Flying Lead Change

Book excerpt: For leaders at work, at home, and in our communities—an essential guide to nature-based leadership inspired by the wisdom of indigenous teachings and horses. Is there a common element to the challenges and crises of our modern age? If so, it must be disconnection—from each other, our planet, and the sense that our lives have purpose and meaning. Where can we turn for answers? In Flying Lead Change, leadership teacher Kelly Wendorf offers a new approach to leading and living inspired by two profound sources of ancient wisdom: original peoples and Equus (the horse), grounded in evidence-based principles of neuroscience. In her groundbreaking EQUUS training program, Wendorf teaches a way of leadership modeled on a 56 million-year-old system of the horse herd––a path that has allowed humans and horses alike to survive the kinds of global and societal threats we now face, such as climate change and mass extinction. Here she takes you step by step through this powerful approach, including: • Listening—the starting point for all leadership, in which we suspend our biases and preferences • Care—explore the ancient, indigenous understanding of care that is reciprocal, empathic, and beneficial to all • Presence—meeting the here and now with vulnerability, openness, and a stable foundation • Safety—how a masterful leader creates a sense of group resilience and strength by “leading from behind” for the welfare of all • Connection—ways to move away from coercion and force to promote genuine communication and belonging • Peace—creating group harmony right now through the surprising concepts of “congruence” and “tempo” • Freedom—returning to our wild nature that is inherently free, unbridled, and unbroken • Joy—moving beyond temporary happiness to a state of wholehearted engagement of life, whatever the circumstances In horsemanship, a “flying lead change” allows a running horse to respond with breathtaking grace to changing conditions. “Collectively, we need a similar physics-defying maneuver,” Wendorf writes. “This book is for the called—thought leaders, visionaries, parents, creatives, and all those who sense we are being asked to participate in humanity’s ‘flying change’ through the way we live, love, and lead.”