The Leader of The Pack

For those of you who have ever seen "The Dog Whisperer" with Cesar Milan, or for those who have not seen it, you might be interested to know that Cesar Milan has built a multimillion dollar business based on his skill with pets and their owners.

Now, in its 6th season, "The Dog Whisperer", on the National Geographic Network, premiered in 2004 and has grown into an hour long show with over 11 million weekly viewers. Some of his clients have been famous pet owners such as Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Michael Eisner and Oprah Winfrey. For these "rock star" people, he typically charges $10,000 to $100,000 for his time.

His philosophy of dog training is simple; train the HUMAN to become the pack leader in their own homes. Since dogs are by nature creatures of the pack, the human must be the pack leader so the dog will follow his instructions. He bases his training on three pillars; exercise, discipline and affection.

One of Cesar Milan's favorite authors, Dr. Wayne Dwyer has taught Mr. Milan the power of intention. According to Mr Milan, "the power of intention teaches that anything that is realistic, if I can create it in my own mind, it can become a reality". He further states that by combining this power of intention with balance, "our most important tool; calm assertive energy", any one can become a pack leader.

Perhaps that's what it takes to lead our pack of employees. If we exercise our employees' minds by challenging them to solve little problems at first and then bigger problems later, we can train them into shape. Then by creating a disciplined environment where name badges, uniforms, precise telephone answering techniques; and a customer centered approach to customer service is always present, we can bring structure to an environment that is inherently chaotic. Discipline will also come into play if we consistently "inspect what we expect" and teach accountability to our employees...and maybe to ourselves as well. And finally, if we as owners become that pack leader, we can do it with affection, with a sense of humor and with a feeling that we are moving our organization to a new level of performance.

Woof.