Buck’s Guide to Becoming an Effective Leader— Call of the Wild
Whether you like the movie or not, Buck (the dog in the picture above) showed us a tremendous amount of leadership for different packs even when he just became a member of the team. I know this is a work of fiction, but they showed us a very good example of what a leader should be.
So in this post, I’m going to break down the leadership of Buck that made him a great alpha for the wolf packs even when he just joined the sled team and wolf pack. Keep a note as well that there will be spoilers ahead. So here goes….
1) Willing to learn
This is the first step of a leader for a newbie. He was a domesticated dog at first and was suddenly thrown into a sled team.
Normally, if we are suddenly thrown into something we are not familiar with, we would do our best to get back to what we are familiar with so that we don’t screw up. This is always in the mindset of every living creatures if we don’t like something, we tend to try to go back to our comfort zone.
But not leaders or people who are willing to step out of their comfort zone.
Buck was still willing to learn to be a member of the sled team even when he screwed up. Buck wasn’t the leader of the team at first, and he was placed at the very end of the sled line. However, he didn’t complain and followed along anyway.
2) Sensitive to others
If you are not nice, you will lose your followers’ loyalty, just like Spitz, the boss of the sled team before Buck took over. A leader is someone who has compassion for others.
Spitz lost his follower’s loyalty because he was selfish and ruthless to them. He stole food from his teammate, he drank water for himself and was always ruthless and snarling at them. But not Buck.
Buck slowly gained their teammates' loyalty because of his compassion for others. He gave his portion of food to the other dog, he saved his master from drowning and was willing to let a rabbit go after catching it. He made his followers feel safe around him. Sure he has more power, but his followers didn’t hesitate to elect him as a leader because they know that Buck is not a boss and that he is humble.
Additionally, he was willing to stop for one more mail from Jon (an old man he bumped into at Alaska’s port). As a result of his compassion, later on, the old man saved Buck from being further abused. This is why emotional intelligence is very important, when you know other’s feelings and be nice to them, that’s when you gain respect from others.
For Buck, this was how he was accepted to the wolf pack and later on, Alpha, despite being a domestic dog. He saved a wolf from drowning when no other wolves had the courage to, Buck didn’t care if he dies saving the wolf, all he cares is that the wolf must be safe. He wasn’t even a member of the pack.
What we can learn here is, put others first before yourself and be sensitive to their feelings. Yes, there may be times that we must think of ourselves, but there is also a time when we must think of others, especially when they are in a tight situation.
But sometimes, being nice can make others walk all over you because you are just too darn nice. So what do you do? This is when you have to show who is the boss….
3) Be dominant
When Spitz attacked Buck to show who is alpha, Buck flipped the table around and beats him. Yes, he did had a hard time to beat Spitz at first, since he seems to not want to fight his fellow member, but as it went too far, he knew that he had to.
This is how you also gain followers as you showed your true potential, that way it proved to others that you are in control. Show them who is the ‘boss’.
So give it your all, show the others who is the alpha, leading to my last point…
4) Be confident
When Spitz left the team, Buck elected himself to lead the sled team when no other dogs wanted to. Despite his lack of experience, he had the courage to go to the unknown.
But the core of confidence is to believe in yourself. When you believe in yourself, you have no idea how it tricks your brain to motivate you to get it done.
Conclusion
There is a lot of traits of leadership, in reality however, Buck showed the main ones that we all must have:
- Willing to learn
- Sensitive to others
- Be dominant
- Be confident
And there you have it. These are simple guides to be a leader since this is from a teen novel. However, it showed the main core of being one.
If you want to see more of these breakdowns, you can click follow me here. I do a lot of pop culture self-development breakdowns to make it a fun way to learn them.
I hope you learn something here and I do recommend you all to watch or read The Call of the Wild.
Have a great day.
