Leading So People Will Follow E-Book

Erika Andersen

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 317

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

A unique take on leadership from a popular Forbes blogger and nationally-known leadership coach Leading So People Will Follow explores the six leadership characteristics that inspire followers to fully support their leaders. Using Erika Andersen's proven framework, new leaders and veterans alike have increased their capacity for leading in a way that creates loyalty, commitment and results. Step by step, Andersen lays out six key attributes (far-sightedness, passion, courage, wisdom, generosity, and trustworthiness) and gives leaders the tools for developing them. This innovative book offers a practical guide for building the skills to become a truly 'followable' leader. * Filled with examples from forward-thinking organizations such as Apple, NBC Universal, Union Square Hospitality Group, and MTV Networks * Maps out the six attributes of leadership * Includes a free online Followable Leader assessment * Author Erika Andersen is one of Forbes' most popular bloggers and coaches some of the most successful leaders in America Using self-assessments, real-world examples, and concrete tools, Leading So People Will Follow helps build timeless core skills that work for leaders in any field.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

More Praise for Leading So People Will Follow

Title page

Copyright page

Dedication

ONE: The Longing for Good Leaders

TWO: Firesides and Folktales

THREE: Farsighted

FOUR: Passionate

FIVE: Courageous

SIX: Wise

SEVEN: Generous

EIGHT: Trustworthy

NINE: Friends for the Journey

TEN: Your Own Tale

Epilogue

Listening and Self-Talk for Leaders: Bonus Section

Acknowledgments

The Author

Index

Learn More about Erika Andersen’s Books

More Praise for Leading So People Will Follow

“A fresh, approachable, and compelling guide for improving one’s leadership profile. It is a very worthy read.”

—Douglas R. Conant, retired president and CEO, Campbell Soup Company; New York Times best-selling author of TouchPoints: Creating Powerful Leadership Connections in the Smallest of Moments

* * *

“For over a decade I’ve worked with Erika and her colleagues, and they’ve consistently helped us get ready and stay ready for the future. In Leading So People Will Follow, she gives all leaders the tools to craft a desired future in their own lives and work.”

—Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, chief of sport performance, USA Track & Field

* * *

“In Leading So People Will Follow, Erika has captured much of what has made our work with her so valuable over the years. She answers the complex question of what it takes to lead well, in an engaging, practical, and inspiring way.”

—Dawn Ostroff, president, Condé Nast Entertainment Group

Jacket design by Adrian Morgan

Author photo by Dion Ogust

Cover art © Mike Truchon Shutterstock

Copyright © 2012 by Erika Andersen. All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Andersen, Erika.

 Leading so people will follow / Erika Andersen. – 1st ed.

p. cm.

 Includes index.

 ISBN 978-1-118-37987-5 (cloth); ISBN 978-1-118-43169-6 (ebk.); ISBN 978-1-118-43170-2 (ebk.); ISBN 978-1-118-43168-9 (ebk.)

 1. Leadership. I. Title.

 HD57.7.A524 2012

 658.4'092–dc23

2012027909

To my beloved bear and our FGL

ONE

The Longing for Good Leaders

We want good leaders. In fact, we crave good leaders. We’re hungry for good, worthy, followable leaders in every part of our lives.

You can see it in our very public cynicism about and hanging-out-to-dry of all the leaders who fall short of our expectations. You can hear it in our hopeful, almost mythic, recounting of tales of those leaders we think/feel/believe just might be great.

We have a deeply wired-in need for leaders who will guide us well and safely; who care more about the success of the enterprise than about their own comfort; who call out our best and take full advantage of who we are. And we long to be that kind of leader as well—to evoke that I’m with you—let’s go! response from those who work with and for us.

I’ve come to believe that this longing for good leaders is an ancient, primal group survival mechanism. Until recently, if you chose badly in terms of who you decided to follow, you and your family and friends were likely to die: to starve to death, be overrun by invaders, fall into violent lawlessness. And although the stakes aren’t as high these days (generally), our wiring hasn’t really changed.

