I heard this touching story when I visited my friend, Simon Warren. I saw many pictures of an old lion hung all over the walls then Simon was 7 years of age. I can feel the close bond of the family members to this lion. Simon’s grandfather, Tony, smiled and told me that they bought the lion from a circus. His name is Jaz.
This is Peter Ng. Welcome to my leadership series ‘Developing the Leader within You’ – Secondhand Lion.
Jaz , as you are already aware, is a circus lion but he was growing too old to perform and his right eye sight is deteriorating to blindness. The circus owner decided to put Jaz to ‘sleep’ because he is becoming a liability instead of an asset. Tony heard about it and offered the circus owner an offer he can’t refuse.
Everyone in the family thought that Tony has gone mad. What’s the point of having an old lion around the house? Worst, the only thing that Jaz does is sleep, eat, and sleep. The rest of the family dislikes him for he is slow-moving, lazy, and sick. Somehow, Simon took a liking for this old lion, and makes him a home in the maize farm. Simon would feed him, play with him, and even taught him new tricks. Each time Simon swings his arm forward Jaz would run to him. And one of the amazing tricks Simon taught Jaz is to jump on stones to get over the river to the house. Jaz suddenly found a new lease of life because someone believes in him, have hope in him, and put his trust in him.
One night, 3 burglars enters the house of the Warren’s, but they awoken the family, and a commotion takes place. The oil lamp was accidentally knocked over and a fire occurs, burning the curtains and furniture. One of the burglars took out a gun, pointing at Simon wanting to hold him hostage. The commotions and the fire awaken Jaz. He ran from the maize farm, jumped on the stones over the river, and sensing a raging fire around the window, he hesitated and was wondering what he could do. Through the blazing fire, he saw a man pointing a gun at Simon. At that moment, he remembered his circus act – jumping over rings of fire. Jaz took courage, using his left eye to align his jump, and in a split second, he jumps.
Smashing through the window, Jaz startled the three burglars. A shot rung out of the gun, Jaz pinned the man down with all his might and the man fainted. Tony and Simon’s father subdued the other 2 burglars. Simon’s mum and grandmother put out the fire. Then Tony shouted “Anyone hurt?” Everyone answered “I’m ok.” And everyone was happy and cheering for the victory. Then Simon, noticed blood on the floor, he saw Jaz lying down and noticed that blood is flowing from his left side. Jaz took the shot for Simon. Immediately, they took Jaz to a veterinarian. Jaz survived the ordeal, lived to a good old age, and guess what; he is always learning new tricks. Tricks that the circus trainer would say, “It’s impossible.”
This story also reminds me that we should stop criticizing and start applauding for our more mature workers. Brutal criticism provokes negative feelings that cannot easily allay. We lose confidence in our ability to work productively and successfully. A person’s self-concept and self-esteem are terribly fragile entities and require a considerable amount of nurturing and gentle development.
Circumstances drive managers to look at a situation that displeases them and to react in a critical manner. Too often, managers seek to disparage, disapprove, reprove, denounce, censure, nag, fuss, carp, and nitpick before they understand what has been happening. With a judge-reprimand approach, employees seldom have an opportunity to choose to make appropriate changes in their behavior. Managers tend to fall into the criticism trap when they try to correct the mistakes of workers.
The way to perform as a leader is to move through the steps of redirection. Redirection is based on the fundamental principle that people will correct deviations in their behavior when they recognize a better way to perform and are supported in making changes. The process of redirecting people involves getting them to acknowledge that they have deviated from acceptable performance and then to help them understand how a change might be made to get back on the right track. In addition, they have greater confidence in your leadership abilities and support you more in achieving goals.
