The  Leader’s  Lesson  

By  O0s  

•  Once upon a time in a big oak forest in central Virginia, there was a squirrel named Phil. Phil was your average squirrel. He lived an average squirrel life in an average squirrel tree hole. Overall, Phil was a happy squirrel. He spent the days looking for food.

•  The year was slowly approaching winter. All the acorns from the oak trees would soon be ripe and ready to be collected for storage for the winter. Like every year, all the squirrels in the squirrel community would get together and collect as much food as they could to store in the Old Oak. The Old Oak was the center of the squirrel community.

•  They all gathered the food together to ensure that everyone would get enough food for the winter. Like every year, one squirrel would lead the efforts to ensure that enough  

food was collected before winter hit. After many years of holding this position, the oldest squirrel in the community, Clark, finally decided to give up the position to a younger squirrel.  

•  As a well-respected member of the squirrel community, Phil was elected to hold the position. He was very excited and decided that he would do the best job of collecting acorns the community had ever seen, so he started planning early. Phil was a diligent and effective leader. He assigned every squirrel a minimum quota they had to donate, apart from the amount they consumed each day, and gave them a

deadline to meet. He oversaw every acorn that was deposited into the Old Oak.  

•  Phil didn’t yet have a family, so he met his quota easily. Some of the squirrels with families, on the other hand, had a harder time meeting their quota. One day when Phil was counting the acorns that were supposed to be deposited into storage, he was approached by Tom. Tom was a middle aged squirrel who had 11 children. He was always busy looking for food to feed his family.  

•  As he approached Phil, he asked, “Phil, could I have a word with you.” “324, 325, 326…One moment, I’ll be right there. 327, 328, 329…” he replied. “What can I help you with?” Phil asked once he finally found a stopping point and walked over to where Tom was standing.  

•  “I was wondering about the quota,” Tom started, “You know how big my family is. I have 11 mouths to feed at home, not including my wife and myself. You know how busy I am. I don’t think that I will be able to reach the quota this month; I…” “Let me stop you right there,” Phil cut in.  

•  His light mood had changed into a more serious one. “I know you are a busy squirrel, but we all are. There are many other squirrels out there that are in a situation similar to yours, but they can meet their quota. If everyone requests an exemption, where would we be? We wouldn’t have any acorns and we would all starve in the winter. Everyone has to meet their quota, so I guess you’re going to have to work harder.” With that Phil turned around and walked away. Tom knew that arguing at this point would be pointless.  

•  The next day, Tom went out early to collect acorns. He knew of a spot where the trees were especially thick, and the acorns especially big. On his way back home, he met his two close friends Allen and Dennis. They greeted each other and started talking like they always did.  

•  After a couple of minutes of conversation, they came on the topic of the quota. Both Allen and Dennis were just as mad as Tom was; Allen had nine children, and Dennis had 12. They were just as busy as Tom was collecting acorns for their families; they just didn’t have the time to meet the quota.  

•  “Oh, and guess what else I heard.” Dennis began. “The young, single squirrels, like Phil, have the same quota we do, but are already done because they don’t have a family to feed. And do you know how they justify it? They say it’s only ‘fair’ that everyone has the same quota.” Dennis mimicked one of the younger squirrels’ voices when he said ‘fair.’  

•  At this news, Tom and Allen only became angrier. “They have the same quota we do? You can’t be serious!” Allen shouted. “Calm down,” Tom said in a soothing tone. “Obviously, Phil can’t see how this quota is affecting us. We will have to talk to Clark. He is the only one with enough influence to change Phil’s mind.” The three of them decided that they would talk to Clark together.  

•  Later that afternoon, they met with Clark. “What is the matter?” Clark asked politely. “We have a problem with Phil’s method of collecting the acorns. With our sized families, we just aren’t able to meet

the quotas he has set for us.” Tom complained. “I see,” Clark replied. “I have already heard similar complaints. First thing tomorrow, I will go talk to Phil about his collection methods.”  

•  First thing the next morning, Tom and Clark went to talk to Phil. Clark told Phil about the complaints he had gotten, but Phil just kept on saying that it was fair that everyone contributed the same amount. “You obviously don’t know what it is like to have a family. Tom, if it is alright with you, I would like for Phil to spend the day with you and your family,” Clark asked. “That would be fine,” Tom replied.  

•  Phil started to object, but he thought the better of it. After all, Clark was the oldest and wisest squirrel in the community. “We will halt collection for today,” announced Clark, “So that you can have this experience.” Clark then turned and walked away. Phil turned to look at Tom. “Alright, let’s go,” Tom said.  

•  At home, Tom introduced Phil to the entire family. Tom looked at Phil, “Alright, now that you have met my 11 kids and my wife, we have to go collect food.” So they started out into the woods to get food. They took many trips and got a lot of food, but at the end of the day, there only was a small amount of food left that could be brought to the Old Oak.  

Phil and Tom just stood there looking at the pile. Phil turned to Tom, “I never realized how much food 11 squirrel children can consume. And we worked hard all day.” “That’s what I’ve

been trying to tell you, and this is more than usual since you helped. But, I’m glad you understand,” Tom replied, smiling. Phil had a look of determination in his eyes again, “I shall go right now to make changes to the quotas. Thank you for giving me this experience.” “The pleasure is all mine,” Tom laughed.  

Phil left and went to the Old Oak. There, he spent all night to make that all the quotas represented the dependents of the squirrels as well. All the

single squirrels would have to collect a lot more acorns, and the older squirrels with families would have to collect less. Phil made this announcement to the community bright and early the next day.  

•  At first all the younger squirrels complained and protested, but eventually their anger faded away; they had too much time on their hands anyways. All the squirrels with families thanked Phil for his action. Phil felt great; he had learned a valuable lesson and made many squirrels happy. That year, the community collected more acorns than ever before.  

•  The effort was a great success, and everyone had enough food in the winter. Some squirrels would say that throughout his life, Phil did a better job than Clark, but we shall not discuss this now. The important thing is that Phil learned an important lesson that day.  

•  He learned that if he doesn’t understand what the other squirrels are going through, he couldn’t be an effective leader. He had to stay connected to the other squirrels and empathize with their struggles in order to productively lead the squirrels in their acorn collecting efforts.  

The End