This book offers a window into what those core timeless attributes are, why they are so essential to us, and, perhaps most important, how to develop these attributes in yourself. How to become the leader people will follow, so that together you can build strong teams and companies that will survive and thrive through the modern business version of famine and invasions.

So how did I crack the code?

In the mid-1990s, I was balancing two very important things (this may resonate for many of you): my family and my business. I had young children, and the consulting firm I had founded in 1990 was starting to take off. I spent most days observing and working with leaders in client companies and most evenings reading bedtime stories.

I started to notice something very interesting in my client organizations. Often the person who was the appointed leader was not the person others looked to for direction and reassurance. In one meeting this was so blatantly the case that I wondered that others didn’t notice; the CEO would say something, and most of the folks attending the meeting would quickly glance at the CFO to note his reaction. They clearly, though perhaps unconsciously, were treating the CFO as their actual leader, even though the CEO was the official leader.

What is it, I started to wonder, that makes someone willing to consider one person his or her leader but not another?

At the same time, as I was reading story after story to my kids, I began to notice that many of the tales were about someone overcoming adversity to become a worthy leader. In fact, the more I read, the more I noticed a pattern: the poor lad (almost always a lad versus a lass, but we’ll overlook that for the moment), generally the youngest and least impressive of three brothers, makes his way through a very specific and pre­dictable series of trials. And in the process, he develops or reveals a core set of personal attributes that allow him to save the princess and become the wise and just ruler by the end of the tale.

Many of the stories my daughter and son loved best were from a series of books published in the early twentieth century that included fairy stories and folktales from all over the world. As I read them, I noticed that this pattern of attributes essential to becoming a leader was remarkably consistent across time and culture. It seemed to me that I had stumbled on an archetype. So as I read and continued to look for the common elements, I began to think about why this should be so—why human beings would have a built-in archetype for the qualities to look for in a leader.

It occurred to me that until a few hundred years ago, the goal of most collections of people (villages, tribes, ethnic or religious groups) was much more clearly defined and compelling than those of today’s organizations. Groups of human beings came together to survive, literally, against human enemies and the challenges of nature. The job of the leader was to help the people stay alive. Once that was assured, it was also hoped that he or she would make decisions that allowed life to be reasonably pleasant, that is, free enough from the fear of capture or death (or both) to allow the creation of some sort of family and spiritual life. The tribe would only put its fate in the hands of a chieftain who had proven his worth and fitness to lead; the stakes were too high to trust someone ill equipped to handle the tasks of leadership. Most often in prefeudal cultures, leadership was not hereditary; leaders were chosen on the basis of demonstrated prowess in hunting, in council, in war.

Today most of us are far safer from the threat of starvation or war than were our ancestors. But thousands of years of conditioning don’t evaporate within a few hundred years. Gun control, antibiotics, credit cards, and peace accords between major nations don’t take away our deeply felt need for worthy chieftains.

So when someone who is put in the leader seat doesn’t demonstrate the leadership qualities for which human beings have a kind of built-in radar, that person is unlikely to be effective as a leader. If the people are tentative in their acceptance of the leader, if that person doesn’t satisfy their “leader hunger,” they are less likely to offer their commitment and support, and it’s more difficult for that person to guide the organization to success.

As I thought about these things, I continued to observe my clients and their interactions with one another. Time and again, I watched as people chose their real leaders quietly, without a conscious or ver­balized selection process. This is not to say that the process was invisible or arbitrary. It was relatively easy to observe once I started noticing it, and there was definitely a pattern to it. As I began to pull out the key attributes of leadership from the folktales I was reading, I noticed over and over that people seemed willing to fully accept someone as their leader, and commit to being a true member of that person’s team, only when he or she demonstrated these attributes.

Naming the Elements

I began to get excited: I felt if I could clarify these archetypal elements and translate them into today’s organizational reality, I would have a tool that could be dramatically helpful to people wanting to become more effective leaders: wanting to become a leader that others would follow.

