“If you make yourself a sheep, the wolves will eat you.”
— Ben Franklin
The Quintessential Workplace Wolf
Ben’s quote instantly reminds most people of one thing: Denzel Washington in the movie, Training Day. In one scene, Denzel is teaching his ‘wet behind the ears’ partner how to survive on the streets. In order to cement his point about survival of the fittest, he asks his rookie, partner-in-training, “Are you a wolf or a sheep?” finishing his lesson by teaching his protege how to howl out loud.
Eat or be Eaten
You obviously don’t have to go as far as Denzel’s character did; being a wolf doesn’t mean you have to steal, cheat, lie and murder. You do, however need to be a wolf. Ben Franklin knows it and Denzel knows it— if you’re not a wolf, all that’s left is being a sheep . And sheep get eaten. Conventional wisdom dictates that there is no middle ground—either kill or be killed, that’s the way of nature….and the way of corporate Darwinism.. Many people feel a need to challenge that notion by saying, “You could be a Sheep Dog.” True, but ask any Sheppard you know about how many Sheep Dogs he’s lost to wolves, and you’ll get a surprisingly high number.
Shedding the Sheep’s Clothing
What does it mean to be a wolf or a sheep in the workplace? Let’s compare and contrast how wolves and sheep might be impacted by common workplace situations:
AGGRESSIVENESS: The wolf will go after what she believes in. The sheep will let opportunity pass him by. NETWORKING: The wolf will build a strong network of people who will benefit her. The sheep will wait until others ask him to be in their network, WORKLOAD: The wolf will know how to manage and delegate effectively, leaving time for high-profile and significant assignments. The sheep will be the one who accepts meaningless grunt work and mind-numbing minutia because he doesn’t have the guts to say NO. PROMOTIONS: The wolf will strive for higher levels of responsibility, and thrives on the competition or ‘race’ to the top. The sheep will always work hard and do a good job, but is afraid of grabbing the brass ring. GOSSIP: The wolf might start a rumor about an outside competitor in order to gain advantage in the marketplace. The sheep will most often be the object of gossip.
Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?
These examples are offered to merely illustrate the varying degrees of the ‘wolf/sheep continuum’. Of course, there are extreme examples and many of us know a ‘quintessential’ wolf who might be a cut-throat, no holds barred jerk who would climb over his own mother just to make a buck. And we all know someone who is the company door mat; someone who is respected by no-one and oftentimes degraded both behind her back and in front of her face, yet she does nothing about it and never defends herself.
The point of my examples is that you can actually be a GOOD wolf. You can be assertive, aggressive, tactful, results oriented, tough, strong, fast AND not posses any of the sheep’s qualities that will ultimately get you eaten alive by the BIG, BAD wolves (the ones who will lie, cheat and step over their mothers for their own benefit).
Case Study: Lisa the Loco Lobo
Lisa was a wolf and Leslie was a sheep. For years, Lisa had her way with Leslie at work–she’d bark orders at her, give her all of the crappy projects she didn’t want, would talk behind her back about how incompetent she was, and was just generally unpleasant and unfriendly. The kicker is that Lisa and Leslie were PEERS! Some of us might expect that kind of treatment from a ‘mean old boss’ but a peer? How could this happen? First, Leslie, the sheep, allowed it to happen. She never once stood up for herself, defended herself or said the word NO to Lisa. She was easy prey, and we all know that wolves sort out the weakest and slowest sheep before they move in for the kill.
One day, after Leslie had an epiphany, she decided to heed some advice and talk to someone about assertiveness training. Leslie learned how to practice saying NO, how to verbalize her displeasure with being mistreated and disrespected, how to become more aggressive and actually be on the offensive when the ‘wolves are at her door’—she essentially learned how to survive.
Leslie, now running with an assertive pack of wolves, jumped ship, for a better life. She thanked Lisa the Big, Bad Wolf for the life lessons, and found a new position across town. To this day, Leslie is sharpening her aggressiveness skills, but deep down, she’s still the same sweet person she’s always been. She’s been promoted twice and she’s a manager with a staff of 16 people. She stood up for herself, stopped letting people kick her around, changed her negative surroundings and went after a better life. In the words of Denzel’s character: “OOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW! OOOOOOOOOOWWWWW!”