What Wolves Taught Me About Leadership

by Donna Wanser

Reflections from My Visit to the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center

Last week, I visited the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center, tucked away just outside Colorado Springs. I expected an educational and up-close experience with these incredible animals — but what I didn’t expect was to walk away with some of the most powerful leadership lessons I’ve encountered.

Wolves are intelligent, social, and highly structured creatures. They’re often misunderstood as fierce loners, but the truth is far more nuanced. As I observed them — their behavior, their interactions, and their place in nature — I realized they hold a mirror up to the kind of leadership we should all strive for.

1. Empathy Is a Leadership Superpower

One of the most powerful things I learned is that mother wolves will adopt orphaned pups, even if they’re not from their own pack. They do it out of instinct, yes, but also out of compassion — to protect the vulnerable and give them a chance to grow strong.

That kind of empathy struck me. In our leadership roles, it’s easy to focus only on our own teams or immediate responsibilities. But wolves reminded me that true leaders look out for others — even when there’s no obligation. Great leadership starts with inclusion and care, not control.

2. You’re Part of an Ecosystem, Not Just a Team

Wolves are essential to maintaining ecological balance. I learned about the dramatic impact they had when reintroduced to Yellowstone — how their presence helped rebalance deer populations, regenerate forests, and even reshape rivers.

It made me reflect on the ripple effects we have as leaders. We’re not just guiding individuals or hitting targets — we’re part of a broader ecosystem. The culture we create, the values we live by, and the way we show up all impact more than just the team. We affect the system around us — for better or worse.

3. Adaptability Is Survival

Wolves have faced shrinking habitats, shifting climates, and human interference. Still, they adapt — evolving their communication, learning new patterns, and staying resilient despite challenges beyond their control.

That’s a critical leadership trait. We can’t predict every curveball life or business will throw our way. But like wolves, we can choose to stay agile, learn quickly, and move forward with purpose, even when the terrain changes.

4. Lead the Pack, Coach the Individual

One thing I expected to see — but didn’t — were pups being mentored. Instead, I witnessed something just as powerful: a pack operating in harmony. Each wolf had a place. There was no barking of orders, just a quiet understanding of roles and rhythms.

The alpha didn’t need to dominate to be respected. Leadership was shown through calm presence, confidence, and connection — a reminder that real leadership doesn’t always shout. Sometimes, it simply guides with clarity and trust.

5. Unity Is a Sound You Can Feel

The most unforgettable moment came when one wolf climbed onto an elevated tree stump and began to howl. Slowly, one by one, the others joined in — until the entire pack was howling together in perfect unity. It wasn’t chaos. It was a chorus. A shared voice.

That moment gave me chills.

It was a powerful reminder that leadership isn’t always about speaking the loudest — sometimes, it’s about being the one to start the call. And sometimes, it’s about knowing when to listen and join in. That moment reminded me of the strength in collective alignment — when a team, a company, or a community moves in the same direction, with shared values and a shared voice.

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Final Reflections

I came to the wolf reserve curious. I left inspired. These animals taught me that leadership isn’t about control or charisma — it’s about empathy, adaptability, humility, and unity.

Here’s what I’ll carry forward:

• 🐺 Lead with care and courage.

• 🌍 Recognize the bigger picture.

• 🔄 Adapt when the world shifts.

• 🐾 Build trust through presence, not pressure.

• 🎵 Start the call — and let others rise with you.

Wolves don’t lead with ego. They lead with instinct, grace, and fierce loyalty to the pack. If we do the same, I believe we’ll not only build stronger teams — we’ll build stronger cultures, and a stronger legacy.

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Unleashing and Cultivating Successful Leadership Potential in Lawyers Through Professional Coaching

 As many of you who know me, know I am a board and international certified coach for lawyers, executives, teams and career change. I recently was requested to do some research with lawyers to better understand their view of what coaching means.  See below for the results--donna

Introduction

Because the profession of law, a very old field of practice, has been viewed as a science (Grey, 1983), until more recently there was very little research on leadership among lawyers. Thus, the study of leadership traits in lawyers is a fairly new area of interest relative to the profession. The profession of law is known for a communication style that may land on the non-legal profession as being brash, non-empathic and overly assertive—not typically akin to transformation or inspirational leadership. Research has shown that effective leaders typically have higher scores in traits measured by the emotional quotient (or emotional intelligence) inventory (EQ-i) (Handley, 2008). While lawyers are probably good transactional leaders they will need to traverse between transactional and transformational leadership--- which requires higher emotional intelligence--to effectively lead the multi-generational environment.

Often, corporate legal departments consist of many individual contributors who want to become leaders in their organization and struggle in creating that pathway for themselves. Coaching is one tool that can help lawyers effectively take on leadership roles.

