Management vs Leadership: An Allegory (Patreon)

I found this old color pencil piece, which I did in response to my first "real" corporate job and my experience of various kinds of managers. I showed it to my favorite boss, and he asked for a copy, and wanted the explanation on paper... so I wrote it for him. I'd forgotten all about it until I started reorganizing my hard drive! Here it is in full, along with the art (obviously). It's still one of my favorite color pencil pieces.

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THE SUPPLICANT

The Supplicant comes to the Queen after a long battle. This is the first pledge of her fealty to this Queen from going forth beneath a different general; she is offering herself and her talents to her newest liegelady.

The Colors and Animal

The Supplicant is a jaguar: a dangerous huntress, solitary and fierce. She hunts by day or night, swims or climbs to find her prey. She is a dancer, competence made flesh, and there is power in her body for the fight. But she has been stripped of her dark spots, which reflected her passion for life's battles. The golden hue of her fur, signifying both discipline and the strength needed to wall out the world, has intensified to a coppery red from too much use. Even her hair has wrung clean of passion, leaving only blank pallor: the tired white of the withdrawn spirit, denying the viewer knowledge of her true self. She was a mighty huntress, solitary and proud: now she hides from dangers that have marked her, wary of hunters greater than she, hoping that the Queen will help interpose obstacles between those hunters and her already scored flesh.

Like her body, her eyes are yellowed: bleached that way by the need to show only strength in them, to give away nothing. The Supplicant's position, left in the line of fire, gave her little chance to protect herself from hardening with pain.

The Wounds

The Supplicant has come to her new liegelady grievously wounded: across her back, a gash that prevents her from fully engaging the courage of her convictions and her determination -- her backbone; across one wrist beneath the bracelet, a slash and on her right hand, an open wound across her palm that could very well mean the end of her ability to close her fingers into a fist -- these arm wounds threaten her ability to use her hands to work, hands which are the basis for human ability to manipulate the world around them. These wounds have sullied the lace of her sleeves, and sliced open her gown across her shoulderblades; the wounds make the facade she dresses in daily ridiculous, a poorly fitted mask over the truth.

The Posture

The Supplicant is not a slave. She kneels to offer her allegiance, but she is no coward. She carries herself straight despite her weariness and her wounds: she is her Queen's equal, or will be in time, and it is in this spirit only that she offers her mind and her talents. One hand reaches out to the Queen, open to offer; the other reaches up to touch the Queen's hand. Her head is lowered from exhaustion and resignation, but it is not bowed; her eyes are open, and there is stillness there, the quiet between storms. The Supplicant is a fire waiting to be kindled; she is no longer self-starting, but there is great power in her. She has simply learned the dangers of blind trust.

The Attire

The Supplicant's attire is perplexing: she has been sent into battle with a dagger, which might lead one to believe that her talents have made her a warrior... and yet she wears a courtly gown. If she were a lady of breeding unsuited to the battlefield, however, one would not imagine her to have a dagger... nor would one think her suited for a battlefield. Whatever the case, it is amply evident that whomever last held the Supplicant did not know how best to utilize her: lady or warrior, court or battle, the Supplicant was neither equipped nor suited, but was forced to it anyway.

THE QUEEN

The Queen is new to her position and her palace, preferring solitude to aid; she has no servants behind her, waiting to refresh or unburden her. She has not yet learned to delegate well, and her fierce independence makes her a fearless warrior in battle, but an uncertain liegelady. Her spirit is fierce, but her body is fragile; she can and will be wounded without the aid of her liegemen.

The Colors and Animals

The Queen is a gryphon, a mythical creature composed of bird and feline parts; like the gryphon, she must integrate very unlike parts: an ability to direct from a distance, and an ability to reach into the hearts of her people. These things seem at odds, but living together can create an inexplicably coherent whole. The Queen is the color of fire and sand: of desire and rage and strength, discipline and cutting hunger. She is consumed by work; is work personified, a flame in a crown and satin. The colors are hard on the eyes, bright and hot, and only over unprotected and rarely seen places do they bleed out to a softer, cooler white: the heart, the throat, vulnerable places. This coolness congeals in her eyes: a softer blue that suggest the quieter emotions inside.

The Posture

The Queen stands to accept the allegiance of her newest liegewoman. She does this with discomfort and with grace, uncertain over how best to accept the offered talents of the Supplicant. She holds herself proudly upright despite this.

The Attire

Supplication has been the same for always: the employee's bow to the employer, who has traditionally held every power over her. The Queen's role has changed frequently in modern times, however: from dictator to manager to leader to steward, it is difficult to decide what role she must play, and how. This new ambivalence is entirely modern, and so the Queen wears clothing more contemporaneous than the Supplicant.

