Lions and Tigers and Bears..Oh My....

Dorothy, on the road to Oz, was afraid of the lions, tigers and bears that might be lurking in the woods, preventing her from reaching home.
We all meet our own version of lions, tigers and bears every day, but we don't need to be afraid of them, we just need to be able to recognize them and work with them.
The lions in our life mimic the behavior of their jungle counerparts. They march around the office, parading their superiority (they are the named king after all). Not afraid to roar when things displease them, they can be heard coming down the halls and it can be a knee shaking experience when there is a lion roaring at your desk or in your kitchen. The thing to remember about lions is that they are inactive for about 20 hours a day, getting their roar on for only about two hours daily and they are not as social as their pride. The rest of the time they prefer to spend time patrolling the edges of their territory keeping it safe from intruders. They are not particularly good hunters, leaving that job to the more agile lionesses.
If you have a lion in your life, it helps to remember that the roaring they do may not be directed at you personally. It is in part to keep the fearful things away from those they feel the need to protect and perhaps to hide a bit of their vulnerabilty and inability to hunt as well as the rest of the group.
Work to the lion's strength, accept that a lion will have periods when he is onguard for mistakes that can hurt his pride. If you can co-operatively provide the "kill" for a lion while not backing down from his roar, chances are that the lion will no longer fear your presence and mistrust your judgements and channel his roar so that you are no longer the recipient of it.
Tigers on the other hand might be even more difficult to work or live with. Their method of operation is to slink around stealthily, constantly observing and moving. They do take time to play but can change direction and pounce on their prey in a matter of seconds. Much like their smaller domestic counterparts they may like to play with their prey before demolishing it. Tigers are solitary workers and protective of their territory however, tigers can be good at sharing their kill with others they trust after the most token displays of resistance . If you have tiger creeping around and playing in your aisle, acknowledge their presence with a wave and smile and recognize that they can be a good coopeative partner and will share information for the common good...And take time to play...tigers get their best work done and then like to play, play and play some more.
Bears...ah those warm and fuzzy animals that slept with us at night to keep away the goblins in the closet! What's not to love about these funny, huggable animals? Bears are big, powerful and clumsy. They are also shy and frightened of people and will usually run in the opposite direction when coming face to face with a person. The exception to this is the mama bear who is guarding her cubs from perceived danger. If you work or live with a bear, the best piece of advice is to tread carefully when attacking a person or a project they have invested time and nurturing on. Understand that you don't have to present real danger to the project... perceived danger is enough to cause the most lovable of bears to rear up on their back legs and give warning growls. Bears also love honey and all things sweet so a thoughtful act or deed does much to turn a menacing brown bear into a cooperative, team teddy.
We all have one or more of these creatures in our life, we all can BE one or more of these creatures. A little kindness, psychology and fair play will allow for peaceful co-existence with the wild things in our life and allow us to reach our goals.....now.