Coaching Benefits

          Coaching is about developing and improving performance and overcoming barriers to progression achieve agreed targets and outcomes. What are the benefits of coaching? In his book, Coaching for Performance (4th edition), (Whitmore, 2009), which still applies today, discusses a range of benefits, including:

• Improved performance and productivity;
• Improved motivation, learning and relationships;
• Improved quality of life;
• Enhanced creativity;
• Better use of people, skills and resources;
• Greater flexibility and adaptability to change;
• Creating Cultural change;
• Reinforce the value active listening, prompting, challenging norms and setting development goals;
• Help with career change or transition to leadership;
• Promote high standards and good practice in leadership and management; and
• Enhance clarity, collaboration and efficiency in teams including boards and senior management groups.

Another point to consider is that the future generation’s brain has been conditioned by modern technology, by over-indulging parents and by access to instant gratification. These brains are now hard-wired for different types of stimulation. Psychological studies applying the socialization theory and the self-discrepancy theory indicate similar drivers of the millennial generation (Noble, Haytko and Phillips, 2009), whereas past generations were conditioned more by left-brain activities requiring more left-brained styled leadership.

What is right brain leadership? Right-brained leaders are relational, intuitive, and value collaboration. They understand that people need to be motivated and inspired to be effective. They also value different points of view and team efforts. This is counter to how a lawyer may have been trained.

Lawyers, Leadership and Coaching

Successful lawyers are generally cynical and good at predicting risk. They are analytical and are trained to solve problems and find solutions. A lawyer leader is responsible to determine how a coach may elevate the success of lawyer leaders, in the words of the great John Wooden, "Prepare yourself to the best of your ability to be the best that you can be, and the result will take care of itself", hence coaching meant to get his team to prepare themselves to the best of their ability to be the best they could be and the result would take care of itself. A coach can help the lawyer leader elevate their performance and elevate success from each of their associates.

The benefits of coaching for lawyers in leadership are numerous. Coaching can help with increasing self-awareness, bringing about better understanding of their strengths and their blind spots. It can help them be better communicators. Many lawyers are taught a certain way to think, process and communicate through a Socratic method of teaching in law school. While the Socratic method embraces the expression of varying viewpoints through probing questions and developing the ability to argue forcefully and persuasively, it may not be the best communication style for developing other non-lawyers. Additionally, having a coach can lead to elevating their emotional intelligence, push them out of their comfort zone, learn and or develop elevated strategies and flex their leadership style as needed. Ultimately, having a coach can enable the lawyer leader to achieve goals more quickly and responsively. Lawyers are trained to listen and then give advice. Conversely, a leadership coach will bring awareness to the benefit of listening and asking probing questions that are not leading; alternatively, getting others to think, create and own their pathway.

Lawyers in leadership roles and those who aspire to lead will benefit from the value of coaching. As well as engaging in organization objectives, they will recognize and learn to create a trusting coaching culture in their team(s) and get to see its impact on performance and personal development.

To better understand what is needed for elevating lawyer leadership a survey of questions was sent out to both lawyer leaders and the associates that are led by lawyer leaders.

Survey

We had a total of 39 responses to the following survey questions:

Questions: Lawyer Leaders

1.    How do you define coaching? (3 choices)

a.    It is a mentor that advises others for personal development 36.36%

b.    It is a person that guides others with open ended questions to discover self-aware outcomes 54.55%

c.    It is a share of knowledge 9.09%

2.    Have you ever worked with a coach for personal development?

a.    Yes 81.82%

b.    No 18.18%

3.    Do you currently have a coach that you work with?

a.    Yes 77.27%

b.    No 27.73%

4.    Do you think coaching is effective for those in a leadership position?

a.    Yes 95.45%

b.    No 4.55%

5.    How would you rate your listening skills? (scale)

a.    Above average 54.55%

b.    Average 36.36%

c.    Below average 9.09%

6.    Be—honest, do you generally lean towards giving others advice or ask open ended (non-leading) questions that lead others to the answers to their problems? (advice/open ended questions)

a.    Giving advice 68.18%

b.    Open ended (non-leading questions) 31.82%

7.    How effective are you at coaching others? (scale)

a.    Very high quality 9.09%

b.    High quality 50%

c.    Neither high nor ow quality 40.91%

d.    Low quality0%

e.    Very low quality 0%

Questions: Lawyers Reporting to Lawyer Leaders

1.    What is your expectation of a coach? (3 choices)

a.    It is mentor with advanced experience in your field that advises on how to professional develop 68.75%

b.    It is a person that helps me be more self-aware and think outside of the box to find my own solutions 31.25%

c.    It is someone that tells me what I need to do better 0%

2.    Have you ever worked with a coach for personal development?

a.    Yes 56.25%

b.    No 43.75%

3.    Do you currently have a coach that you work with?

a.    Yes 31.25%

b.    No 68.75%

4.    Do you think coaching is effective for those in a leadership position?

a.    Yes 100%

5.    How would you rate your Lawyer Leader’s listening skills? (scale)

a.    Above average 68.75%

b.    Average 25%

c.    Below average 6.25%

6.    Be—honest, does your Lawyer Leader generally lean towards giving advice or ask open ended (non-leading) questions that lead you to come up with your own outcome? (advice/open ended questions)

a.    Advise 37.5%

b.    Open ended non-leading questions 62.5%

7.    How effective is your Lawyer Leader at coaching? (scale)

a.    Very high quality 43.75%

b.    High quality 31.25%

c.    Neither high nor low quality 18.75%

d.    Low quality 6.25%

e.    Very low quality 0%

Summary of Data

Nearly 37% of lawyer leaders do not know what coaching actually means even though 82% have worked with a coach for personal development and 77% still have a coach. Just over 95% say that coaching is an effective tool for leaders. While slightly more than 50% rate their listening skills above average and rate their coaching as highly effective, almost 70% say that their version of coaching is giving advice.

