An ancient Maasai proverb states that “A man without culture is like a zebra without stripes”
And although I believe many of us have heard this proverb one time or another; I will offer that it essentially means this: without some defining difference,or characteristic, a group of people lacks what makes them unique from everyone else.
When you hear the zebras’ hooves, how else can you be sure that they are not horses?
Yet, still, each zebra’s stripes are unique… differentiating them from every other zebra in the herd.
I have chosen to compare this proverb to the culture of leaders as a whole:
I believe it is quite the feat (almost a losing battle) when a company attempts to mold a single leadership culture from which all its leaders are somehow cloned. There is such a wide range of differences, characteristics, values and beliefs from leader to leader, and company to company.
We are unique, because each and every one of us has some kind of pre-set programming (including childhood, school, and societal influences) that has habitually run who we are, how we identify ourselves, and how we fit into specific environments.
Cultures, beliefs, and values vary so much on both the micro and macro levels and all have a massive impact on our interaction with those around us.
And being a person influenced by multiple nationalities throughout their lives widens the gap and identification of a single leadership culture that much more.
I believe that the closest we can come to discussing even a semblance of a culture that is collectively relatable is the fact that we are all human beings.
This is the starting point and in some ways, the only point of commonality. And when it comes to relating this to leadership, it does boil down to this single idea:
“The future of work is human-centric” Meir, Stephan (2024) The Employee Advantage.
When I read this, I thought aha! Now we are getting somewhere. It is easy for a company to proudly speak of “our people” as a unified cultural identity. However, like the zebras, we are each unique; no two people have the exact same backgrounds or characteristics.
So what does this mean as we work to train, prepare, and inspire our leaders to lead their multi-zebra-striped teams?
Tackling and creating a culture of leadership, requires us to remember the one thing we all have in common: our humanity. So, perhaps a little less focus on each person’s stripes and instead, focus on an identification with the one thing that makes us the same, not unique.
