Leadership: part hedgehog and part fox

Markus Spiske

One big reason for taking history classes and reading books on historical events is to gain some proven wisdom and learn from past mistakes. There are so many leaders who showed remarkable foresight while others proved to be blindingly short-sighted. But one thing’s for sure: successful leaders tend to share the common trait of being clever and adaptable with how best to use available resources to reach their goals.

the fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing

Greek poet Archilochus

There are many different interpretations of this parable, but psychologist Phil Tetlock argues it’s a way of understanding two cognitive styles: Foxes have different strategies for different problems. They are comfortable with nuance, they can live with contradictions. Hedgehogs, on the other hand, focus on the big picture. They reduce every problem to one organizing principle.

This analogy was quickly expanded upon by others to include famous leaders of our time. This time, the hedgehog represented a highly-driven and single-minded leader, while the fox represented someone who’s cautious and sees all the obstacles in their way.

With this analogy, it became apparent that the best leaders had a healthy mixture of both fox and hedgehog characteristics. Those leaders at the extreme ends of the spectrum were either too cautious or they failed to see the big picture.

Consider the story of two leaders with two different dispositions: King Xerxes of Persia, who was a hedgehog, and his advisor Artabanus, a fox.

In 480 BC, these two were considering a possible invasion of Greece. Being a fox, Artabanus was cautious and saw many potential pitfalls ahead. So he advised against the invasion and tried to warn Xerxes that the journey was too long and that they’d surely run out of food and be too exhausted to fight the mighty Greek soldiers.

Being a hedgehog, Xerxes was single-minded and bold in his decision-making. In his opinion, nothing risked meant nothing gained, so he ignored Artabanus’s worries and invaded. Artabanus proved to be right, as the Persians were too exhausted by the time they reached the Greek army.

Artabanus may have been correct on this occasion, but a leader should be wary of his approach. There are times when a leader needs to make bold decisions, and when leaders are always like Artabanus they may never make a move.

Abraham Lincoln was one such leader. He was determined to get the 13th Amendment passed in order to abolish slavery and, like a fox, he pursued a variety of angles to achieve this goal – including bribery, flattery and lies.

Conclusion

So, the ideal leader is part hedgehog and part fox – they can assess all the different angles while still being able to take determined action.

There’s no exact formula to being a successful leader, but history is full of examples that show us the best ones keep their attention focused on a big end goal while seeking out a number of options to help realize it. They stay adaptable in order to navigate around totally unpredictable situations, without letting these potential problems derail their progress