inspiring leaders know about dandelions and orchids

DANDELIONSAre you Leading

ORCHIDS?or

Dandelions can Spread anywhere

and grow anywhere.

You can find them on rocks

and youcan findthem in trees

and youcan even findthem in the snow.

Photo: RichardJohnson

Dandelions areattractive

andstrong;

requiring little to no care.

Orchids,on theother hand,

are breathtakingly beautiful,

and richlycolorful.

There are manydifferent types oforchids; each one isunique.

But orchidsare delicate,

Photo: Mars Hall

they requirea lot of attention,

Photo: CMMooney

and theenvironment has to bejust right.

Photo: Ellyn B

Managing dandelions is easy.

They practicallymanage themselves.

It’s much harder to take a person whohas wilted,

Photo: GabrielleLudlow

and to givehim attention,

and to create theright environment,

until he blossoms intosomething spectacular.

DANDELIONSSo Lead Your

And Inspire YourORCHIDS;

DANDELIONSbecause chances are you’re leading

ORCHIDS.and

Treat a man as he is, and he will

remain as he is. Treat a man as he could be, and he will

become what he should be.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

John WaltersFrom the War Room to the Board Room,Leading is Caring.

Unless otherwise stated all photos are from www.morguefile.comcreated Sep 12, 2014

The orchid hypothesis is used in developmental psychology toexplain why some children are more susceptible to their environments. Given the same bad environment as “dandelions”, these children do worse. But given a good environment these“orchids” blossom and flourish, responding more positively than even the “dandelions”.

Read a great article in The Atlantic by David DobbsDavid Dobbs is currently writing a book about the subject; itshould be out in 2015!