After much observation and reflection, I felt I had come to a clear way to describe what I was reading about and understanding. I decided to test out the model with a real-life leader, someone who was not only the designated leader but to whom others clearly looked as the person who “felt like” the leader as well. I shared with him what I’ve just told you, and then I explained the six leadership attributes that had emerged in my research as the key components of the leadership archetype. He listened carefully and immediately began to use the model. His first response was, “So, Eileen [one of his senior team members] has the first three elements, but I’m not sure about the last three. I bet that’s what’s getting in her way. And we definitely have to work on the first one with Larry. And I think I’m pretty good on all of them except the third. How would I work on that?”

I was excited. The fact that he immediately, without question or confusion, began to apply the attributes to real leaders in his organization, and to himself, argued to me that I had indeed stumbled onto something primal, that I had identified those attributes that resonate in our “looking-for-leaders DNA.”

Fast-Forward

Now it’s almost fifteen years later. My children are adults, soon to be reading bedtime stories to their own children. My colleagues and I at Proteus International now use this “leading” model to help people at every level in organizations think and behave as leaders. We’ve found that learning these six attributes gives people a useful, practical framework for self-reflection and growth. And it helps them build more productive teams and organizations by becoming the leader who provides a strong, safe point around which people’s hopes and efforts can coalesce. We’ve taught the model to young men and women in their first “leader” jobs, and we’ve used it to coach CEOs. It makes immediate logical and intuitive sense to most people, and it seems to be almost universally helpful as a tool for their leadership growth.

I hope this book will provide you with a simple, immediately applicable approach to looking at yourself as a leader with fresh eyes and that it will then guide you in deciding what you need to do to become the sort of leader who is truly given the chance to lead. I’ll approach our time together as I would if I were coaching you one-on-one: I’ll share stories and examples, provide a framework for thinking, encourage you to self-assess, and offer self-directed activities to help you discover and strengthen each of these six attributes in yourself. This model can help you understand what it takes to be a leader others will gladly follow and then offers you guidance to develop those characteristics in yourself.

If you want to lead, I’m offering you a set of tools to be the kind of leader people long for—one who can partner with and guide them past all of the modern trolls and monsters you’ll encounter, so that you can find your own twenty-first-century happy endings.

On to the journey!

TWO

Firesides and Folktales

Once upon a time … 

Even now, as adults, there’s something in most of us that perks up and starts to listen when we hear those words. We love stories. And stories have always served important functions for us. They bring us together and reinforce our sense of community. They engage, amuse, enthrall, and titillate. And they teach: throughout history, before most people could read and write, stories, told by firesides and in village gatherings, were the mechanism by which we handed down laws and values, religions and taboos, knowledge and wisdom.

Think of stories as the cultural DNA of a preliterate society. The stories of a group of people provided a map that, if followed, would guide someone to be a successful member of that group.

And over the centuries, some of those maps seem to have transcended culture and geography to offer guidance for being successful humans. This seems especially true for one type of story: the hero’s tale. Joseph Campbell explored this theme in religious mythology with brilliance and depth in his Hero with a Thousand Faces, and I’m indebted to his work. However, in exploring these story maps for clues to the characteristics that define leadership, I looked to more humble sources: the folktales and fairy tales of many cultures. Campbell’s work focused on our highest aspirations: what we expect of gods and godlike heroes. I wanted to know something more practical: how folktales tell us what to look for and accept in those who lead us day-to-day.

Think of folktales as maps of success—how to live as safely and happily as possible, how to avoid making fatal mistakes of belief or action. Until recently in our history, choosing a leader was a life-or-death decision. A good leader could guide you to find food, overcome enemies, and keep peace within the society. A bad leader could lead you into starvation or to death through war or lawlessness. And although the stakes may not be as high today, we’re still wired to accept as leaders only those who line up with our centuries-old map of leadership attributes.

Drawing the Map

By finding and extracting these leader maps, I reasoned, I could learn not only what people look for in leaders but the corollary of that: what it takes to be the kind of leader whom others would follow. And after reading hundreds of leader stories from all over the world, here’s what I discovered:

The acknowledged leader is

Farsighted

Passionate

Courageous

Wise

Generous

Trustworthy

Here’s a quick overview of the essence of each of these characteristics.

