Why Harmony at the Top Prevents Business Extinction

A note to young leaders. Lessons from my father.
On one occasion in my late teens, I arrived home from university to see dad watching a BBC African wildlife documentary.

The footage was of two springboks fighting each other in the Kalahari desert.

As they became absorbed in the fight, they did not notice the prowling lion waiting for his opportunity to attack.

Dad was enthralled: “See what’s happening here, son? That’s what happens to you in business if you get distracted by internal squabbles. You become vulnerable to attack by your competitors and by market forces.”

It’s one of the primary functions of leadership to establish internal harmony, especially at the top.

Fail to achieve harmony at the top, and it almost doesn’t matter how good
you are at product or sales – extinction is close at hand.