THE OBJECTS

The Leash/Bracelet

Cold and pale, the leash and bracelet symbolize one method of getting people to do your bidding: to command them. In this environment, the Queen's pull is not as strong as in other environments... but it is present. The thin chain is almost non-existent, suggesting opportunities for equality and camaraderie, but it is a barrier between Queen and Supplicant. This is only one hold on the Supplicant, however; only one wrist is bound. There is a wound running beneath the bracelet, suggesting that it might heal only without the bracelet. The Queen holds the end of the leash in an open hand, as if uncertain whether to drop it, offer it back to the Supplicant, or close her hand on it.

The Dagger

The dagger is a fascinating artifact particular to the Supplicant. Kept in a supple sheath on a hardy, but plain belt, it is at distinct odds with the confectionary gown she wears. The dagger shows signs both of extreme wear and good care. Its spiralled ivory handle suggests the purity of a unicorn's horn, while the hint of its damascene steel and curved blade offers an exotic beauty. This is an old and beloved weapon, and in fact the Supplicant's only one: it is loyalty, given to her by the first person she trusted. This loyalty she returned, blooded and christened, to that first King or Queen, who then used it to defend her, so that she would not be harmed by the battles she was not equipped to fight.

This loyalty remains in the belt of the Supplicant; it has not yet been given back to the Queen. It is the Supplicant's only weapon, and she does not yet trust the Queen to wield it in her defense. The Kings or Queens who came before this Queen thought so little of the dagger that they let it lie in a corner, and in desperation the Supplicant retrieved it and used it as best she could, though it is obviously not a lady's weapon.

THE ENVIRONMENT

Around Queen and Supplicant is the palace, silent and empty, for this drama is one that can take place between two people only. It is a private bond, forged on the strength of the touching of two people. This palace is the business: it is a warm place, a place that was built in passion. The passion has grown old and faded now, but its warmth flickers still in the creamy stone. It suggests old love and old sagas and adventures, and is not immune to the possibility of new adventures.

The Pillars

There are two pillars, one each behind the two participants, for they are symbols of their strengths. Each person in this drama is responsible for holding up the ceiling of the business, with whatever they can give... in this case, to offer the most, the two must complete the bond, and to do this they must offer what the other needs most to hold up their end of the contract. The Queen's pillar is love--the ability to reach out to another person and support them and understand them as a person and not as a resource. The Supplicant's pillar is talent—her work, unique to her mind, to her abilities, crafted with all her dedication and power to further the business.

The Steps

The steps indicate a transition point: they must be climbed, but cannot be until the Queen and Supplicant have finished negotiating the exact nature of their relationship. These steps lead past the pillars, taking their presence for granted and leaving behind the concrete requirements of the business, onto a dais.

The Window

Upon the dais is a window, incised with beautiful designs, scintillating, warm and full of light. It casts that light onto the dais. This is a round window, because it is has no end and no beginning: the window is the growth of a person, the accretion of experience and wisdom that transforms them. This window is the ultimate destination of Queen and Supplicant: a place where they can look into themselves in the light and see vistas past the business--affected by it, crystallized and transformed by it, and seen in its context... because the experiences within the halls of the industry will change a person, color the way they learn and grow. One hopes this learning will be positive: thus the light.

THE MEANING

All of the image's meaning rests in the center of the piece, where the Queen and Supplicant attempt to interact. There is a clear choice between the leash and collar, and something else: touch. It is obvious from the Supplicant's open hand that she will respond to the leash, but there is no initiative: she has an open palm that she will not close or form into a shape. She can be pulled, but that pull will define her.

The opposite approach is more difficult and more complicated, requiring more of an interaction. The Queen touches the Supplicant's face: searching perhaps for tears that strength and exhaustion will not allow the Supplicant to shed, learning only by the touch that the tears are not there, and that emotions hide beneath the skin and the eyes. That the Queen has the courage to touch opens the Supplicant's heart; tentatively, she reaches back, forcing her damaged hand to begin to stroke the arm of the Queen. Doing this will sully the Queen's arm with the blood of her wound, a danger involved with reaching out to others. But the Supplicant shows initiative, a desire to reach back. With this hand she can offer her loyalty back to the Queen, if she can learn to use it – and she can force herself to use it, if she sees the first overture, the first promise that the Queen will keep her oaths, and that the allegiance will not be an empty one.

To learn the strengths and weaknesses of the Supplicant, the Queen must be willing to take her in her hands; to unfold after being wounded, the Supplicant must trust the touch of the Queen. The leash and collar enter not at all into this stronger bond... but this is the choice of management versus leadership. Are your people creatures to be led, pushed, maneuvered into place? Or are they people?