Comparatively, when those reporting to lawyer leaders were asked related questions nearly 70% said that their idea of a coach was a mentor who advised on how to develop. Over 56% have worked with a coach and 100% said that coaching would be effective for those in leadership positions. Just over 68% said their lawyer leaders had above good listening skills and that over 62% did ask open ended questions. Nearly 80% said their lawyer leader was effective at a high or very high level.

In summary, the majority of lawyer leaders likely act as mentors rather than a leadership coach and they are more likely to give advice. Similarly, nearly three quarters of those reporting to the lawyer leader view leadership coaching as a mentor who advises on how to develop and is very effective.

Further, over 25% of those that the lawyer leaders coach say they are not effective and over 40% of lawyer leaders say they do not believe they are effective as a coach. This leaves an area for lawyer leadership coaching that should be further explored whereas lawyer leadership coaching can make a marked difference in both the lawyer leader as a coach and the elevation of those that they lead.

Coaching Plan for Lawyer Leaders

1. Initial Assessment

• Objective: Discuss the difference between mentoring and coaching and the need for each. Explore the benefit a Lawyer Leader would get from coaching and explore what the Lawyer Leader would like to accomplish through coaching.
• Methods:
• 360-Degree Feedback: Collect feedback from peers, subordinates, and superiors.
• Self-Assessment: Use standardized leadership self-assessment tools (Eq-I, MBTI and Working Genius).
• Interviews: Conduct one-on-one interviews to gain insights into personal and professional goals that are needed.

2. Commitment and Understanding of Coaching:

·       Differentiating Coaching vs. Mentoring: Provide training on the differences between coaching (focusing on specific skills and development) and mentoring (providing broader career guidance and support).

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·       Establish end in mind:  What are the goals that the lawyer leader wants to achieve from coaching?

3. Evaluation and Adjustment

• Objective: Measure progress and make necessary adjustments to the coaching plan.
• Methods:
• Periodic Assessments: Reassess leadership capabilities and progress towards goals.
• Feedback Review: do a 360 to determine areas of strengths and areas that can be improved in order to achieve the goal set out in the objective.
• Adjust Goals and Strategies: Based on evaluations, adjust strategies (and perhaps goals) to better meet the needs and aspirations of the lawyer leader.

4. Goal Setting

• Objective: Establish clear, measurable, and achievable goals and a commitment to get there.
• Methods:
• Responsibility: Emphasize the importance of being responsible for everyone within the team or firm.
• Active Listening: Develop skills to effectively listen to associates and be open to innovative ideas.
• Trust-Building: Engage in exercises that promote trust and transparency within the team.
• Empowering vs Leading: Lean into asking open ended questions that inspire the associate to finding solutions (teaching them how to fish) without leading them.

5. Regular Coaching Sessions

• Objective: Provide ongoing support and feedback.
• Methods:
• Bi-Weekly Coaching Sessions: Regularly scheduled sessions to discuss progress, challenges, and next steps.
• Action Plan Adjustments: Adjust action plans for achieving specific goals as needed.
• Feedback Loops: Continuous feedback to adjust and improve strategies until the objective is met.

Conclusion

Change can be hard and for lawyers who are trained Socratically. It may require the Lawyer Leader to embrace a level of openness about leadership that may not seem apparent. It may be challenging for them to listen to others, even when they believe they know the answer. A comprehensive coaching plan for lawyer leaders involves continuous assessment, targeted training, practical application, and regular feedback. By focusing on responsibility, active listening, openness to innovative ideas, building trust, and differentiating between coaching and mentoring, lawyer leaders can enhance their leadership capabilities and make a significant impact within their organizations and even in the broader legal community.

“A good leader remembers the details of their failures and forgets their successes” Peter Cuneo

 

References

 

1.    Grey, T.C.(1983). Langdell’s Orthodoxy. 45 U Pitt. L. Rev. I,17.

2.    Handley, R. (2009). Presence: the leadership X factor. Austin, TX: EQ University.

3.    Noble, S.M., Haytko, D.L. and Phillips, J. (2009). What Drives College-age Generation Y Consumers? Vol. 62, I 6, 617-628.

4.    Whitmore, J. (2017), Coaching for Performance: The Principles and Practice of Coaching and Leadership (4th edition). Great Britain, CPI Group (UK).

5.    Wooden, J (2005). Wooden on Leadership: How to Create a Winning Organization. NY, NY: McGraw-Hill.