The Pack Leader Mindset

We always had big dogs at home, but once my dad discovered Rottweilers, he wouldn’t have any other breed. The bigger his dogs were the better. And he also admired his Rotties because of their reputation as being “bad boys” in the dog world.

“If you’re afraid, they’ll know it,” my dad always said. When dealing with dogs, you have to be calm and confident.

I say that Rotties are smart and they know it. You have to be firm with them, because they will challenge you.

If you’re going to have Rottweilers, you must know you are the boss, so that they will know you are the boss. This is not about harshness, but clarity of focus.

On the path of an entrepreneur, some days I feel a lot like I’m dealing with my dad’s Rottweilers. The daily need to make decisions brings habits of thought (productive and unproductive) out of the woodwork.

I have to ask: Is it me, or some habit, running the show?

We believe that we are thinkers, making decisions through reasoning and conscious thought. We live in this identity, only to find our careful, rational decisions being challenged by the emotional, instinctual part of our nature, perhaps even to the extent where the unruly “animal” side of ourselves threatens to dominate our reasoning mind.

I never thought of applying what I know about dogs as a lesson to help make business decisions or control unruly habits, until I saw “Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan” on the National Geographic channel.

So many of the things Cesar says sound like they came from philosophical teachings: projecting energy consciously, maintaining focus, living in the now, and practicing mindset. He could be a teacher of meditation, yoga, or many other techniques.

“I rehabilitate dogs. I train people,” he says.

Cesar’s clients are dog owners anxious for solutions to their pets’ behavior issues. Some of the dogs are so dangerous – “red zone” cases – that the dogs will have to be put down if the behavior cannot be improved. Cesar teaches humans to become pack leaders in their households, and practice calm, assertive energy so that they communicate effectively with their dogs, which creates major improvements in the dogs’ behavior.

Hmmm. Pack leader.

Two Rotties named Tiger and Roxy got my attention in an early episode. Cesar says that Rottweilers are the gladiators of the dog world, born to challenge. These two were only puppies, but were already heading for the red zone because their humans did not know how to control them. When the humans learned to be calm and assertive, and Tiger got the job of carrying small items in a doggie backpack, their behavior changed for the better.

Cesar instructs dog owners to practice their pack leader mindset with their dogs, along with exercise, discipline and affection – in that order. Through these techniques, he rebalances the animal energies in his clients’ households, and shows the humans how to maintain this harmonious state. Some of Cesar’s human clients report that their self-esteem improves by practicing the calm, assertive energy with their dogs every day.

Become centered in who you are — Sounds just like a necessary quality for business success. Knowing your goals and balancing the reasoning, emotional and intuitive aspects of oneself to move forward – and breaking new paths in the snow.

Just what pack leaders do every day.