The Herd

Running across the open plain, a dark horse is captivated by sunlight shining through an apparition in the clouds. Pausing briefly, he gathers confidence in his unique talent and wisdom, preparing to accept a leadership role when he rejoins the herd.

 

The entire community benefits when we trade leadership roles based on who is the calmest, clearest, and most creative in a given situation.

Consensual leadership is not a job description. It’s an improvisation. To be confident in your dreams and talents while remaining responsive to the needs and gifts of others, you must check your ego at the gate. In a horse herd, there is social behaviour that fits the pecking order concept and plenty of behaviour that does not. Horses that seem to be in charge for the long term can lose their authority in a split second.

 

In these equine communities, what an individual knows about, cares about, or is calm about determines leadership, as all members have some talent, drive, or experience the others value or, at times, defer to. Consensual leadership seems to be a more appropriate term than pecking order. If you propose to create an authentic community where people’s true feelings, talents, dreams, and motivations are acknowledged, you have to head in this general direction.

 

No leader knows everything. To convince your followers otherwise is dishonest, requiring increasing levels of posturing, deception, and, finally, intimidation. Yet it takes significant self-esteem and discernment to conceive of others taking the lead occasionally without letting them dominate you.

 

Basically, you must maintain good boundaries without needing to order everyone else around—or be seen as the expert in all possible situations. Consensual leadership draws on the wisdom and sentience of the entire herd. Way of the Horse Oracles