame the lionesses for not carrying out their hunting duties to feed the hyenas and make them work harder to find food. This course of action led to Nala, one of the lionesses, to venture far out from the savannah into the jungles to find food and found hope in the form of Simba.
“Hakuna Matata! It means ‘No Worries’”
Enter Timon and Pumbaa, my favourite duo. These carefree bachelors roam around the African Jungle doing as they please and when they brought Simba into their band of brotherhood, they taught him everything he needed to know about being “jungle-smart”. Before negating the influence of Timon and Pumbaa as leaders, it is important to take note of the fact that they not only rescued him, they also provided Simba with what he needed at that point of his life (friendship) and therefore were able to be influential. Although Simba didn’t immediately get back on the band wagon of his leadership pursuit, he was snapped out of a state of depression and was able to move out of being affected by his previous mistakes.
It is important for leaders not to dwell on previous downfalls and to keep looking on the brighter things in life as demonstrated by Timon and Pumbaa. There is also no denying on the significance of the element of friendship.
“Crazy Old Monkey”
Rafiki was the wise shaman-like mandrill that resembled the family “priest” for the Pride for generations and appeared to be the chief advisor and close friend of King Mufasa. At the birth of Simba, he ceremoniously dedicated him to his role as heir to the kingdom. Rafiki did not play an active role in Simba’s leadership journey, however, Rafiki’s role was crucial in Simba’s course of action.
This role is akin to that of an elder who has gained enough experience to be able to see a larger picture that is set before us. By being able to understand behavioural patterns through years of experience, he was able to literally knock some sense into Simba who was refusing to face his past. Leaders like Rafiki are all around us, yet sometimes, ignored. But it is important to realise that they are able to provide a greater understanding (in possibly the least amount of words) on situations even though they may seem to be outdated and extreme. The wisdom of the old should always be appreciated.
As we look at the life of Simba and his progression into eventually being King of Pride Rock through the different roles played by people (I mean, “creatures”) around him, we need to similarly look into the key leaders in our lives. Who are our Mufassas, Scars, Timons, Pumbaas, Rafikis or even our Nalas, Zazus and Sarabis? If we haven’t identified them, we should keep a look out for them. If we have, make effort to spend time with them and learn. Starting young also means being able to take charge of your leadership journey regardless of your age or circumstances.
To take this one notch higher, who are our Simbas? Is there someone around us who clearly needs guidance or has a lack of competence? What role can we play in their lives? We need to work to invest time in the lives of the less experienced, especially those who are in their youth.
Not only will it secure our future as the youth are our future leaders, they have so much to teach us in return if we are willing. My boss, Roshan Thiran, once said this: “It may take a village to raise a child; it takes a community to raise a leader.”
Divya Chandy is a part of the Youth Division of Leaderonomics that is passionate about inspiring youths towards leadership excellence. She is actively involved with DropZone, an alternative youth hang out spot in Jalan Othman, Petaling Jaya that serves the youth of the area. If you are interested in developing as a young leader, you can email her at divya.chandy@leaderonomics.com or check out DropZone at www.facebook.com/dropzoneyouth and show your support by hitting the “Like” button.