In leader folktales, the leader-to-be can see beyond his current situation (young, poor, despised) to his ultimate goal (save his father, win the princess, kill the monster) and can express that vision in a compelling and inclusive way, especially to those whose help he needs to achieve it. He can hold to that vision and share it clearly even when others lose sight of it, believe it’s impossible, or ridicule him for trying. He is farsighted.

Moreover, the leader-in-training doesn’t just go through the motions. He is deeply committed to his quest, with his every action directed toward achieving it. Nothing dissuades him, even the inevitable setbacks and disappointments attendant on any quest. He may not be loud about it, but he is relentless. He is passionate.

Throughout the story, he is confronted with difficult situations. He may be afraid and lonely; he may feel like running away, longing for the comfort and safety of home. He often faces situations that are particularly trying for him personally. But he doesn’t turn aside; he doesn’t (unlike his brothers or others who attempt the same journey) make the safe and easy choices. He doesn’t wimp out and take the path of least resistance. He is courageous.

He’s not a cardboard action hero, though. His brain is tested, and he must be able to learn from his mistakes. In many versions of the story, he doesn’t initially follow the advice given him (“don’t look back”; “don’t let go”; “don’t touch this or that on your way out”), and his mistakes create more complexity and danger. The next time a similar situation arises, though, he behaves differently and succeeds at his task. He doesn’t deny or whine or blame; he improves. He also often comes up with clever solutions to seemingly insoluble problems. Finally, he uses his powers of discrimination to think through difficult choices and arrive at the best and most moral solution (for example, long-term happiness versus current riches; the greater good versus pure self-interest). He is thoughtful, appropriately humble, clear-headed, and curious. He is wise.

Along the way, the future leader meets people or creatures in need, and he helps them or shares with them. He does so even though his own supplies are low, and even though helping them takes him out of his way or slows him down. In some versions of the story, he has to sacrifice his life for those he loves or to whom he owes his loyalty (this always turns out okay in the end). And later, when he is king, his people are prosperous and happy because he rules with an open hand. The leader is not stingy, miserly, or selfish. He is generous.

Finally, and perhaps most important, his word is his bond. If he tells his dying father that he will find the magic potion to cure him, you know that he will. If he tells the princess that he will come back to marry her, she can send out the invitations. When some creature says to him, “If I help you, boy, you must free me,” you know the creature is as good as free. The hero does not equivocate or exaggerate. He is trustworthy.

This tale survives and thrives in almost infinite permutations because it is satisfying, and it feels right to us. We are hardwired to expect our chieftains to be farsighted, passionate, courageous, wise, generous, and trustworthy. If we don’t see these qualities clearly demonstrated, we won’t follow wholeheartedly; it feels dangerous to do so.

Of course, we’re not entirely doctrinaire about this; we know that no real, living leader is perfect. If we are asked to follow someone who has four or five of these qualities, we will do it, all the while watching to see if he or she is working to add the missing or less developed qualities.

What About You?

Before we go on, I encourage you to take a few moments to reflect on your own current state as a leader:

1. Reread “Drawing the Map” for each of the six characteristics.

2. Reflect on your own current behavior (versus how you’d like to behave) relative to that characteristic.

3. Assess yourself as a leader below, noting whether you feel a characteristic is currently a growth area for you (you don’t demonstrate this characteristic consistently), a strength (you demonstrate it consistently), or a key strength (you clearly exemplify it and demonstrate it almost always).

Leader Attribute

Self-Assessment

Farsighted

(1) Growth area (2) Strength (3) Key strength

Passionate

(1) Growth area (2) Strength (3) Key strength

Courageous

(1) Growth area (2) Strength (3) Key strength

Wise

(1) Growth area (2) Strength (3) Key strength

Generous

(1) Growth area (2) Strength (3) Key strength

Trustworthy

(1) Growth area (2) Strength (3) Key strength

I’ll ask you to refer to and expand on this self-assessment and use it in support of your own growth throughout this book.

Making This Real

You may be asking (I hope you’re asking!), How can I make this real and practical for myself? That’s my job in this book. First, I’ll share with you a composite folktale, one that demonstrates these six hardwired leadership attributes, so you can get a sense of these qualities as they live in their natural habitat of the fairy tale. It will almost certainly seem familiar to you, reminding you of stories you read or were told as a child—or the ones you read to your children.

