Like a Dog Seizing Ears

Scripture

Proverbs 26:17 (ESV)

Reflection

The image is vivid enough that it needs no explanation. Grabbing a dog by the ears is not a neutral act. It invites a specific and predictable response. The person who does it has created a problem they did not have before and now cannot easily get out of.

Leaders meddle. Sometimes out of genuine concern. Sometimes out of the need to be involved. Sometimes out of the belief that their position gives them standing in every dispute. Proverbs is not making a moral argument. It is making a practical one. Inserting yourself into a conflict that is not yours to own produces consequences that are disproportionate to whatever prompted the insertion.

There is a communication discipline in this that leaders rarely name. Knowing when not to involve yourself. Knowing when a dispute between two people in your organization is theirs to resolve and will only be complicated by a leader stepping into the middle of it. Knowing when your presence in a conversation adds weight rather than resolution.

The leader who learns this becomes more effective in the conflicts they actually do need to enter. Their involvement carries weight because it is not constant. When they speak into a dispute, it means something because they do not speak into every dispute.

Practical Application

• Identify a conflict or dispute you have inserted yourself into that may not have been yours to own.
• Assess whether your involvement produced resolution or extended the problem.
• Practice restraint in the next situation where your instinct is to step in, and observe what happens when you do not.

Takeaways

• Inserting yourself into conflicts that are not yours creates problems disproportionate to whatever prompted the involvement.
• A leader whose involvement is selective carries more weight when they do choose to enter a dispute.

Closing Thought

The leader who knows when not to speak into a conflict will be more effective when they do.