Usually we liken a courageous human to the Lion, because he is a fearless bold dauntless person. However, the Lion is not expressed in the wilds in the singular form "The Lion". As a matter of fact if a lion appears, it means there are other lions accompanying him. This is what we discovered when our guide told us…the Lion is there, pointing away to a moving animal behind the Savannah grass. But as we picked up the binoculars magnifier, and started to stare at him; we found a Lion led by a second, then a third and a fourth…etc…And we started to race each other to count them.

Lions do not only live in groups, but also their strength depends on these groups and their tight organization. It is from here we discover the secret of their skill in hunting, for they do not move as individuals unless if the prey is small. They work through working groups, and each group consists of about eighteen lions, more or less.(1)

Monitoring Lions calls for meditation in the way they organize themselves, they are very keen to get organized in groups, but according to unique conditions, controls and mechanism. Their strength does not depend on the organization only, but also on their ability to separate and split…Two tactics which they master!! The “Power of Organization” and the “Skill of Separation”!!

We learned from the Lions a lot of lessons regarding the art of building work groups, and listened to them in dazzle, while they recite their wonderful classes:

Adopt the Working Groups: Organize your movement in small homogeneous work groups, resemble the Lions world, since the work groups are the “building unit” of the Lions world.

Start with the Natural Relationships: If you want to create an effective work group, start with your close one which you have normal relationships connecting you with its members and you know them very well. They may be your neighbors, your family, or your friends at work. Lions move in groups, and one group consists of individuals who bound together by a strong relationship, mothers, sisters, aunts, and cubs…etc.(2) The accession of a new member to the family associated and homogenous group is not easy. These groups which are connected by the natural relationships, gain the power of communication from the justified natural communication among them, and acquire its starting out strength from its natural, not artificial, homogeneity.

Distribute the Tasks: Make for each individual in your group a role. Of the Lions those who protect the group, those who attack, those who chase the prey, those who attack a prey escaping from the chase, and those who protect the young. Thus, there are many roles, and they all gain a great deal of importance. The role may vary according to the target, some of the Lions will be in the leadership when chasing a pig, while they will play a negative role in the case that the target is a wild buffalo.(3) In the distribution of tasks, Lions rely on efficiency, and do not allow courtesies that will result in losing the prey.

Adopt Specialized Working Groups: Each group has a role it does not exceed, yet it masters it. A Group chasing the prey and another pounce on it, then everyone share the food later. This specialization of roles is what gives the unique feature for the Lions in the operations of hunting big animals, where they gain great organizational power.(4) So, ​​build the specialized group, and realize the importance of your role in the framework of the group whether this role will place you in the front lines or in the back lines.

Assess Experiences: Know your capabilities and the abilities of each person in your team, choose the best fit for each task, and make the goal to achieve success, not to appear in the place you are not qualified for. The male Lion does not hunt such as females, because the female Lion is more agile and faster. When the attack takes place the group gets divided between the sides and the center, those who are on the sides are the fastest, most agile and own the ability to chase, as for the bigger and heavier ones, they will be in the center (5). Whereas the males take the lead in the scene when defending the group, the witty female hunters back down to make some space for them to perform their role.

Care for the Art of Rest: Learn how to give some rest for those who made good effort in your group and to reduce the resources you need. This is what the female Lions do. So, the groups who hunt rest for days, and meanwhile get engaged in guarding the cubs, whereas another group advances to hunt. Thus, the roles are exchanged. This comfort reduces the Lions need for food accordingly it reduces the resources required for life; since not everyone made the same effort, and therefore not all need to eat in the same degree (6). It seems that the geniality of the attack the Lions possesses is linked with their geniality of resting.

Codify Separation and Splitting: It is by which they save the power and the efficiency of the group, for if the group continued to expand, it will be in need for greater resources, and problems of defining the roles and unemployment rampant will emerge. Train the groups on the skill of constructive splitting and separation, if some found in it what is good for society.Lions groups do not expand, but they extract a new group from every old one, or some split and try to join other groups (7). Lions expel their cubs from the group after a while, and do not provide them with care and education, or consider those new adults as rogues, because they know that their separation is better for the parent group, and will make the Kingdom of Lions last more.

By Wael Adel and Ahmad Adel Abd Al-Hakim

Translated by Rana Mohammed

March 6th, 2012