Then I devote one chapter to each of the six characteristics, first pulling out the part of the story that most directly speaks to this quality, then discussing examples of the quality (or its lack) in leaders with whom I’ve had the pleasure to work over the past decade. In each of these chapters, I share a handful of key behaviors that exemplify this quality and provide practical ideas and guidelines for you to build the behaviors in your own life as a leader.

After exploring all six behaviors, I offer additional insights and support systems for becoming the acknowledged leader.

One disclaimer before I tell you the story: I’ve used the traditional form of boy-saves-princess, mainly to connect this in your mind with the folktales and fairy tales you read or had read to you as a child. (I considered reversing the genders of the protagonists at one point, but it seemed contrived.) Nevertheless, think of this as a metaphor. It could just as easily have been girl-saves-prince (or, for that matter, boy-saves-prince or girl-saves-princess). You’ll see that half the real-life followable leaders I use as examples throughout the book are women. These leader attributes are core, and we’ve found they resonate across time, culture, race, and gender.

Now, on to our folktale.

Gather ’round, and I’ll tell you a story.

* * *

Once upon a time, there lived in a small village at the end of the world a merchant and his three sons. Sadly, the boys’ mother had died when the youngest was only a babe, and the father had raised the boys alone. His business dealings prospered, and the older two sons became fine young men, tall and well built, their clothing and horses the envy of all their peers. The third son was thought something of a simpleton and generally stayed at home, helping his father or dreaming by the fire.

One day, messengers of the king arrived. They dismounted in the town square and blew a fanfare on their great horns. The villagers assembled, murmuring. One of the messengers read aloud from an ornate scroll:

By the order of his majesty the king and her majesty the queen, be it known that her royal highness the princess, their only child, has been stolen away and cruelly imprisoned by the most evil sorcerer in the land. He holds her on the highest peak of the tallest mountain, which he has turned into purest glass, so that the king’s men are unable to rescue her.His majesty thus declares he will give her hand in marriage and the future kingship to that brave man who can save her and return her unharmed to her royal parents.

With that, the messengers turned their mounts and galloped away to spread their message throughout the kingdom. The villagers all began to talk at once. The two older brothers looked at one another and raced home. They burst into the house, where their father was working on his accounts and their younger brother, smudged with soot, was sweeping out the fireplace. Talking loudly over each other, the brothers relayed the royal message and asked for their father’s blessing to travel to the highest mountain and rescue the princess.

“I think I should be allowed to try first, Father,” said the eldest son, pushing his brother aside. “I am the eldest and bravest, and therefore have the best chance to succeed and bring honor to our family.”

“But I am far cleverer,” replied the second son, jostling past his brother. “You know that’s true, Father; you’ve said it yourself.” His frown was petulant. “I don’t know why my brother should have first try just for being older!”

The old merchant looked at his youngest son, who had stopped his work and was simply listening. “And you?” he asked gently. “Do you also want to go?”

The youngest son looked at his brothers and rubbed his chin, leaving a streak of grime. “No, Father, let them try,” he said simply.

“Very well,” said the merchant. He turned back to the older brothers. “But you must go together, to help and support each other along the way.” He handed each of them a small bag of gold for their journey and gave them his blessing.

Early the next morning, the older brothers set off in their best clothes, capes flowing, boots polished, every buckle of their horses’ tack sparkling in the sun. Spirits high, they waved a jaunty good-bye to their father and galloped down the road toward the distant mountain, racing each other for pride of place.

Some hours later, hot, tired, and dusty, the brothers had taken off their fine cloaks and brocaded tunics. Sweat ran in rivulets down their faces, and their shirts stuck to their backs. Their fine horses had slowed to a plodding walk. Unused to long hours in the saddle, the brothers found themselves sore and ill tempered.

At a bend in the road, they spied a well, cool and shady beneath its thatched roof. Both dismounted in relief, rushing to grab the tin ladle sitting on the well’s stone lip. In their jostling, the ladle fell into the well and sank. Loudly blaming each other, the brothers bent over to drink directly from the well but found the water just out of their reach.

