Fox or Hound? A Time to Stop Pretending

by John Renesch

There are certainly times in one’s career when it would appear wiser to go along with things, even when you don’t agree with them, rather than take a chance at “having your vote cancelled” or risking yourself in any way. The problem with this is that the enterprise can end up with no one who will stick their necks out, a cadre of go-along-withers. This might pass muster in bureaucracies, where everyone becomes adept at covering their butts but, in today’s highly-competitive marketplace, this attitude is the kiss of death for any private sector enterprise.

Sometimes it seems to make more sense to simply go along with everybody else.

The successful enterprise in today’s marketplace is one that usually stands for something unique and noteworthy, offering either something previously unavailable or, alternatively, an improvement in a process or product already on the market. This requires people in the enterprise to be “stand-takers,” to stand tall for the values they believe in and abstain from compromise or co-opting their values regardless of the real or imagined threat to their careers or reputations.

In a recent study conducted by two independent consultants, Gary Heil and David Kyle, interviewed over 400 people, organizational leaders and managers. People reported they never were as powerful as when they were in start-up mode or there was an emergency of some sort. They knew how to lead, what needed to be done and they did it. They were foxes surrounded by hounds. The rest of the time, however, they went along with what the system appeared to want, setting their personal values aside and “caving in” to the pressures of the corporate culture. In other words, they tried to pass for a hound because it seemed safer and easier.

Clearly, more people are choosing to “go along” with things in our world these days. I don’t mean in word but in deed. The talk might appear to be quite oppositional, even provocative, but the walk is going-along with the status quo. The actions don’t match the words. Whether the question is a matter of organizational culture, industry practice, ethnic tradition, foreign policy, tax regulations or any other social system we belong to, things get this way because we allow them to. This not only applies to careers and company life but to our lives as citizens of our nations and our world.

Going along with things, pretending to fit in and not willing to make waves, gives the illusion of legitimacy to the status quo. With this apparent legitimacy there’s little incentive for changing things. When we shake our heads and wonder how things got this way we are avoiding looking honestly at ourselves: we allowed them to get this way! Admitting this takes new levels of accountability from all of us. This may be difficult for some who are so used to blaming others and absolving themselves from any direct responsibility.

We do have choices. Choosing to blame someone else is still a choice. Failing to choose is also a choice. We can choose to be the foxes we know we can be or continue pretending to be hounds. We can take a stand to do things differently when we see the need or continue to reinforce the status quo.

The coming Age of Consciousness which English futurist Peter Russell writes about will not happen to us while we sit around pretending to be fitting in. Neither will the dawning of the Aquarian Age or the realization of humanity’s promise. Transformations of this scale will only happen with our full participation, when we take complete responsibility for our “fox-ness” and stop trying to fit in with the hounds, as shown in the incredible picture above.

Where does this all start? It begins with us foxes. We need to stop the pretense and begin the chase by breaking free. Once we start, who knows? Some of the others who are pretending to be hounds may break free as well!