There once was a horse who lived on a farm with other farm animals.  There were two goats, three sheep, a pig, a handful of chickens, and a milk cow.  Each of these animals were an important part of the farm family’s, the MacDonald’s, livelihood, providing food and other products for use and trade.  Now, as most people know, horses are the smartest of all the farm animals and this horse was no exception.  As a matter of fact, she was smarter than the average horse, having the ability to look at a situation and finding a solution to address it.  

Now a situation did arise that required all the intelligence the horse could muster – the entire MacDonald family fell ill of a contagious disease and was unable to care for the farm and its animals.  Eggs needed to be collected, the pig fed, the cow and goats milked, the sheep sheared, the barn yard cleaned, and the fences mended but the family was incapable of doing any of it.  So the horse began to devise a plan to help the MacDonald’s by taking care of the farm.  But it soon became clear that as smart as the horse was,  she could not devise a plan that assured all the farm chores were done in a timely and orderly manner.

As the hours then days began to slip by the situation became dire.  The farm was becoming chaotic and, as anyone who has spent time on a farm knows, chaos is the last word that should describe a farm.  Finally, in desperation, the horse began to do the farm work herself.  She tried to collect the hens eggs but found she to often dropped them or simply broke them in her teeth.  She attempted to feed the pig but couldn’t stomach the smell of the mush.  She even tried to milk the cow and the goats but got kicked because her hoofs hurt the utters too much.  Instead of helping the MacDonald’s, the horse was making the situation worse.  It seemed the more she tried to do herself the worse the farm became.  She was desperate to help but didn’t know what to do.  

Then when things were at their lowest point, the pig came to the horse and said, “I know you want to help the MacDonald’s but so do I and so do all the other farm animals.  If for no other reason than to make sure there are no more broken eggs rotting in the barnyard, or utters rubbed raw. You see it’s in our best interest as well to have the farm taken care of.  But you haven’t asked for our help, you haven’t allowed us to do the work we’re capable of doing.  Instead you’ve tried to do it all yourself.  

Even though I’m not as intelligent as you, I’m very hungry and that’s driven me to think about and devise this recommendation.  First, because you’re the oldest and smartest animal in the farm you need to be our leader.  As our leader, you must bring all the animals together and explain the situation so we’re all in the same pen together. Then ask for our help. Lead us in figuring out the work only we can do because we have the gifts, abilities and experiences to do it right and on time.  Finally support and encourage us in our work.  Assist us in moving any rocks that stand in our way, help us think through difficult situations, and make sure we’re all working together.  

If you can lead us in this way I’m sure we can help you bring order back to our farm.  But if you insist on doing all the work yourself, the situation will continue to get worse and we’ll all suffer, including the MacDonald’s.” 

So the horse listened to the pig and carried out his recommendation.  And before too long the farm started to turn around. The chickens decided to lay their eggs right in the egg baskets thus avoiding extra handling.  The cow milked the goats and the goats milked the cow since both understood the delicate and sensitive work milking is.  And the pig started to clean the barn yard up of all the rottening eggs and other debris, bringing order to the yard and at the same time fixing himself a fine meal.  

It was such a remarkable turn around that the horse began to write in her journal all the lessons she learned from this experience so she’d never forget them (a practice all smart horses do in these situations). The first lesson the horse recorded was to never pre-judge an animal’s ideas by their looks or the food they eat (pigs can and often have great ideas you just need to ask and listen to them).

The second lesson was this – every animal has different gifts, abilities and experiences so is capable of doing different and important work.  The job of the leader is to get to know each member of the their farm community so they can know and understand each animal’s capacity to contribute, then help them do so.

Lesson three was simply remembering it’s almost always in the best interest of everyone involved in a bad situation to see the situation improve.  So everyone will be motivated to do something to make a difference.  The leader’s responsibility is to reconqize this interest then motivate and channel their action into productive work.

The final lesson the horse wrote down in her journal was simply this self realization.  A leader must do what only they, as the leader, can do keeping them from trying to do the things someone else is more capable and motivated to do.  And one of those things only a leader can do is help others identify and then flourish in doing what only they can do.