How a Blind Horse Taught Me Leadership: Embracing Control and Building Habits

sundaresan.ramaswamy
The Blind Horse

Once upon a time, there was a rich man living happily with all his wealth. He had a lot of horses and used to ride horses whenever he was happy. He went into gambling and lost all his assets, ending up on the street suddenly. He wanted to have a horse but could not afford to buy one as he had become so poor. He somehow managed to save some money and went out to buy a horse with that.

He could only get a blind horse. The seller told him that the horse could run very fast and would only listen to the following two commands while riding: It would start running if you said "Thank God" and stop immediately if you said "Oh my God."

He bought the horse and started riding happily. He tested the commands himself. He said 'Thank God' - It started riding. He repeated; it increased its speed. He said "Oh my God," and it stopped abruptly. He did it twice, thrice, and the horse responded perfectly. He was so happy. He started climbing a nearby hill with the horse. He kept saying 'Thank God,' and it climbed the hill at jet speed. He was amazed; he forgot everything for a few moments, closed his eyes, and started enjoying the breeze coming through the hill.

After some time, when he opened his eyes, he realized that he was almost at the peak of the hill. He had to stop the blind horse immediately; otherwise, both of them would fly into the deep valley ahead. Realizing the danger, he spontaneously pulled on the rein heavily to stop the horse. It didn't stop as it could not understand that act as a command. Panicked by its reaction, he tried to remember the command to stop the horse but failed miserably as he lost control of himself totally in the crisis. By that time, they had already reached the top, and it was only a few more steps away from falling. He lost all his hope, closed his eyes tightly, and shouted "Oh my God" helplessly. Understanding this command rightly, the horse stopped. Not realizing what had happened, he opened his eyes and saw that they were just standing before the big valley. Had the horse taken the next step, they would have fallen into it. He was so relieved and felt so grateful to God for saving his life; he kept his hands on his chest and said "Thank God."

You know what would have happened next!!!

Leadership Lessons from this Story

1. You can control your subordinates/spouse/kids/people around you in a way they will accept; not the way you are accustomed to.
2. When you feel you are in crisis, your subconscious mind takes over.
3. Your subconscious mind is filled with your regular behaviors/beliefs/values, not with your new learnings that are not practiced.
4. To embed any good thing you learn into your subconscious mind, you should practice it regularly and convert it into a habit.
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