substitute

(former head of the Humane Society, Michael Fox, once said in a conversation with Caroline:) We humans have far more in common socially with wolves than we do with apes, and that wolves don’t determine leadership based on dominance, but on charisma. And in wolf culture, charisma is measured by who initiates play best. Not just play, initiates “let’s go hunting,” etc. as well, but “play” is at the top of the list. And we can tell the wolf leader within ten days of birth, because it’s the pup with the lowest resting heart-beat. The calmest and the most imaginatively dynamic (what late ally Kurt Vonnegut would have called “the wampeter,”) – now, that’s a leadership criterion for which I could root. Especially if we syncretize it with goose leadership: the lead goose always rotates. The charismatic wise wolf part of ourselves passes the baton to teammates, as we all circulate between back-stage and on-stage.