Gong Xi Fa Cai — Happy Chinese New Year! Today is the start of the Year of the Sheep — or maybe the Goat or the Ram. A ram is just a male sheep, but goats are as different from sheep as lions are from tigers. Goats have beards, while sheep have manes. Sheep prefer to eat ground cover such as grass, but goats prefer to eat higher foliage. Goats are more individual and curious, but sheep stay put in their flock. So is this the Year of the Sheep (or Ram) or of the Goat? The Chinese character is ambiguous, so it depends on which tradition you choose to follow. I’ll choose sheep, as I find thinking about them more stimulating. What do sheep have to teach us?
Become more useful: Sheep were, about 10,000 years ago, among the first animals to be domesticated, and for very good reasons. They give us food in the form of meat, milk and cheese and clothe us in wool and sheepskin. Because they are so useful, they remain important to us even after all these millennia.
How can you provide more value to your customers? How can you make better use of the assets you have? How can you be more useful to those around you?
Rely on your team: Sheep are herd animals. They stick with their flock, and become anxious when separated from them. This behaviour has evolved because it provides protection from predators — a lone sheep is an easy target.
How can being a good member of your flock help to protect against predators in your business? How can you and your team members become better flock members?
Leadership matters: Sheep follow their leader, which can be a shepherd, a dominant ram or simply the first sheep that starts moving in a new direction. Blindly following a leader can be a double-edged sword, as you may be led to greener pastures or into the jaws of predators. American management author Ken Blanchard said: “Too many leaders act as if the sheep ... their people ... are there for the benefit of the shepherd, not that the shepherd has responsibility for the sheep. It puts a greater responsibility on the leader, who needs to put the interest of the group beyond its own self-interest.”
Clearly, leadership matters. Would you rather work among sheep but be led by wolves who care only about their own interests? Or work under a shepherd who sees his own welfare and that of his flock as closely linked? With the right leadership, a flock of sheep can achieve the seemingly impossible. As Alexander the Great said: “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”
Are you led by predatory “wolves”? Or is your leader inspiring and creative, with the heart of a lion and a clear vision?
Don’t expect too much: Let’s face it, sheep are not really noted for their creativity and innovation. Organisations comprising only sheep-like people have many characteristics that get in the way of creativity such as conforming to norms and rules, blindly following others, blending into the flock and being reactive and passive. Albert Einstein said: “In order to be an immaculate member of a flock of sheep, one must above all be a sheep oneself.”
Celebrate black sheep: To unleash creativity in your organisation, find, empower and celebrate the “black sheep” you have. A black sheep is an odd, unconventional or even disreputable member of a group. Black sheep don’t mind standing out from the crowd. They dare to be different and think differently. They rejoice in the originality of their personality and ideas. They don’t care about being comfortable in a flock of homogenous white sheep — as Ernest Lehman said: “After all, the wool of a black sheep is just as warm.” In environments characterised by sameness and conformity, the black sheep embodies individuality and originality, traits that foster creativity.
How can you find the few “black sheep” among all the “sheeple” — that is, people who behave like sheep? Look for those who look or behave differently than the norm or simply ask your colleagues who are the weird ones who refuse to fit into the system smoothly and insist on doing their own thing, serving your organisation in their unique way.
Who are the black sheep in your organisation? How can you empower them to boost your organisation’s creativity? How can you encourage any hidden black sheep to stop bleaching their hair?
Emphasise the social: Taking the highly social nature of sheep as inspiration, this may be a good year to pursue collaborative innovation efforts such as generating ideas in professionally facilitated innovation sessions, leveraging ideas through the use of open innovation platforms or organising internet-based idea jam sessions. It’s also a good time to help those in our greater flocks, particularly less fortunate members.
How can we better innovate this year by collaborating?
Dr Detlef Reis is the founding director and chief ideator of Thinkergy Ltd (Thinkergy.com), an ideation and innovation company in Asia, a lecturer in business creativity and innovation leadership at Mahidol University’s College of Management and an adjunct associate professor at Hong Kong Baptist University. He can be reached at dr.d@thinkergy.com