Wild Leadership - Walraven, Erna

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Résumé :
What can we learn about leadership from wild animals? This book looks at leadership from a completely different perspective. Our closest living relatives are chimpanzees and bonobos - we are less hairy and may wear a business suit, but are driven by our instincts just like our relatives. Contrary to popular belief it is not always the strongest, nastiest chimp that is the leader of the group - it is more likely to be the individual with the highest emotional intelligence. The book delves into various types of leadership used by wild animals, with styles varying between species and to some degree between individuals. For each leadership style, one or more species demonstrating that style will be highlighted, including Autocratic (e.g. Gorilla), Laissez-faire (e.g. Lion), Democratic (e.g. Baboon), and Paternalistic/Maternalistic (e.g. Elephant). The book highlights what wild animals expect from their leader. In the wild, they will voluntarily follow a leader that they trust, which has their back at all times, and which always acts with the best interests of the group at heart. The book identifies the characteristics of successful animal leaders and also how teamwork works in the animal world. Understanding the instincts displayed by other species allows us to manage our own behaviour and relationships better, and can make us more effective leaders at home, in the workplace and in our communities....

Biographie:
Erna Walraven was born in the Netherlands and moved to Spain as a young adult, before moving to Australia in her late twenties. She worked as a translator and interpreter of Dutch, German, French, Spanish and English, as well as a kennel-maid, zookeeper, petrol pump attendant, waitress, aged care worker, farmhand, conveyancing clerk, debt collector and a dog washer. She eventually settled for zoology, as Senior Curator at Taronga Zoo in Sydney for two decades, where she was responsible for the care of some 400 wild animal species. Erna's career has inspired her to write many nonfiction books about animals. Her latest, Wild Fathers - what wild animal dads teach is about fatherhood was published by New Holland in 2021. She has travelled to most of Earth's continents, and she's currently planning a trip to Antarctica to achieve her life goal of seeing all the penguin species of the world. Erna's long-harboured dream of living in Spain again came true when she and her husband Alex returned in retirement and bought a falling-down villa to make their home....

Sommaire:
ERNA WALRAVEN is the Emeritus Senior Curator at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia. She has worked with and observed wild animals for more than three decades and has a deep fascination for our shared evolutionary history and the leadership lessons we can learn from a shared past....