Lion King Strength

Having kids is such a joy. You get to watch cartoons over and over again. So I have watched Disney’s The Lion King more times than I care to count. In one of my favorite scenes, there is a great lesson in leadership embedded in the message. It is when Simba is standing on a cliff trying to conjure up the courage to go back and assume his rightful place as King of the Lions. But to take over and lead he will have to confess that he was the one who was responsible for the death of his father, Mufasa. As Simba is standing there in the clouds comes an image of his dead father with the haunting words, “Remember who you are, remember who you are.” That is the starting point for any leader. You need to know who you are, you need to know your strengths and be aware of your blind spots. Often no one will tell you what those are.

Focusing on Strengths vs Weakness.

At one time in the life of organizations, it was very popular to work long and hard to improve your areas of weakness. While I think there is a huge benefit in knowing what you are not good at, I am not sure how much value you will gain by focusing on trying to fix that weakness. You can spend a great deal of time and effort to fix something that you may never be good
In “Between Two Truths” Klyne Snodgrass shares this story. During World War II, Winston Churchill was forced to make a painful choice. The British secret service had broken the Nazi code and informed Churchill that the Germans were going to bomb Coventry. He had two alternatives: (1) evacuate the citizens and save hundreds of lives at the expense of indicating to the Germans that the code was broken; or (2) take no action, which would kill hundreds but keep the information flowing and possibly save many more lives. Churchill had to choose and followed the second