Leadership Lessons from Deer Hunting

November 15, 2019 Zach Hughes Comments 0 Comment

I just got back from the deer woods. Each season has its stories, triumphs, and failures. As I drove home from my trip, I considered the leadership lessons from this sport. I thought I’d share my insights with you in this article.

I didn’t grow up deer hunting. I married into it. For 19 years, I’ve gone up north with my in-laws and have fully embraced the tradition. Some people grew up with the tradition, but I didn’t. 19 years ago, I had never fired a rifle. My first time shooting, I didn’t hold the stock tight enough against my shoulder and I held my eye too close to the scope. When I shot the rifle, it recoiled, and the scope cut deep into my forehead. I still have a scar to this day. I only improved from there.

Similarly, I believe good leaders are made, not born. In my early career, I didn’t have a leadership role. I was an engineer. Then, the circumstances changed, and I was thrust into a position of leadership. I didn’t know what to do, but I embraced it and learned to do it well over time. I write this blog for leaders new and old who want to improve their skills. Like hunting, it’s never too late to start, and you can always get better.

Preparation

Deer hunting takes an enormous amount of preparation. It’s not like fishing, where I can grab my rod and tackle and head out. Firstly, my sons recently went through 12 hours of online training followed by a six-hour field day to earn their firearms safety certificate from the state. Secondly, I had to get all of my gear together, which can often be a truckload in itself. Finally, I always had to go to the range and sight in my rifle, to make sure it was as accurate as it could be before heading into the stand.

Leadership is all about preparation as well. As an individual contributor, you can afford to do a day’s work and then go home. As a leader, the strategic work I do today enables outcomes that could come to fruition a year down the road. I prepare my organization and prepare myself for the future. That’s what leadership is all about. Anyone can focus on the needs of today. Leaders have the vision to anticipate the future and work today to prepare their teams for tomorrow.

Thinking versus doing

The picture at the top of this page is the view out of my deer stand. When most people picture deer hunting, they think about that awesome photo of a trophy buck that belongs in a sporting magazine. That’s 1% of deer hunting. The other 99% looks like this photo. Watching and waiting. Being quiet. Being still. Being alone with your thoughts.

For some, this is a deal breaker. Many need constant activity and distraction to function. Many think they’d die of boredom if they had to spend eight hours alone staring into the woods.

For me, it’s a rare stretch of silence and solitude that I treasure. It’s a retreat that centers me.

As a leader, I have more demands on my time than ever before. In order to be effective, I block off time in my busy schedule to think and be quiet and alone. Some may look at that and think I’m slacking off, but I see it as a critical discipline for effective leadership.

The ratio for leadership doesn’t need to be as extreme as deer hunting. However, I’ll challenge all of my readers to examine their ratio. 100% doing and 0% thinking doesn’t work.

Passing it on

I’ve enjoyed hunting for 19 years now. Over the past two years, I’ve had the pleasure of bringing my two oldest sons into the sport. This changed my entire focus. I always used to get excited about my own accomplishments as a hunter. That’s now a completely secondary objective. All I want is for my sons to experience success and enjoy every aspect of the experience.

This year, I got to see my son, Nathan, harvest his first deer. Afterward, I showed him how to field dress, weigh, and process the deer. The experience was far more satisfying than doing it for myself.

As a leader, this is also true. I used to be proud of my own accomplishments as a technologist. Now, I find much more satisfaction in what my team can do. I play a small part in setting them up for success, but the success is theirs. I’m just happy to be around for it.

Failures are hard

My other son, Caleb, also shot a deer this year, but it got away. He did everything right. We tracked it carefully for many hours. In the end, we lost the trail. It was sad. We analyzed the situation in every way we could. It could have been a misaligned scope resulting in a poorly placed shot. We questioned the choice of ammunition. There are a lot of possible reasons, but ultimately, the result was disappointing.

As a father and as a leader, it’s my role to encourage him through this. There are things he can do to make this less likely, but failure is always a possible outcome. This happens to the best hunters.

As a leader at work, successes are fun, but failures test us the most. Our teams are watching us amidst failures to see how we will respond. All of us need to make our teams feel safe so we can turn trials into teachable moments.