Zulu people. Photo/nomadtours.co.za
In the traditional Zulu society, the king never spoke until all his advisors were done. Why?
There were certain risks that could arise from speaking before his advisers. One was if the king spoke first it would be difficult for any of his advisers to contradict him, therefore, he would not be able to obtain alternative advice from them.
Second, in the event that an adviser contradicted him with a better idea, the king would appear less wise!
Third, by letting the advisers speak first, they felt that their king was listening to them and valued their opinion. This would motivate the advisers while on the other hand, the king would know exactly what motivates each of them, who is allied to who and their reasoning capacities.hand the king would know exactly what motivates each of them, who is allied with who and their reasoning capacities.
Now for the last reason. We all know of those students who are never serious in class. When given an assignment they will wait until the last day then copy from the bright students and they end up scoring the best marks because they copy from several bright students!
Well, often the king would hear various good ideas from his advisers then combine them into one brilliant strategy that would leave his subjects believing that indeed he was the wisest of them all!
So remember that next time you are in a leadership position!