Birds flying in V-formations use less energy to flap their wings than those on solo flights. Birds in flocks can therefore fly for longer than those travelling on their own. (the image is kindly from Islay Pictures Photoblog)
I have long been fascinated by geese as they fly in V-formation heading south in the autumn and northwards in the late spring. Thus a recent article in The Observer caught my eye about geese and what the airline industry is looking to learn from them. Our skies in the future may not only have wild geese flying in V-formation but also passenger planes, which, like geese will take it in turns to lead the formation using less fuel and therefore producing less carbon emissions.
Our success as leaders is absolutely dependent on our relationship with others and our ability to work together. Sometimes this may mean that we are leading and showing the way and other times it will require us to leave the space for others to ‘go first’. As with geese the vision of the future is dependent on the collective intelligence and resourcefulness of the group and how we get there depends on us pulling together, harnessing our strengths, being part of each others’ support team and giving each other opportunities to shine.
The following poem by Mary Oliver is entitled ‘Wild Geese’. As well as being extraordinarily evocative I would encourage you, once you have read it, to reflect on how you tend to lead and how you belong to the teams in which you are an important player.
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
Over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
The world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
Over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
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