Suddenly an ancient woman spoke from the far side of the well. They had not noticed her; she was small and wrinkled, her skin and clothing the color of leaf and grass. She leaned upon a crooked stick. “Have you a coin for an old woman?” she asked in a thin voice, holding out a tiny clawlike hand.

“Off with you, crone,” snapped the eldest brother. “We have better things to do than give you money you have not earned.”

“Then have you bread to share with a poor old woman?” she asked, still holding out her hand.

The second brother flapped his velvet cap at her. “Be off, we say!”

“So be it,” said the old woman, her voice suddenly much stronger. The brothers watched wide-eyed as the she grew and changed, becoming tall and young, her beautiful face angry. She raised her stick, now straight and shining, and struck the older brother, tumbling him head over heels into the well, where he sank like the tin ladle before him.

The second brother jumped back, terrified. He leaped onto his horse and rode away, whipping his steed to its fastest gallop. He rode and rode until, dropping from exhaustion, he came upon a small inn almost hidden in the woods. Tumbling from his horse, he stumbled to the door and knocked upon it. It opened at once to show a strange man, as wide as he was tall, with deeply set glittering eyes. Dense furlike hair covered his face and body.

“Yes?” the creature said gruffly.

“I want food and wine, my man, as well as a wash and a bed,” the second brother demanded. “Your best,” he added, trying to regain his haughty demeanor. He jingled his gold purse in the man’s face.

The creature grinned fiercely. “Please, come in,” he said, stepping back and gesturing with his huge hand. The second brother felt a moment of hesitation—the man was so strange and the interior of the inn so dim and noisome—but his exhaustion and hunger won out, and he stepped through the doorway. The heavy door closed behind him and never opened again.

Months passed, and the merchant and his remaining son listened for any news of the older sons. Travelers to the village brought many tales of young men from all over the kingdom who had tried every clever trick, every feat of strength and bravery to scale the mountain and free the princess, but none had succeeded. No one carried word of the older brothers.

Finally, one day, the youngest son came to his father. He had washed his face and hands and put on his best clothes, simple but clean. Because he had no horse, his few belongings were bound up in a pack upon his back.

“I believe it’s time for me to go, Father,” he said. “The princess still needs to be rescued, and now I fear for my brothers as well.”

“Are you sure, my son?” asked his father, who had aged mightily and whose fortunes had turned as he worried for his sons. “I cannot prepare you for this journey as I did your brothers; I have only a few silver coins for you instead of the gold purses I gave to them.”

“No matter, Father,” his son replied. “I will go as I am.”

The merchant blessed his son with tears in his eyes, and the lad set off.

He walked steadily all day, stopping at the hottest hour to rest beneath the shade of a spreading tree, drinking sparingly of his water and eating the brown bread he had brought with him. Late in the evening, the boy came to the same well his brothers had found so many months before. He saw the tin ladle on the lip of the well and dipped it into the water to drink and bathe his dusty face and hands.

Just then, the same ancient crone stepped from the dusky shadows, leaning on her gnarled stick. “Have you a coin for an old woman?” she asked in her thin voice, holding out her wrinkled hand.

“Yes, certainly,” said the youngest brother, dipping into his purse and selecting a small silver coin. “It’s not much, but you’re welcome to it.”

She took the coin and hid it in the folds of her ragged gown. “And have you bread to share with a poor old woman?” she asked, holding out her hand again.

“Yes, and you are welcome to it too,” said the boy, breaking off and handing to her a chunk of his simple brown bread.

“So be it,” said the old woman, her voice stronger. The youngest brother watched, amazed, as the old woman grew and changed, becoming young and beautiful, her face kind. Raising her stick, now straight and shining, she touched the lip of the well.

The water in the well bubbled, and up came the eldest brother, drowned. Crying out, the boy pulled him from the well and laid him on the ground. The faery-woman said, “With your open heart, you have saved your brother,” and touched the dead brother’s forehead with her stick. The older lad coughed and began to breathe, but his eyes remained shut, his face pale.

