To Celebrate the Lunar Year of the Monkey: Leadership Lessons from the Animal Kingdom

Either in the benign kingdom of animals or the advanced human world, thoughtfulness, intelligence, innovation, adaptability, dexterity etc. are the emergent leadership qualities.

People often analogize human society to the animal kingdom, indeed, it’s vivid: In the old ancient time, perhaps dinosaurs or  dragons controlled the world; in the primitive rainforest or chaotic hidden mountains, roaring lions or crunching tigers are in charge based on their muscle power; foxes & wolves manipulate the surroundings due to their  trickery deception. But, in a benign and friendly animal kingdom, often, the monkey is emerged as the leader to harmonize and enlighten their world from the darkness, because of their intelligence and ingenuity. In the human society, we are moving from the “command-control” style of leadership dominated in the agricultural and industrial society to more innovative and intelligent leadership styles in the digital age. So what can we learn from the spirit of the animal at the lunar New Year of Monkey?

Intelligence: Monkeys are very similar to humans in their social organizations and matching human intelligence accordingly. Monkey are intelligent creatures who have a strong capacity for understanding and participating. Monkeys are a quick learner, their minds are as quick and agile as their body, they seem to have such fitness to display high intelligence. It can lead into a deep study of the origins of species and the examination of ancient wisdom. The old adage applied to Monkey’s “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”  is considered the good principle  to live right on earth with a noble life. Monkeys see both dark and light, weighing all factors, and understand things in the intellectual ways.  

Ingenuity: The monkey totem is creative, energetic,  intuitive, and imaginative. Monkeys are most actively during the day, they have nature curiosity, they can move around in all directions with great vision and flexibility. Thus, they can see things from different angles; and they have good ability to know where they are and where they are going. So they have ingenuity and creativity to change the environment, The ingenuity provides them to capture a new insight, a new idea, a new angle, so they show the wit and smartness that other animals can not compete with, and they have the creativity to solve the odd problems via intuitive solutions.

Dexterity: Monkey is fast, adroit, they turn, twist, jump, hang, leap effortlessly, not only are they physically dexterous, monkeys often demonstrate keen insight and agile mentality. Monkey is a cheerful animal who always brings the fast pace and fascinating motivation; they can put everything in flux, adapt to changes with wit and humor. They have both physical and mental fitness to enjoy nature, enlighten nature and influence nature.

Regardless of our current position within our social structure, the monkey symbolism reminds us of cheerfulness, ingenuity, resourcefulness, flexibility, sense of humor, energy, untamed nature, and ability to change. Wish all of us to have a prosperous and peaceful Year of the Monkey - 2016!