On mastering leadership the mousetrap way
Published on: Sunday, September 15, 2019
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“My god, there is a mousetrap in the house,” he said to himself. So he ran out and met the other animals, namely a hen, goat and cow. He went to them and said there is a mousetrap in the house.
But the hen said ‘why are you telling me this? This is not my problem. Next the mouse went to the goat. ‘Mr goat, Mr goat, there is a mousetrap in the house.’ The goat said ‘why are you telling me this, this is not my problem. Go away.’
So the mouse went to the cow and also told him ther is a mousetrap in the house. The cow replied, ‘how can I be trapped in a mousetrap. How can that be my problem?’
There was a mousetrap in the house. Everyone heard about it but chose to ignore it because it was not their problem.
That night, there was a loud bang! Something got trapped in the mousetrap. The farmer’s wife sprang from the bed, thinking that finally the mouse was trapped. She went to the kitchen but it was pitch dark and couldn’t see a thing. She went to pick up what she thought was the mouse but it was not a mouse that was trapped in the mousetrap but a snake.
The snake bit the farmer’s wife and she yelled in pain. The farmer came running with a lantern. He saw the snake and killed it. But the damage was already done. The farmer’s wife fell ill and had high fever. So the poor farmer slaughtered the chicken and fed her chicken soup to recover.
The next day, news spread and friends and relatives came to see the farmer’s wife. To feed them, the farmer decided to slaughter the goat. Two days later, the farmer’s wife died and the entire village came for the funeral.
To feed them, the poor farmer killed the cow. The farmer got depressed at the turn of events and had no motivation to work. He said because of a stupid decision of buying a mousetrap, his life situation changed. Three months later, he also died.
What are the lessons of the story?
1. Leave the mouse alone. Don’t trouble it.
2. Not all problems are real problems.
3. Use poison instead.
4. Don’t ignore the problem.
5. Help others who are in trouble.
6. Don’t wait until the problem reaches you.
7. A problem will become a problem for everybody.
8. Anybody’s problem is everybody’s problem
9. Don’t ignore information coming your way.
These are among the main responses people normally come up with in relation to the mousetrap tale but Manoj says there are up to 18 leadership lessons it holds for anyone.
“These are lessons you need to follow to become a leader that others admire and follow,” he said, adding that he had written a book on it called, “The Mousetrap Way”.
On the select lessons one can derive from it, he said when the problem first arose, it didn’t look like a problem for the hen, goat and cow. “Whenever there is a problem, no matter how remote or insignificant, it has the potential of affecting everybody.
“So whenever a problem happens, it is a problem for everyone to solve because when you are in a team, somebody’s problem is everybody’s problem”.
What Manoj was trying to highlight as the first lesson is that when you look at the mousetrap, the trap is the risk and the cheese is the opportunity. Hence, every problem that presents itself is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your leadership skills. “That’s how you grow as a leader.”
Hence, the Number One lesson is about ownership “as ownership is the habit that leads to leadership”. One has to take the initiative without direction as
“Throughout human history, leaders who have followers are those who are willing to show ownership,” he said, citing American President Abraham Lincoln who abolished slavery at the cost of a civil war that claimed many lives and Nelson Mandela who freed South Africa from apartheid at great cost to his personal freedom as examples. He said these personalities had a lot of choices in their lives. They could have sat outside the ring and said “let someone else solve these problems”.
“But they chose to get involved without stepping back. The more they became involved, the better leaders they became.
They were ordinary people who claimed ownership and that’s how they grew.” He said the next thing comes from taking ownership for yourself as a lot of people would rather leave it to their employers to take ownership for their careers.
“It doesn’t work that way. You have to take ownership for your career, for your team or your organisation.”
He said if one cares to look around, there are a lot of big issues that happen around the world, but that if one looks further, it is a case of very small issues that go out of control. He cited the case of a person who achieved world fame for picking up plastic thrown at beaches. “He picks them up without being told and advises people not to throw plastic or even use plastic.”
“He even brings to the attention of the authorities problems that may seem insignificant to many of us like a loosened screw in a bus seat, which if not fixed will result in a bigger problem for the commuters,” he said, of exemplary people who take ownership of a problem. – James Sarda
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