Not by Might or Size

Growing up on a central Pennsylvania farm afforded many opportunities to learn life lessons that might otherwise have been missed. The birth of animals was such an occasion. Sometimes these miracles were uneventful and other times they required human intervention. For example, a brood sow generally gives birth to a litter of piglets and it wasn’t unusual for one to be smaller and more vulnerable than its siblings. These runts required special care in order to survive.

Left on their own a runt piglet will likely die from malnourishment, hypothermia, or accidental trampling. To improve these odds, we moved these runts from the uncertain confines of their pens into the solitary, warm environment of a makeshift nursery in our house. A cardboard box and heat lamp provided the shelter. Feeding them from a baby bottle offered needed sustenance. Without this personalized attention a runt’s chance of survival was quite small. Our nurture allowed each runt to grow into a healthy pig.

In our corporate and social settings there is clearly a bias toward those who are strong and smart. We honor athletic and intellectual achievements at every level. Those persons who appear smaller or weaker tend to be marginalized or ignored. Without nurturing relationships or personalized care how are they to succeed? Like the runt piglet on our farm these vulnerable employees and members of society need our attention and advocacy.

Leaders who evaluate others purely on the basis of appearance or first impressions seems much like singling out the runt of a litter. We judge by size or might instead of inward character and talent. The runts we raised on the farm were often feisty fighters whose will to survive was strong. Those piglets simply needed an early helping hand. How many of your employees long for less of your judgment as a leader and more of your attention and care?

It’s quite easy to laud the success of a highly competent teammate and overlook the steady performance of a less visible colleague. What right do we have as leaders to pick and choose based on might or size? Maybe we should celebrate the runts instead of wishing everyone was the best of the litter.