Be a Cat

One of the biggest barriers to leadership growth is fear of failure.

This weekend, I was inspired while attending the musical version of The Wiz where they sing about fear by saying: “Be a Lion.”

Then I started rewatching Ted Lasso, where he teaches Sam about failure, telling him to: “Be a goldfish.”

But I think we can also add… “Be a cat.”

Cats are fascinating when it comes to risk and failure.

They’ll study a jump.

 Pause. Calculate. Hesitate.

Cats do not care when they fall off a shelf. A cat can completely miss a jump and then spend five minutes chasing a laser.

They have mastered the art of getting up and trying again like nothing happened.

Most people approach leadership very differently.

They hesitate to speak up.

 Delay applying for leadership roles.

 Avoid difficult conversations.

 Hold back ideas.

That’s why leadership development needs more than motivation alone.

The best leaders are not the ones who never fall.

 They are the ones willing to keep growing anyway, “Be a Lion”, “Be a goldfish”, and yes, even “Be a cat”.