“Do not be concerned,” the faery-woman continued. “He will recover, and I will send him home safe to your father.” She reached into her golden dress and pulled out the boy’s coin, now shining with faery light. She placed the coin into his hand and said, “Put this safe upon your person. When you need me, rub it between your thumb and forefinger, and I will come to you.” And with that, she and the older brother disappeared.

The boy set off again, and late the next afternoon he came upon the same small inn his brother had found. With the hope of a bed and a hot meal, he knocked on the door.

The huge, hairy man-creature opened the door and smiled his feral smile. “Yes?” he asked.

Not at all liking what he saw, the boy asked mildly and respectfully, “Good sir, have you a stable you need cleaned or animals fed? I am a poor traveler and will work for my food.” He kept his purse, and especially his shining coin, well hidden.

“Are you sure you won’t come in?” wheedled the creature. “I have hot food and a soft bed for only a few coins.”

“Oh no,” the boy replied. “Such things are far too good for me. Cold food and hay to sleep on are all I need.”

“Have it your way, then,” the creature growled. “Clean the stable and feed and water my horses, and you can eat of the cheese and bread you’ll find there and sleep in the hayloft.” He started to close the door, but all of a sudden stopped and turned fiercely. “But don’t mess about with my birds, boy. You’ll see pretty birds in cages in the stables; leave them be, or regret it.” The lad nodded, and the creature slammed the heavy door.

As he entered the stables, the boy saw many fine horses along one side and beautiful cages filled with colorful birds along the other. With a shock, he recognized his brother’s big roan horse partway down the aisle. At the same time, one of the birds flew wildly to the edge of its cage and began to beat its wings against the bars.

The youngest brother ran to the cage. “Is it you, brother?” he asked. The bird dipped its beak as if nodding. The boy reached out for the cage’s latch, but stopped the moment before his hand touched the ornate metal, remembering the beast-man’s words.

Instead, he pulled the faery’s shining coin from his pocket and rubbed it. The faery-woman appeared at once on a sweet breeze. The boy explained the situation, and she touched the cages with her shining staff. The latches fell apart, and all the birds flew out and away, arrowing silently through the stable’s windows to freedom. The brother-bird flew out too, landing on his younger brother’s shoulder and nibbling his ear affectionately with its beak. The younger lad thanked the faery, bowing low. She inclined her head and disappeared. He quickly found his brother’s tack, saddled his horse, and wrapped rags around the beast’s hooves to muffle their sound. He rode quietly out of the stable and into the woods, his brother-bird on his shoulder.

They slept deep in the woods that night, and in the morning the youngest son was overjoyed to see that his brother had regained his human form. They embraced, and the middle brother implored him, “Oh, little brother, let us go home and live in peace with our father. We’ve barely begun our journey, and look at the dreadful things that have happened already.”

The younger brother replied, “You are welcome to go home. However, the princess is still held on her lonely mountaintop, and someone must save her, so I will continue.”

The middle brother shook his head. “Little brother, think of all those smarter, braver, and stronger than you who have failed. Come back to our father’s house with me.”

“That’s as may be,” replied the younger son, “but I must do what I can do.”

Finally, the middle brother pulled at his arm. “Be reasonable, little brother! Come back to the fireside; you are being foolish.”

The lad smiled and repeated, “That’s as may be, but still, I must do what I can do.”

The middle brother embraced him and turned for home, shaking his head.

After many days of traveling, the younger brother found himself in the mountains and came to a narrow pass between high cliffs. As he walked his horse carefully through the divide, he was suddenly surrounded by small, strange men. Half the size of a normal man, with pale faces and long ears, they all carried sharp little pikes or deadly looking dart blowers.

“You trespass on our land,” said one, clearly the leader, in a high, fierce voice. “Why should we not kill and eat you now?”

“Because then you would not hear my story,” said the young man. “And it is a very good story.”

The small men all looked at one another. “Very good?” asked the leader.

“Very good indeed.”

The next he knew, he was sitting before their fire, a tender roasted joint of meat in his hand, telling them of his quest, of the beautiful princess held captive on the mountain, of all the brave and strong young men who had tried and failed to save her, of her royal parents wasting away with grief in their castle. He shared with them how he hoped to find a way to save the princess and bring joy to all the people.