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What Makes a Leader?
Jan at Coronation
Here in the UK and in many other countries around the world people have been sharing in the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II, who aged 86, has had the same job for over 60 years.

 

Although I was a very young child at the time of the Coronation, street parties and flag waving I recall hearing the grown-ups talking of how vulnerable and fragile she looked, especially as she made her way through the cathedral wearing the bejeweled crown. We watched the whole event on our purpose bought television, just before we went onto the streets to watch her go past in the magnificent coach drawn by those magnificent horses.

 

Since that day, there are millions of people who have come to think that she is wonderful and feel genuine love for her, seeing her as a vital part of our nation and its identity. There are also a great many who think that the role of a monarch is outdated and irrelevant in the 21st century but whether you are a royalist or a "roundhead" there are very few people who are able to find fault with her demeanour and dignity as it seems that no matter what happens, she glides along smiling without criticising or complaining, often despite great provocation. 

 

What makes this lady so deservedly respected is that her resolve and determination to do what is right for the people that she was brought up to believe she was responsible for, has never wavered or weakened and I have no doubt that this is what keeps her focused and compassionate.

 

Basically the Queen is the master of passive leadership, as was Ghandi, proving to us all that it really is possible to lead that way. If we think of 'leaders', over the centuries, we can think of many that we would struggle to respect, let alone feel affection for, as theirs was the adoption of a dominance and fear based leadership.

 

For these reasons I am so delighted that I am able to share my discovery of a way of working with dogs that enable them to become willing partners, a way of thinking that has become so much part of my life, I only regret that I ever once thought that force had any place in teaching.

 

There is another area of confusion for many dog owners as they talk of the alpha role, as if it were a single individual. In almost every group-living species, ours included, there is a natural order of things and the alpha has its opposite number and for the Queen it has been her husband; the Duke of Edinburgh. His absence, due to ill health, was never more apparent than when the Queen walked up the steps of Westminster Abbey alone. This demur senior lady looked a little frail at that moment, without her lifelong partner beside her but knowing her, as we have come to do so well, she just kept going and I hope that he is soon back with his family and they enjoy many more years together.

 

To earn respect you have to give respect, which is also something that the Queen offers to everyone that she meets but I am convinced that she must have a sound proofed room somewhere in the palace. Somewhere she secretly disappears to, just to yell, thump the walls and let out any tension and frustration that she must feel at times. 

 

Jan Fennell

7th June 2012